图书标签: 家族史 外国文学 自传 中国 英文儿 张翎 小说 华人家族史
发表于2024-12-23
The Concubine's Children pdf epub mobi txt 电子书 下载 2024
From Publishers Weekly
This superbly told saga of family loyalties and disaffections reads more like a novel than an actual chronicle of Chan Sam, a Chinese peasant who left his family in 1913 to seek his fortune in the "Gold Mountain" of western Canada. There, though always planning to return to them, he set up a second family with the beautiful, headstrong concubine he brought with him from China. The story is narrated in the third person by his granddaughter, a Canadian economist, who creates an unsentimental portrait of both families: of Huangbo, the patient "home-wife" who raised their son and the two children the concubine, May-ying, left behind, and survived the Japanese occupation of China and the rule of Mao Tse-tung; of May-ying, whose earnings as a waitress in west coast teahouses often supported the struggling Chan Sam, his family in China and her own two Canadian-born children. And we learn of the fate of all the children, especially May-ying's daughter Hing, the author's mother. Although Chan Sam never fulfilled his dream of returning to his home-family, after his death, Hing and the author made the pilgrimage to China to embrace the relatives they had never known. Photos.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Formerly a senior economist for Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, Chong also is a writer of essays and articles. The subject of his first book is a true-life family history, beginning in about 1920 and ending in 1980. Its main character is Chong's maternal grandmother, May-ying, described as an unusually beautiful woman who came to Vancouver, Canada, to serve as a concubine. While May-ying's life was determined for her (i.e., to make money to send back to her "husband's" family in China), in the process she became an alcoholic, a gambler, and a prostitute. Her vices had a tremendously negative affect on her relationship with her husband, who eventually divorced her, and her daughter, Chong's mother, who grew up in rooming houses with no one to care for her. Told in a compassionate and forthright manner, this book makes sense out of the lives of many Chinese who came to the West to search for gold. In this respect, it is even better in form and content than the fictionalized works of Amy Tan. Recommended for all collections.
Peggy Spitzer Christoff, Oak Park, Ill.
the Cantonese
评分英文原版略难啃,最后几章reunion的场面写的太好了
评分因为要参加作者在公共图书馆举办的活动,我花了一个星期时间很认真地读完了这本书。这是一部个人家族史,当然,也是加拿大底层华裔移民的百年奋斗史,映射的则是过去那个世纪中国社会的变迁和数千年农业社会的全面崩溃。里面的中国历史自然是我们熟悉的,但从个人视角讲来,make it even more true。故事本身让人难过唏嘘的东西太多,难得的是作者讲得并不凄惨,反而很勾人,让你拿起来就放不下。我想大概是因为这里面有张爱玲所说的“悲凉”的参差的美,是可爱的。里面的人,作者的外祖父和外祖母,为了生存所做的一切,都是可爱和可以被原谅的。生老病死,聚合离散本来就是世间的真实,是一代又一代人无论如何要面对的。千山万水的距离已经不再重要,骄傲和耻辱,都有你看不到的那一面。此外,不觉得作者有任何政治偏见。
评分因为要参加作者在公共图书馆举办的活动,我花了一个星期时间很认真地读完了这本书。这是一部个人家族史,当然,也是加拿大底层华裔移民的百年奋斗史,映射的则是过去那个世纪中国社会的变迁和数千年农业社会的全面崩溃。里面的中国历史自然是我们熟悉的,但从个人视角讲来,make it even more true。故事本身让人难过唏嘘的东西太多,难得的是作者讲得并不凄惨,反而很勾人,让你拿起来就放不下。我想大概是因为这里面有张爱玲所说的“悲凉”的参差的美,是可爱的。里面的人,作者的外祖父和外祖母,为了生存所做的一切,都是可爱和可以被原谅的。生老病死,聚合离散本来就是世间的真实,是一代又一代人无论如何要面对的。千山万水的距离已经不再重要,骄傲和耻辱,都有你看不到的那一面。此外,不觉得作者有任何政治偏见。
评分英文原版略难啃,最后几章reunion的场面写的太好了
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The Concubine's Children pdf epub mobi txt 电子书 下载 2024