Mar 13, 2015

Book Beginning: A MAP OF BETRAYAL by Ha Jin

The Friday 56: *Grab a book, any book. *Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader  *Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you. *Post it. *Add your (url) post in Linky at Freda's Voice. Also visit Book Beginnings at Rose City Reader.
A Map of Betrayal: A Novel by Ha Jin, published November 4, 2014 by Pantheon.
Genre: historical fiction, spy novel

Book beginning:
My mother used to say, "Lilian, as long as I'm alive, you must have nothing to do with that woman." She was referring to Suzie, my father's mistress. 
"Okay, I won't," I would reply. 
Nellie, my embittered mother, had never forgiven my father for keeping another woman, though he'd died many years before. I kept my promise. I did not approach Suzie Chao until my mother, after a tenacious fight against pancreatic cancer, succumbed last winter. Death at eighty - I can say she lived a long life. 
Page 56: 
On the very afternoon he checked into a mall hotel on Queen's Road in downtown Hong Kong, he called Bingwen, who was delighted to hear about his arrival and eager to see him. 
Book description: A tale of espionage and conflicted loyalties that spans half a century in the entwined histories of two families and two countries—China and the United States.

Found at the library, a spy novel I'm looking forward to reading.

8 comments:

  1. I have to be in the right mood to read something like this, but I usually love them when I do. Thanks for sharing.
    sherry @ fundinmentalFriday Memes

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  2. Sounds intriguing....and I am definitely curious. Thanks for sharing...and here's mine: “WHERE THEY FOUND HER”

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  3. I'm intrigued! The premise sounds interesting and I always like family secrets and entwined history. Plus through in the espionage and I'm definitely interested. I

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  4. Sounds like a good story. I think I'd especially enjoy the Hong Kong setting.
    My Friday post features WHAT WE KEEP.

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  5. This does sound compelling! I hope this spy novel is enjoyable and engaging.

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  6. Sounds like lots of back story to cover!
    Happy weekend!

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  7. This sounds like it is going to be a good one. I do want to try it soon.

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  8. I like the emotional conflict that this premise seems to set up. If I were the book's protagonist I would feel a sense of obligation to continue to abide by my mother's wish. Even after she passed away.

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I appreciate your comments and thoughts...

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