Sunday Salon: A New Book and Recently Read

 

Mud Lilies

by 

Indra Ramayan, p

ublished May 21st 2022 by Cormorant Books

Genre: urban fiction, literary fiction 

Source: publisher review copy

About the book: The night fourteen-year-old Chanie Nyrider ran away from her abusive parents, she was saved by an older woman who  offered Chanie a new life working as a prostitute. With nowhere to turn, Chanie was drawn into Edmonton’s dark underbelly, where she survived until arrested four years later. She was given two options: jail or a high school program for troubled youth. Mud Lilies is the powerful story of a young woman finding a path of hope in the darkest of places and defiantly choosing to pursue it.

“Harrowing, hopeful, and informed by Ramayan's own experiences as a runaway to Edmonton, Mud Lilies is a hymn to the power of one young woman's defiant spark of life, a story of grit and wisdom set against a backdrop of cruelty and indifference.” — Grace O’Connell, Open Book

Recently read:

HARVEE’S RECENT UPDATES on Goodreads

Harvee rated a book it was amazing The Family Chao by Lan Samantha Chang (Goodreads Author)	Read My rating: 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars[ 5 of 5 stars ]
It's amazing that a chance encounter with a stranger, Zhang Fujian, carrying a small fortune in his bag would lead to the downfall of the Chao family patriarch, owner of the Chao restaurant, and lead to suspicion falling on the three sons. I enjoyed the characterization of each son, so different from one another, and the denouement of the plot in this domestic drama. There is a murder to be solved, also, but I liked that the brothers join together in the face of being children of immigrants in a small American town, and in the face of possible, pending tragedy.
Harvee rated a book  Lemon by Kwon Yeo-Sun   Read My rating: 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars[ 4 of 5 stars ]5 of 5 stars This turned out not to be a detective novel as it first seemed, but a look at high schoolers then and seventeen years later in relation to the murder of a female student. There are hints as to what could have happened in the murder but the students and their interactions are the important elements of the novel. Character driven rather than plot driven, this was an unusual but very interesting look at adolescents.

Harvee rated a book   The Boy With the Bookstore by Sarah Echavarre Smith (Goodreads Author)

Read My rating: 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars[ 4 of 5 stars ]5 of 5 stars

The romance between Max and Joelle began and blossomed early in the book, which surprised me, as I wondered, where the story would go from there. I liked that family plays such an important role in Joelle's life and that Max comes to value the idea of family as something he never had. I also liked that problems with Max's bookstore and Joelle's bakery also moved the story forward. The romance could have had more internal challenges, however, instead of all from outside conflicts. Also, the constant praises for Joelle as a dutiful daughter, praises from Max and from her family were a little overdone throughout the book. But overall, this was a pleasant read, a contemporary young romance novel.

What are you reading this week? 

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon, Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday  

Book Review: The Family Chao by Lan Samantha Chang

 

The Family Chao by Lan Samantha Chang

Published February 1st 2022 by W. W. Norton Company

Genre: Cultural heritage fiction, mystery, literary fiction 
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It's amazing that a chance encounter with a stranger, Zhang Fujian, carrying a small fortune in his bag would lead to the downfall of the Chao family patriarch, owner of the Chao restaurant, and lead to suspicion falling on the three sons. James, the youngest son, helping an old Chinese man at the train station began the turmoil of events. Little did anyone know that the man's blue bag, forgotten in the back of a car, would be removed and transported to different places and cause a major problem for the Chao family.

How the three brothers - master chef Dagou, industrious and ambitious Ming, and college student James - stick together, facing the insults and disdain of their overbearing father during the illness and the death of their mother, and how they rally in each other's defense is admirable. Family secrets also prove fatal in this story.

I enjoyed the characterization of each son, so different from one another, and the denouement of the plot in this domestic drama. There is a murder mystery to be solved, also, but I liked that the brothers join together in the face of being children of immigrants in a small American town, and in the face of possible, pending tragedy.

Critics have called The Family Chao a reimagining of  The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky.

View all my reviews

Book beginning: 

For thirty-five years everybody supported Leo Chao's restaurant. Introducing choosy newcomers by showing off some real Chinese food in Haven, Wisconsin. 

At 56% of ebook: 

Then after Winnie died, someone - one of his brothers, or even one of this parents' friends -would have carried the blue blag out of the hospital and loaded it into a car. And then what? 

 

Memes: The Friday 56. Find any sentence that grabs you on page 56 of your book. Post it, and add your URL to Freda's Voice. Also visit Book Beginnings at Rose City Reader.