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108th out of 212 books
—
37 voters
Monkey Hunting
In this deeply stirring novel, acclaimed author Cristina García follows one extraordinary family through four generations, from China to Cuba to America. Wonderfully evocative of time and place, rendered in the lyrical prose that is García’s hallmark, Monkey Hunting is an emotionally resonant tale of immigration, assimilation, and the prevailing integrity of self.
Paperback, 288 pages
Published
April 27th 2004
by Ballantine Books
(first published 2003)
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Once in awhile I try to learn something new so I picked up this audiobook from my library because it sounded interesting and was based on something I knew nothing about, the migration of Chinese to Cuba in the 1900’s.
It starts out with the story of Chen Pan who decides to leave his family and his wife to make a better life for them all. The book then goes on to describe how he and his fellow passengers were misled and now destined for a future as slaves working on a sugarcane plantation. Strang...more
It starts out with the story of Chen Pan who decides to leave his family and his wife to make a better life for them all. The book then goes on to describe how he and his fellow passengers were misled and now destined for a future as slaves working on a sugarcane plantation. Strang...more
I bought this book two years ago because I thought it would tell me about Cuba, a country which, for me, is shrouded in mystery.
I did learn a bit of Cuba's history, but from the side of the Chinese immigrants who were enslaved in the sugar cane fields in the 19th century. Chen Pan was in his early 20s when he was paid 5 pesos to go to Cuba to work for 8 years. He expected to return to China a wealthy man, but instead was enslaved. Sometime later he escapes from the cane fields and for a year ma...more
I did learn a bit of Cuba's history, but from the side of the Chinese immigrants who were enslaved in the sugar cane fields in the 19th century. Chen Pan was in his early 20s when he was paid 5 pesos to go to Cuba to work for 8 years. He expected to return to China a wealthy man, but instead was enslaved. Sometime later he escapes from the cane fields and for a year ma...more
I'd lean towards 3 and a half stars.
Monkey Hunting, like Dreaming In Cuban uses various points of view, different voices separated by time and distance to explore the life “in-between” and within two (or more) cultures.
The trajectory of a Cuban-Chinese (and African) family is spread out over a hundred years of time told through glimpses into lives that range from a Chinese slave on a sugar plantation in the 1850s to his great-great grandson fighting for the Americans in Vietnam 120 years later w...more
Monkey Hunting, like Dreaming In Cuban uses various points of view, different voices separated by time and distance to explore the life “in-between” and within two (or more) cultures.
The trajectory of a Cuban-Chinese (and African) family is spread out over a hundred years of time told through glimpses into lives that range from a Chinese slave on a sugar plantation in the 1850s to his great-great grandson fighting for the Americans in Vietnam 120 years later w...more
You know how I had mentioned in my post on Wayson Choy’s Jade Peony that I am apprehensive about reading Chinese immigrant stories? So why was it that immediately after reading Jade Peony, I picked up Cristina Garcia’s Monkey Hunting? I’m not sure myself. But from Vancouver’s Chinatown, I found myself in Cuba, following Chen Pan who in 1857 travels from China to be enslaved (unsuspectingly so) on a sugarcane plantation. He somehow makes it out of the plantation, becomes his own boss (he sells se...more
I really enjoyed reading this book. I knew about the migration of Chinese to the Caribbean, but I've never read of it in a fictional genre. I read this book in a single day in rural Vietnam; it was pouring rain and I couldn't go out, so I pulled out this book and read the entire thing. I wished it hadn't ended; I wanted to learn more about some under-developed characters. But I thought the rendering of both Chinese and Cuban cultures was both subtle and superb. I was saddened by the unfortunate...more
I loved listening to this book. I'd never even heard about the Chinese in Cuba, so that part was especially fascinating. The book was in my car, and it actually made me look forward to my commute!
That said, and even though I would recommend this book on the whole as both interesting and entertaining, I would not claim that it is great, great literature.Some of Garcia's character descriptions seem just right, and some seem forced. (This applies to various characters at various times in their live...more
That said, and even though I would recommend this book on the whole as both interesting and entertaining, I would not claim that it is great, great literature.Some of Garcia's character descriptions seem just right, and some seem forced. (This applies to various characters at various times in their live...more
A mixed bag. On the one hand, I learned about a part of history and a place and a culture (two or three cultures) that I knew next to nothing about. And some of the characters, patriarch Chen Pan in particular, were quite memorable. But the episodic, dyschronological narrative muddled the story, and I'm not a big fan of sweeping family sagas in any case. And though the tale in the order it's told ends satisfyingly enough, in actual chronological order things don't proceed as well, and they certa...more
Another random pick off the library shelves.
Picked because
1. Story is set in Cuba and china
2. Main character is Chinese
3. Story covers 4 generations
All these elements appeal in a book for me, and I was not disappointed. Chen Pan is tricked into slavery, and transported to Cuba to work on the sugar plantations. He manages to escape and not only survives, but becomes a wealthy and respected business owner in Cuba. The book weaves in and out of his life, and also that of his son, and his great gra...more
Picked because
1. Story is set in Cuba and china
2. Main character is Chinese
3. Story covers 4 generations
All these elements appeal in a book for me, and I was not disappointed. Chen Pan is tricked into slavery, and transported to Cuba to work on the sugar plantations. He manages to escape and not only survives, but becomes a wealthy and respected business owner in Cuba. The book weaves in and out of his life, and also that of his son, and his great gra...more
I found this story about the migration of Chinese to Cuba in the 19th century very interesting. The Chinese were originally brought over as slaves but then settled in Cuba and created a vibrant and large community. The book spans 4 generations. The author says she did not want to write it as a detailed family saga, but rather provide details about certain member of each generation on a need to know basis – because of this, I found the story sparse in spots and would have liked it to be more thor...more
I loved this book! The basis of the book--following five generations of a Chinese/Cuban family from the 1800s to present day--is original and fascinating. It is through this core story line that Garcia explores the concept of identity.
What may seem like a scattered book with rough transitions completely comes together under this theme of identity. First of all, Chen Pan goes to Cuba with a lust for riches and beautiful women because he is ashamed of his poor farming up bringing and hoping for so...more
What may seem like a scattered book with rough transitions completely comes together under this theme of identity. First of all, Chen Pan goes to Cuba with a lust for riches and beautiful women because he is ashamed of his poor farming up bringing and hoping for so...more
May 28, 2013
Mel Raschke
added it
Monkey Hunting" is indeed a lyrical gem which sheds some light upon a topic about which so few have written. The deliberate non-sequential telling of the story requires the reader to repeatedly refer to the geneology chart in order to keep track of how the current character is related to the protagonist and unravel the thread of the story.
This book is a collection of vignettes, each one about Chen Pan, a Chinese immigrant to Cuba, or one of his descendants. It's well written and the characters are interesting. I'd probably give it 4 stars if the weaker chapters were near the beginning rather than the end.
This was an intersting story of how a family ends up all over the world based on any individuals decision in that family. Kinda cool chinese in cuba and then sprouting from there. Also liked the way it was written, makes me want to read her other novels.
A thrift store find fail. This book was confusing and depressing. Nothing good happens in the entire book. Lots of disappointment, pain, and cruelty. I would never recommend this book to anyone unless you want to feel depressed. That's about all it is good for.
Great story about 3 generations of Chinese/Cuban families. Cristina Garcia's prose is a joy and the story is very engaging. Only complaint is the nonlinear presentation, but the timeline helps!
I LOVED this book! Incredible storytelling and beautifully written.
Powerful writing, sad undertones.
I really like how the chapters flip to different characters. It kept me interested and kept the book from becoming boring. I actually was able to meet Cristina Garcia -- she came in to visit my Caribbean Literature class and we discussed the book. I'm really glad I got that opportunity.
My favorite part was learning about the Chinese community in Cuba -- something I had no idea about. Aside from that, the characters were beautiful, and so was the plot.
It was funny, sad, clever, and insightful....more
My favorite part was learning about the Chinese community in Cuba -- something I had no idea about. Aside from that, the characters were beautiful, and so was the plot.
It was funny, sad, clever, and insightful....more
Great insight to Cuba
I love books that go back and forth through time and draw connections between characters and times. This book traces the lives of a Chinese immigrant to Cuba and his descendants (and in one case, a relative who never left China... that was the one storyline that didn't quite seem to fit). The descriptions are lush and beautiful and many of the characters became family while I read this novel. For something I picked up quite by chance, it was a very satisfying read.
Did you know that there were Chinese slaves working the sugar plantations in CUBA!??! I sure didn't. I know so little of world history. An incredible story of a Chinese man tricked into going to Cuba for work and becoming an indentured slave. Remarkable. I gave it 3 stars because the story is told through 3 generations and I had to keep going back to understand who was narrating.
the stories told in this book caressed the many connected and disconnected experiences i have had, growing up across cultures and languages...validating in so many ways, how being "mixed up" is a phenomenon that exists well beyond my personal spheres. the prose of the tale also holds the complexity of identity in beautiful ways.
A generational story, of the sort I love so well, beginning with a Chinese man who comes to Cuba to get rich, and finds instead that he is an indentured servant/slave in the cane fields. This is Cristina Garcia's third novel about Cuba, and it covers much different cultural territory than the previous ones.
I wanted to like this more. I would really give it 2 1/2 stars. The topic of Chinese immigrants in Cuba is interesting, and it was a quick read. However, I only really cared about two of the characters and the rest seem like they were rejects from A Hundred Years of Solicitude.
I really liked this book, it was a cool mixture of historical fiction and spiritual/familial journey. I really liked reading about the Chinese Cuban culture and how, when and why the different waves of Chinese immigration to Cuba happened. The first "wave" being slavery.
This book follows a Chinese immigrant to Cuba who escapes slavery to set up a life there, and his descendants. It explores cultural identity, and weaves in some historical information. I really liked the author's writing style, and found it a very quick read.
It was good. Not totally my scene, but my best friend gave it to me as a present, so I read it. I definitely didn't regret reading it. There are some funny parts and some sad parts, and that's really all I ask from a book.
A fast read about a Chinese immigrant family in Cuba. It seemed simplistic. Assimilation happened a little too readily, or else just wasn't described in a way that captured my interest. Not a favorite among my book group
Very interesting as it spans countries and generations
this was sort of par for the course for Cristina Garcia, but just the same, it was compelling reading, and interesting to have the story told from the perspective of the Chinese immigrants to Cuba.
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After working for Time Magazine as a researcher, reporter, and Miami bureau chief, Garcia turned to writing fiction. Her first novel, Dreaming in Cuban (1992), received critical acclaim and was a finalist for the National Book Award. She has since published her novels The Agüero Sisters (1997) and Monkey Hunting (2003), and has edited books of Cuban and other Latin American literature. Her fourth...more
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“Those who speak know nothing. Those who know are silent.”
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