** spoiler alert ** This was a great history lesson disguised as a novel. I truly enjoyed learning so much about Shangai in the 20s and more about the Chinese-American experience, especially regarding the immigration process and the investigation of the Chinese during the days of HUAC. I found the plot uneven, though. Sometimes it was gripping and I really wanted to know what would happen next. At others, it just plodded along; these passages tended to be the ones filled with more facts and data about the immigration experience. The writing is very plain with cliched imagery. There were many times when I thought I could have written a passage more creatively. I also found much of the action predictable, such as the true identity of Joy's father. Nailed it as soon as May says she's pregnant. The ending is really stupid: the daughter, Joy really goes off to China in the early 1950s and her mom follows her? The book ends on a precipice with no resolution of that journey. I understand that there seems to be a sequel, but it's so implausible that I won't be reading it. Maybe I can find a spoiler review that tells how it ends....I did listen to this book read by Janet Song. Her reading is pretty flat and non-emotional, so I wouldn't want to listen to ehr perform another book.