Wege der Seidenfrauen.
by Gail Tsukiyama
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 1085)
Read in June, 2008
Such a sad book...the excrutiating poverty and (apparent) loveless - and sometimes abusive - marriages were horrifying, and it made me wonder if the positive atmosphere created by Auntie Yee in her girls' house was the exception rather than the norm. As much as the described atrocities seem believable, I wonder if the contrasting tenderness & happiness of Auntie Yee's home were at all possible. It definitely made for an interesting & well rendered story.
My discomfort with the story...more
My discomfort with the story...more
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Read in May, 2008
This book had the potential to be deeply moving... but in the end, it came up quite a bit short.
I was really hoping to learn more about silk factory work and the daily struggles surrounding it. While we do get a glimpse of some of the dangers (e.g. Ming's accident), the factory largely serves as a convenient background to the relationships between the characters. That's fine when your setting is really neutral, but a back breaking factory? I'm not sure that I can truly picture anyone enjoyin...more
I was really hoping to learn more about silk factory work and the daily struggles surrounding it. While we do get a glimpse of some of the dangers (e.g. Ming's accident), the factory largely serves as a convenient background to the relationships between the characters. That's fine when your setting is really neutral, but a back breaking factory? I'm not sure that I can truly picture anyone enjoyin...more
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Read in March, 2008
This book had such potential, yet failed to deliver. It was a good book, yet it could have been better. The characters did not progress. I would have loved to get to know them better, to understand their struggles and to feel what they felt. Maybe it’s the culture and they must remain guarded in fiction also. The synopsis of the book stated that it was about a strike at a silk factory in rural China in the 1920’s and 1930’s, but it was about so much more than that. This was the story of t...more
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Gail Tsukiyama's "Women of the Silk" is an interesting look into the lives of women who worked in the silk factories in China, in the early 20th century. Come to find out, this grueling labor actually gave these women a kind of freedom from traditional marriage roles, as they lived independently, off their own earnings. Tsukiyama follows a young girl, Pei, through to her years as a young adult, having been left without explanation at the silk factory by her father when she was little...more
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Read in January, 2003
From Publishers Weekly
An auspicious debut, this sensitively written, impressively researched novel covers 20 years in the life of Pei, a Chinese girl sent to work in a silk factory during the first decades of the 20th century. Quick-witted, inquisitive, spirited Pei spends her early childhood on a poverty-stricken fish farm; her uncommunicative parents consign her to the factory for the wages she will send home. Initially terrified, Pei soon settles into the communal routine, and finds the 12-...more
An auspicious debut, this sensitively written, impressively researched novel covers 20 years in the life of Pei, a Chinese girl sent to work in a silk factory during the first decades of the 20th century. Quick-witted, inquisitive, spirited Pei spends her early childhood on a poverty-stricken fish farm; her uncommunicative parents consign her to the factory for the wages she will send home. Initially terrified, Pei soon settles into the communal routine, and finds the 12-...more
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Read in January, 2008
I'm not sure what it is about books featuring Asian female protagonists, but it's very hard for me to ever get very connected to them despite how hard I try! This one was better than Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, but not as good as Memoirs of a Geisha. It's almost as if the author continues to try and be as respectful as possible of the privacy of the characters, thus, preventing any meaningful connection between reader and protagonist!
At any rate, I did find it interesting to follow Pei t...more
At any rate, I did find it interesting to follow Pei t...more
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recommended to Jordan by:
Liz
recommends it for: Beth
recommends it for: Beth
If you are just starting with Gail Tsukiyama then I recommend starting with this book. Gail Tsukiyama is Chines/Japanese American and her books take place mostly in China/Hong Kong around the second World War. This book, "Women of the Silk", tells the story of a young girl who lives in a world where daughters are married off and those that aren't go to work in the newly thriving silk factories. Contrary to the silk work being along the lines of forced labor it is actually an opportu...more
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I read this book for my book group. I've heard "never judge a book by its cover" before, but I'd never heard, "never judge a book by its synopsis" before, which is a very applicable warning for the edition I read! It really has very little to do with a strike in a silk factory, so don't get your hopes up. I felt the first misgivings when the book began by describing how horrible the protagonist's mother's wedding night was. And then there were about eight thousand similar...more
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Read in February, 2008
When Pei is sent to work in the silk factories because her family could not afford her, she flourishes in the sisterhood of the workers there and decides to choose the life of a spinster with her best friend, Lin. This book seemed like a well-written rough draft to me. It just did not seem finished. The characters seemed mostly like sketches, it was very repetitive and even the obviously well-researched life in the silk factories seemed a bit bare. The story itself seemed jerky as some scenes ...more
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Read in April, 2008
The poor parents of spirited and inquisitive Pei consigns her to work in a silk factory for her wages that will be sent home. Though devastated at first, Pei thrives within the sisterhood of silk workers. As China experiences drastic economic and political changes between 1919-1938, Pei's personality and friendships help her become increasingly independent and ready to face the Japanese threat which becomes more real everyday.
Readers get a good understanding of this slice of Chinese hist...more
Readers get a good understanding of this slice of Chinese hist...more
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Read in February, 2008
This book was okay until the end. I hated the ending - how much misery can one person endure? Reading this book made me think about how wonderful it is to live in modern American where I, as a woman, have as much independence and autonomy as I choose. I think if I had lived during that time in China I would have chosen to remain unmarried as Pei did. I would never want to be in a loveless marriage, being exploited and treated poorly by a husband who would never talk to me and share his feeli...more
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This book started out with a lot of promise. It is easy to read, engaging and is set in an interesting historical period that I was unfamiliar with. I learned a lot about the Chinese silk factories and the social/political climate at the time. But halfway through the characters started to feel stale. By the end I was just frustrated with them and the author. No one really grows, changes or learns in the book. The characters don't arc. There are major emotional issues that either aren't ad...more
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Read in April, 2008
This book is like a Korean (or other Asian) drama. Somewhat melodramatic at times, but still makes you want to cry. Interestingly, this book feels situation-driven; the author describes the characters' growth based on specific events rather than just showing growing maturity over time. Perhaps this is due to the disjointed chapters, each of which focuses on a specific character and a specific situation (including flashbacks). I wouldn't say that character development is a strength for this b...more
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Read in April, 2008
After being so surprised at how much I liked this author's Samuri's Garden, I decided to read more of her work. My local library was a great help.
While I did not like this book as much as Samuri's Garden, the style is similar. So too is the time/place (but focused in China rather than Japan). The author's style is pretty consistent with that in Samuri's Garden and is pleasant to read. But somehow, the tone and lyricism was not up to the standard set in Samuri's Garden.
This is the story o...more
While I did not like this book as much as Samuri's Garden, the style is similar. So too is the time/place (but focused in China rather than Japan). The author's style is pretty consistent with that in Samuri's Garden and is pleasant to read. But somehow, the tone and lyricism was not up to the standard set in Samuri's Garden.
This is the story o...more
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I felt the beginning of the book, was really tought to get throught. It's not like it was hard to read, but the topic is talked about is a topic that i can never imagine. At a young age, Gail was sold to a woman who forced her to go to work at a sweat shop that spun silk. Besides Gail, there were around twenty to thirty more girls that had the same fate as her. The minute the girls walked into the house, they lost their identities. They wore the same outfit, ate the same food and did the same t...more
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This novel starts out well but then moves very slowly until the last few chapters. While it was interesting, the authr nearly lost me in the middle with an overabundance of "basically not much happening for many chapters" for lack of another way to put it. However the last few chapters the pace picks up and things get interesting. The end made the middle almost worth it. The ending obviously sets up for at least a sequel as Pei heads into her future. The sequel is called The Language o...more
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Read in May, 2008
This was actually her first novel and it was good but just like Samurai's Garden, it has an underlying saddness, perhaps characteristic of the subject matter and setting. However, she does manage to depict a strong bond among these sad oppressed women and in that bond, develops both inner and outer strength. The reader becomes a witness to the development of the strength and you begin to hope that the women will "break free" of the oppression. She develops a very insightful ending le...more
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Read in January, 2004
I wanted to love this book because the subject was so intriguing to me. Unfortunately, it's not particularly well written but for sheer entertainment value it is certainly a good story on the whole. At center is Pei, a young girl from rural China who is sent to earn money for her family at a silk factory in the city. Pei is a character who deserves our interest and her life takes many turns during the 20 years to which we are privy. I also enjoyed the detail surrounding the actual silk productio...more
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Read in July, 2008
recommends it for:
fans of The Joy Luck Club & The Red Tent
This is a good novel.
(I'm trying to claim the "three star" rating for genuinely good books that just don't make me swoon for whatever reason. I feel I can be a bit of a rating inflationist sometimes.)
Why I didn't swoon: it has a simple, straightforward writing style that makes for superfast reading but doesn't necessarily use language in innovative, beautiful ways.
That being said, it's high-quality historical fiction about early 20th century Chinese silk workers. We had a...more
(I'm trying to claim the "three star" rating for genuinely good books that just don't make me swoon for whatever reason. I feel I can be a bit of a rating inflationist sometimes.)
Why I didn't swoon: it has a simple, straightforward writing style that makes for superfast reading but doesn't necessarily use language in innovative, beautiful ways.
That being said, it's high-quality historical fiction about early 20th century Chinese silk workers. We had a...more
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Read in February, 2004
recommends it for:
everyone
It has been three or so years since I have read this book. My mother sent it to me and, at first, it didn't look like something I would enjoy. I picked it up and could not put it down until I read the whole book in one sitting! I think I stayed up until 4 am reading this book. Gail Tsukiyama does a fantastic job of setting the background, developing a vivid picture in your mind and you become so immersed in the story that you actually feel like you are there in the story. I am going to have ...more
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