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Show Me A Mountain
May. 18th, 2022 03:26 pmI picked up Show Me A Mountain by Kerry Young at my local station's book exchange, so it was a bit of a random selection.
It's about a Chinese girl, growing up in Jamaica in the 1930s and 1940s, eventually following her progress into adulthood, all the way to the 1960s. Fay had a complicated relationship with her abusive mother, doesn't really fit in anywhere, and grows increasingly concerned about developments in her birth country, once she has children of her own.
The book is well-written and engaging for the most part. The exploration of Fay's relationships with her parents, her siblings, various men (including British Army officials, lovers, a husband and a local priest), her children and her few friends is interesting and many-layered.
It's pretty depressing in the opening sections, but picks up once Fay reaches her teenage years, though it skips forwards in time quite rapidly for a bit, before settling down into a more steady narrative. Some of the history and politics seemed a bit dense and heavy-handed to me, but narrative went in some very unexpected directions at times, and I found the ultimate conclusion satisfying.
It's a vivid depiction of different nationalities living together during a turbulent time, with a strong viewpoint protagonist.
It's about a Chinese girl, growing up in Jamaica in the 1930s and 1940s, eventually following her progress into adulthood, all the way to the 1960s. Fay had a complicated relationship with her abusive mother, doesn't really fit in anywhere, and grows increasingly concerned about developments in her birth country, once she has children of her own.
The book is well-written and engaging for the most part. The exploration of Fay's relationships with her parents, her siblings, various men (including British Army officials, lovers, a husband and a local priest), her children and her few friends is interesting and many-layered.
It's pretty depressing in the opening sections, but picks up once Fay reaches her teenage years, though it skips forwards in time quite rapidly for a bit, before settling down into a more steady narrative. Some of the history and politics seemed a bit dense and heavy-handed to me, but narrative went in some very unexpected directions at times, and I found the ultimate conclusion satisfying.
It's a vivid depiction of different nationalities living together during a turbulent time, with a strong viewpoint protagonist.
