A well-told tale of an interesting life

It’s hard enough to make an engaging story of anyone’s life, but especially so of one’s mother.  Judith March Davis has managed this super-human feat by writing an objective and absorbing book about her fascinating mother in the book Pagoda Dreamer.

Dore March, as she came to be known, was the daughter of Methodist Missionaries in China.  She was raised in the early part of the 20th Century in China, in a special world of ex-pats.  The book is based on an exceptional life-long correspondence carried out between Dore and one of her sisters.    These two women came to live as young adults in the U. S. and due to war and revolution were never able to return to the China they’d grown up in.  They confided much to each other that only they could share. 

Dore was a gifted and interesting person who had too many tragedies in life.  Learning about her reminds the reader how life has changed since the 1930s, particularly regarding health.  Dore had                                                                                tuberculosis which in those days was treated in incredibly painful, isolating ways.  Despite TB and pneumonia she remained a life-long smoker (and apparently her Doctors were OK with that).  She was also diabetic and yet was a heavy drinker.  Medical knowledge has come a long way.

Despite one awful thing after another, Dore usually rose to the occasion by at least remaining calm.

Dore’s life could be the basis for a Masterpiece Theater series.  Another book with more about early 20th Century ex-pats in China, is Pamela Master’s memoir, The Mushroom Years.  It provides tantalizing details about growing up in China (then experiencing life in a Japanese prisoner of war camp).