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Chasing China
by
Kay Bratt (Goodreads Author)
Paperback, 340 pages
Published
October 26th 2011
by Createspace
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Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
596)
Jan 14, 2012
Rachel Cotterill
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
read-in-2012,
romance
I'm finding it hard to know how to rate this book. On the one hand, I liked the characters, and the story of one girl's struggle to find her Chinese birth family was both gripping and moving, right to the last page (not counting the epilogue). On the other hand, I didn't much care for the style, and there were points when I found the jarring POV shifts sufficiently annoying that I just had to put the book down: most of the time the story follows Mia's point of view, and sometimes Jax's, but then...more
I wanted to like this book because a novel about an international adoptee searching for her birth-story and birth-family appeals to me. And I think there is a passionate audience for this type of story. However, the actual writing style and language kept pulling me out of the pages and often had me rolling my eyes.
The author knows a lot about Chinese culture, adoption in general, Chinese adoption specifically, and Chinese orphanages. The problem is that she tried to cram so much information in t...more
The author knows a lot about Chinese culture, adoption in general, Chinese adoption specifically, and Chinese orphanages. The problem is that she tried to cram so much information in t...more
2 likes
·
like
· see review
SPOILER ALERT...
At first I thoufgt it was a great read as it delves into the difficult identity issues of adoptees, but the end was very disappointing. The author opts for the "happy ever after fantasy" ending where the adoptee finds she was desperately wanted by her birth parents, she is easily reunited with her birth father, and more good comes forth.
While this is a plausible ending in China, I think it is not most adoptees' experience. A more realistic ending would have had her NOT finding he...more
At first I thoufgt it was a great read as it delves into the difficult identity issues of adoptees, but the end was very disappointing. The author opts for the "happy ever after fantasy" ending where the adoptee finds she was desperately wanted by her birth parents, she is easily reunited with her birth father, and more good comes forth.
While this is a plausible ending in China, I think it is not most adoptees' experience. A more realistic ending would have had her NOT finding he...more
Mia has come to China to discover the truth about her birth family. She is one of the many Chinese girls who were adopted overseas. Although Mia had a wonderful childhood and a loving adoptive family, part of her cannot rest until she discovers more about who she is, where she came from, and why her birth family deserted her at the age of one in a train station, leaving her to spend several years in a state-run orphanage before being adopted at age four.
When Mia visits the orphanage where she li...more
When Mia visits the orphanage where she li...more
I've read some criticism of the author's 'telling' vs. 'showing'. I typically do not rate books so much on such stylistic issues because I believe most readers don't identify that as a problem in books. That seems to me to be more of an author as reviewer issue. Sure, readers might notice some missing 'zing' in a story...but I've yet to come across a large group of readers (not professional reviewers) who would write that.
I not only had the good fortune to read 'Chasing China", I also had the o...more
I not only had the good fortune to read 'Chasing China", I also had the o...more
I've read some criticism of the author's 'telling' vs. 'showing'. I typically do not rate books so much on such stylistic issues because I believe most readers don't identify that as a problem in books. That seems to me to be more of an author as reviewer issue. Sure, readers might notice some missing 'zing' in a story...but I've yet to come across a large group of readers (not professional reviewers) who would write that.
I not only had the good fortune to read 'Chasing China", I also had the o...more
I not only had the good fortune to read 'Chasing China", I also had the o...more
This was a free readon our new Kindle, and since it dealt with adoption, I was interested. This is a novel, but I am sure some of what is discussed it fact. The Chinese daughter of a middle class American family wants to visit her roots. It is not the story of waitng for years to finally get to go to China. I thought it was very insightful to learn of her feelings of inadequacy. The character hated being different. She begged her dad to let her have surgery to make her eyes wider. She dyed her h...more
What would you do if you had been adopted at a young age and suppressed the feeling of abandonment, only to realize that now as an adult, in order to move forward you need to know your past? Could you take the risk of possibly never finding out the truth of why you were placed in an orphanage and put up for adoption? How will your decision affect your relationship with your adopted family? If you do find out the truth, how will it affect and/or change your future? These are the questions that Mi...more
I loved this book, so many emotions this girl went through.
Two words: cultural appropriation.
And beta readers are not editors. I'm sorry, but if you want to be taken seriously as an author, you must edit or be edited. You cannot change POV from first to third person in italicized internal dialogue. Pick a convention and stick to it.
A prologue is an out-of-sequence setup to the main body of a story; its only purpose is to be a strong hook when the beginning to your story is weak. (Solution? Fix the beginning to the story, and the prologue is unnecessar...more
And beta readers are not editors. I'm sorry, but if you want to be taken seriously as an author, you must edit or be edited. You cannot change POV from first to third person in italicized internal dialogue. Pick a convention and stick to it.
A prologue is an out-of-sequence setup to the main body of a story; its only purpose is to be a strong hook when the beginning to your story is weak. (Solution? Fix the beginning to the story, and the prologue is unnecessar...more
Jan 09, 2012
Suzanne
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fiction,
suzanne-s-2012-reading-challenge
What an amazing, heart-wrenching book. A work of fiction interwoven with some of the author's own experiences, and alot of information about orphanages in China, this was a book that touched my heart. I found myself forgetting that the characters were just characters in a story and not real people, because they were so well written, and the author wove the tale so well. I have to admit, I don't think I can add China to my list of places I want to go someday, but it was vastly interesting to lear...more
Mia is a young college student who sets off on a journey to find out more about her birth family – in China. She was told that she was left at a train station when she was just a baby, and lived in an orphanage until she was adopted by her American family. But the time has come for Mia to see China, the orphanage where she once lived, and try to find out more about the Chinese culture. Mia is shocked when she sees firsthand what the orphans go through – no love, strict schedules, and the bare mi...more
One night while browsing the top free Kindle books on the Amazon site, I came across Chasing China: A Daughter's Quest for Truth by Kay Bratt. The brief description sounded interesting enough, so I "purchased" it. Because it was free, I had little expectation of it. If it was mildly enjoyable, I would be happy.
This book did not disappoint me, and actually, it exceeded my expectations. I really did like it. It isn't a difficult read, so I was able to finish it in one day easily. However, being an...more
This book did not disappoint me, and actually, it exceeded my expectations. I really did like it. It isn't a difficult read, so I was able to finish it in one day easily. However, being an...more
As a Chinese immigrate, I thought I could somehow relate to the story. However, I was more disappointed than I could describe. First even myself with an ESL background felt cheated by the poorly and carelessly written language. Second, it might be entertaining for someone who had never been to China or someone who went to China a long time ago and thinks things will never change as time goes on. Third, i feel Mia never really appreciated her culture roots. She presented herself as an outsider lo...more
Read it for book club.
It was a very quick read; 2 days. I found it to be written more for a young adult reader which was disappointing. I enjoyed learning about modern day Chinese culture, but I wanted more information than the author provided.
The woman who chose this book has 15 children; 11 of whom are adopted and several of those are from china.
She told us that the book was very true to how orphanages are run and the corruption involved. The stories of the street children are based in fact! T...more
It was a very quick read; 2 days. I found it to be written more for a young adult reader which was disappointing. I enjoyed learning about modern day Chinese culture, but I wanted more information than the author provided.
The woman who chose this book has 15 children; 11 of whom are adopted and several of those are from china.
She told us that the book was very true to how orphanages are run and the corruption involved. The stories of the street children are based in fact! T...more
I really enjoyed this book. As a woman who has entertained the possiblity of one day adopting a child my heart went out to the children in this book. To see how they are not given any love, not because the nannies don't want to, but for fear of punishment. I found it odd that the author pointed out that there are a lot of babies being born in China with birth defects but never really addressed why that may be happening.
I actually recommended this book to my best friend. I told her that it was a...more
I actually recommended this book to my best friend. I told her that it was a...more
Feb 21, 2012
Lisa (Lost in Literature)
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
received-for-review
I was completely blown away by this story. I expected it to be much more fictional, but the extent of actual knowledge Kay has on this subject is remarkable. I couldn't believe the way the Chinese orphans were treated, and it broke my heart reading Mia's story. You could definitely tell this was a personal subject to Kay and she spent a lot of time writing this well-thought-out novel.
Mia is a very creative character. Torn between her American upbringing and Chinese heritage, she found herself co...more
Mia is a very creative character. Torn between her American upbringing and Chinese heritage, she found herself co...more
This was an interesting book. It actually got more intriguing as the book went by. I was interested in it because eventually I will be adopting a child, and this was a peek at something that hopefully my future child will never go through. The writing style really was not all that great, and the conversations were not actually written as how it would be spoken, so I just kept reading to get the story finished.
I liked the ending. It really brought together what the author was trying to get across...more
I liked the ending. It really brought together what the author was trying to get across...more
An enjoyable young adult read. A young woman adopted from China seeks to find her birth family and why they put her up for adoption. Some of the details of the story feel very accurate and knowlegable (e.g., people walking in front of a car expecting you to move, the expat community and their work). And probably the punch line is accurate for SOME Chinese adoptions. I worry that too many people will conclude this is their story or that this is a common story which I don't think it is.
Mar 17, 2012
Darlene
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Those who love stories of other places and people
Recommended to Darlene by:
Kay Bratt
Shelves:
adoption,
disabilities,
china,
feminism,
kindle,
orphans,
womyn,
free,
kindle-books-i-own,
lending-enabled,
text-to-speech-enabled
I have a love/hate relationship with China. The stories Kay Bratt tells helps give us a realistic view into the lives of the orphans of China. This book is a mixture between the great story telling in The Bridge and the memoir of Silent Tears. Ms. Bratt tells a soulful story of a duaghter questing to find her birth parents. I did enjoy the way Kay wove the fabric of lives and plots in a society that is foreign to most of us here in the USA. Thank you, Ms. Kay.
The plot of this book is interesting enough to keep your interest, and as someone who has lived for a long time in China, I am impressed with the accuracy of the cultural insights the author makes as a backdrop to the story. The writing, however, is fairly amateur, so much so that I almost had to stop reading. If you're looking for a quick read and a glimpse into Chinese culture, it's enjoyable. If you're looking for good quality literature, skip it.
The entire story was far too predictable and the book desperately needed a good editor. Perhaps an editor was used, in which case that editor needs to be replaced. While others have noted the jarring point of view shifts, what bothered me the most were the extraneous details. The reader does not need to know that the main character's second toe is longer than her first among many, many other details that serve no purpose whatsoever.
As an adoptive parent, I found this book extremely disappointing. Really, who would allow their teenage daughter to travel to China alone to find out about her history? And the things that happen when she's there are just ridiculous. I kept hoping it would get better, that there would be some redeeming quality (for the book, not the characters), but no such luck. I put this down feeling disgusted.
As a Tai Tai (expat spouse) currently living in Suzhou, China I really enjoyed reading about my favorite places in Suzhou. Kay does a great job describing the sights and sounds of Suzhou, right down to my favorite Chinese restaurant Yang Yang's. I laughed when she referenced the slow elevators and the blue Buick vans driving the expats around (except now they are all golden Buick vans). I do agree with a some of the other reviewers that the writing was a bit forced, the changes in narrators with...more
I wanted to like this book, given the topic. However, it was so poorly written, and the main characters were so one-dimensional, that I could hardly get through it.
Without spoiling the ending in case anyone actually wants to read this, I think it was not only unbelievable, but it also sends an inappropriate/unrealistic message to Chinese adoptees hoping to find their birth parents.
Without spoiling the ending in case anyone actually wants to read this, I think it was not only unbelievable, but it also sends an inappropriate/unrealistic message to Chinese adoptees hoping to find their birth parents.
Written for teens adopted from China, this book explores the identity feelings many adoptees, from China, deal with. The writing is not the best, but another good one for the shelf of adoptive parents....warning... read it before you think of simpy giving it to your child. The "happy-ever after" ending may cause some unrealistic expectations in your child.
It's hard to know how to review this book. The characters were interesting, and the storyline was engaging. The author is clearly knowledgeable and passionate about her topic. However, the only way I can describe the writing itself is rough. Point of view often shifted briefly and unexpectedly. The writing itself really distracted from the story. When I came to the line, "His bare feet were void of shoes," I nearly couldn't continue reading.
I really loved this book. I relate to the character Mia so much even though I'm not Chinese. I can understand her emotions. I liked the ending and hope one day I can get something similar at finding my birth parents. It really motivates me to help other adopted children and those in orphanages. Im going to recommend it to alot of people.
One of our book club reads. Enjoyed learning about the Chinese culture, and this was a very different style book from The Red Chamber, which was our last book club read. Wasn't a huge fan of the writing style, but it was a quick read, and I definitely learned a few things from it.
Too simple, don't waste your time with this one.
I was talking with a friend about the books we were reading, both of us saying the writing was simple, lacked depth, but the cause was worthy. Turns out we were both reading Kay Bratt books, different ones, and neither of us felt the writing was sufficient to portray such a worthy cause.
I was talking with a friend about the books we were reading, both of us saying the writing was simple, lacked depth, but the cause was worthy. Turns out we were both reading Kay Bratt books, different ones, and neither of us felt the writing was sufficient to portray such a worthy cause.
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Kay Bratt is a child advocate and author, residing in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in South Carolina with her husband, daughter, dog, and cat. Kay lived in China for over four years and because of her experiences working with orphans, she strives to be the voice for children who cannot speak for themselves. She is currently an active volunteer for the non-profit organization called An...more
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Jan 16, 2012 07:27am