Great Find: The Lost Daughters of China

Another Value Village Score!!!

While rummaging through the shelves at my local Value Village, I was lucky to find Karin Evans  account of her journey to China to adopt her daughter.  The Lost Daughters of China is the Evans' retelling of her adoption process between America and China in the late 1990's. 

Evans and her husband, unable to conceive children naturally, decide to adopt a baby girl from the Guangdong area of China. Although easy to decide that this is what she wants, her journey through the endless adoption red tape, and her far-away travels to the Peoples Republic of China shows how difficult a process this really is.

During her trip to the southern Chinese state, Evans' discovers that the One-Child policy is the tip of a very complicated social problem. The notion that male children are more valuable is ingrained in the Confusion culture for more than 1000 years. Further, this problematic policy creates such familial strife and suffering for many families who feel great pressure to produce a male child. Child abandonment is an ongoing problem that is a result of the policy that was introduced in the 1980's.

Evan's book is well written. She has done a great amount of research in preparing the context of her work. She sights academics, government studies, poems and literature. I found myself re-reading a few of such passages that were particularly touching.
 
For example, she quotes Kahlil Gibran in The Prophet: "Your children are not your children, they are not of  you, but they come through you. They are the gift of life's longing for itself."And also, a particularly beautiful excerpt from Meng Jia's poem Traveler's Song:

My loving mother, thread in hand,
Mended the coat I have on now,
Stitch by stitch, just before I left home,
Thinking that I might be gone a long time.

How can a blade of young grass
Ever repay the warmth of the spring sun?


One short coming of Evans' book is that there is an obvious absence of information about her daughter's progress in her new home country. How does her daughter feel about being adopted, and how does she cope with the feelings around being adopted? Also, she does become somewhat repetitive towards the end of the book, and I found that a little tighter editing would have been quite helpful there.

Overall this was a good read, but I would consider this only as a starting point for learning other aspects of adoption and the issues surrounding this complicated process.

Harvest by Clarke Wallace

Tried, but I just couldn't get through it.

Open Secrets by Alice Munro

Alice Munro

Every so often, the CBC Radio gives rave reviews to Alice Munro's work, so I knew when I found Open Secrets at my local book supplier, I had to spend a little time with it. In reality, I have some vague recollection of reading a collection of her short stories in university, but that time in my life is a bit fuzzy...(strictly because I did lots of reading in the library ;-)

The Globe and Mail's review says that Open Secrets is: "...Too good to be called merely brilliant: It is a marvel." 

Ok. When I read comments like that, my palms start to sweat and I get really nervous. For one, that's a pretty huge compliment. How could any book live up to that claim? And second, if I don`t agree with the reviewer`s opinion, I feel I have to figure out why it`s NOT a marvel.

Alice Munro is a
Canadian Treasure

Munro`s stories are entertaining. They are mysterious, and they are quite exciting at times. There is quite a bit of vagueness, that keeps the reader guessing. But I have to admit that I got lost amongst the stories several times, and had a tough time keeping track of all the characters and story lines (Am I the only one who takes notes on a recipe card to keep characters straight? Let me know how to do it otherwise...)

After doing a little research on Munro's collection, this British review explains my confusion: "Alice Munro's stories are lucid and compelling. They are also extremely mysterious. They demand close attention -a word skipped or a line skimmed can be the difference between bafflement and illumination..." Ah-ha. That`s EXACTLY it. I read at night before going to sleep. Sometimes I miss a few words here and there...Sometimes I miss sentences, and maybe even skip a paragraph or two when I want to go to sleep but have to finish the page. Maybe that`s why I couldn`t keep it straight and make sense of it all.

So here is a link to a conversation with Alice Munro and CBC`s Peter Gzowski in 1994:

 Click to listen to Full Interview

And there you have it. I'm not attentive enough to follow Munro's subtle prose. I better `dumb it down`a bit for my next couple of novels. I don`t want to feel like silly for long. Basically, I`ll have to save Alice Munro and Mordecai Richler for when I`m fully alert and prepared to take notes.

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

Happy Easter to All!

This short film (15 minutes) is truly touching. The "short" won the Oscar this year, and I can see why.

I happily shared it with my 5 year old, and he couldn't stop watching it either. 

 Enjoy the story, it's beautiful.

The Dressmaker of Khair Khana by Gayle Lemmon

As you may know from previous posts, I recently went on vacation with my family for two weeks. We had a lovely time in Florida, and on a Royal Carribean Cruise. It was truly a beautiful break away. In preparing from our trip, I chose to bring the following books: Mockingbird, Half Blood Blues and Dressmaker of Khair Khana. I read them in this order, and WOW, was it great to finish with such and incredible book!

A  Fabulous Read...
Couldn't Put it Down!

Gayle Lemmon's non-fiction Dressmaker of Khair Khana is spectacular. I couldn't put it down! Ironically, I contributed this book to my Book Club's Christmas Book Exchange party. My friend Anna ended up selecting it, and she tore through it in only a few days. She gladly lent it to me for my vacation, and I'm sure that she knew I would love it!

This is the true story of five sisters living in Kabul, Afghanistan during the invasion by the Taliban in the late 1990's.  Kamila, the industrious leader of the household is determined to earn a living and provide food and shelter for her siblings. Although the Taliban's rigid Sharea laws forbid women to work or attend school, they are forced to use the chadri in public and are not to leave their homes unless escorted by a man. Women are not allowed to speak to men, listen to music, show any of their skin in public.

Kamila Sidiqi: The Dressmaker

Dressmaker showed me how industrious women can be when they are challenged by the system. They find ways to feed and educate their families. They see the obligation to work for the betterment of their society.

Woman Wearing Chadri

The PBS article covering this book is worth a read: PBS Article on Dressmaker.

I was so disappointed in the Canada Reads competition, that eliminated this book so early on in the first round of debates. I think it should be used in schools to educate our youth on the differences that women and children face in different cultures.

I highly recommend this book. It's a MUST READ.

Henrietta Lacks...You made us Think!!!

Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot is the non-fictional account of the first discovery of human cells that were able to grow and multiply outside of the body, in a laboratory setting. These cells allowed scientific experimentation for the first time on human cell tissues. It was a first for researchers and a giant leap forward for medical investigation.

Well, I was a bit worried that the girls in the book club might have given up before our meeting on Tuesday, but oh boy, was I wrong! This was our April book selection, and it proved to be an engaging read for most everyone!

Tuesday morning`s meeting was geared up, and certainly I found it to be very vocal. (Maybe the Starbucks coffee had something to do with it!!!) Nearly everyone had read the book, and there was a wide range of opinions around V.`s dining room table. I would suggest that it was the most animated meeting that we've had so far!

Most everyone agreed that it was well written and easy to read. I found Skloot's narrative to be a bit repetitive, and I really got bored by some of the re-telling of certain details. (It sometimes felt like I had been told the same info over and over.)

Henrietta's Confident and Strong Smile

Some members found it to be a great examination of American medical ethics in the 1950`s.  Unfortunately our in-house doctor wasn`t present (she skipped this month, and picked up an extra shift at the hospital!). However, we did enjoy hearing about the discussion between F and her husband (the very sweet, and super intelligent international patent expert).  Patents and ethics are sticky issues sometimes.


I was left with the impression that cells donated or removed from the human body do not continue to be the property of the patient. One person likened the removal of tissues during medical procedures as a form of waste removal. After the waste has been removed from our possession, it is "free for the taking."
There was a general consensus that the Lacks family weren`t really entitled to financial compensation. In this case, Henrietta's cell tissue proved to be incredibly valuable to the scientific community, but no more worthy of financial compensation as a result. I believe that Henrietta didn't understand what science was doing with her cells, and I believe that her family was not informed, but her sons ongoing quest for money was unfounded.

We also agreed that Henrietta`s consent to the various tests and procedures was not informed consent. I believe that her family also suffered subsequent victimization as a result of not being afforded a clear explanation of the events that unfolded. It always seemed like the scientific community never afforded the Lacks family enough time or explanation. To think that this poor family thought that they were being tested for cancer when they were merely taking blood samples for DNA research.

Author Rebecca Skloot

I enjoyed learning about this real event in the development of scientific research. Author Rebecca Skloot is successful in presenting a real life occurrence and explaining the fall out from these events. Ultimately, Skloot presents the story of an impoverished American family, who's involvement in the progress of research was quite accidental.

Rebecca Skloot's work got the book club ladies going. We had a great discussion, and I still find myself thinking about the ethical issues that she presents in her book. Way to go Rebecca!
   

Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan

Choosing my traveling novels is a task that I relish. On vacation, I want to be engaged, entertained, and stimulated. I'm not going to read David Baldacci or the likes...I'll just end up snoozing with the book balancing on my nose!!! (although it seemed like half the ship was reading Baldacci or Koontz...ugh.) So this year, I was excited to take Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan on vacation with me.

Being 2011's Giller Prize winner, Half Blood Blues is historical fiction set in the mid 1930's as the German's were gearing up for the Second World War. It is the story of several black German jazz musicians, and what they face as citizens of Germany, who don't fit the mould of Nazi Germany.

Esi Edugyan accepting the 2011 Scotiabank Giller Prize
for her novel Half-Blood Blues.

Similar to many musicians, they are most concerned with producing music. Bringing excellent talent together to perform and record is their main focus. They know that the political climate of their country is changing, and they begin to understand that it is best to flee the rising intolerant government.

After much struggle, they secure false passports that will allow them safe passage to France. But once they get to France, they are almost immediately greeted with the German invasion of Paris.

This novel is an exciting look at the lives of black German citizens. (I am embarrassed to admit that I had no idea that there was a black population in Germany during the war.) It showed me a part of history that I did not know existed, and I am glad to have read this novel because I now realise that WW2 represented the plight of so many diverse groups. It is a well written novel by Canadian Esi Edugyan, and I look forward to reading more from her. Here she is reading from her novel and speaking about the writing process...Click on the video thumbnail.

If you'd like to learn more about this exciting author, click on the following link: More info on Esi Edugyan's work.