Questions About How Much of These Hills Is Gold

by C Pam Zhang (Goodreads Author)

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Answered Questions (9)

I'm not very far into this book, but I am confused about Ba's age. "Though he lived not even two decades..." but Lucy was 11? So was he 8 years old himself when she was born? I'm sure I'm missing something.

Will I noticed this, too, and it bothered me. The phrasing is clumsy, for one thing, but the chronology even more so. I wondered whether it meant after Ma.…moreI noticed this, too, and it bothered me. The phrasing is clumsy, for one thing, but the chronology even more so. I wondered whether it meant after Ma... but no, that was three years. Or in the West... but no. Or after Lucy was born... but that wouldn't make sense, and anyway 11 years and two decades are a long way apart. In the end, I put it down to a mistake: perhaps it meant three decades, so he was under 30 when he died. That's the best I've come up with. Maybe we're both missing something! (less)

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I'm confused about Ba's ethnicity. Is he supposed to be Chinese too, or is it just Ma who's Chinese? ***SPOILER Once you get to the chapter that's in Ba's voice, he says he was born in America as an orphan and raised by Billy who's indigenous. This lead me to think that Ba is indigenous, and looks Asiatic, so Ma thought he was Chinese. Correct?

Travis Elliott I think in that section Ba was described as an infant found next to his two dead parents near the shore. Am I remembering correctly? I assumed he was …moreI think in that section Ba was described as an infant found next to his two dead parents near the shore. Am I remembering correctly? I assumed he was either born on the passage over from China or as soon as they arrived. As you note, though, he is clear in his story that he was born in America, and my inference from that origin and from his interactions with the 'two hundred' that he is ethnically Chinese.(less)

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How many pages does this book have? My copy has 272 pages. The ending seems a bit abrupt, so wasn't sure if something was missing. The book details say it should have 288 pages.

Harris I think that's accurate. I felt the same way when I got to the end, but I think it was intentional that it ended that way. I've realized that the tota…moreI think that's accurate. I felt the same way when I got to the end, but I think it was intentional that it ended that way. I've realized that the total number that books are listed at include in that number the introductory pages that include copyright information, the table of contents, the acknowledgements and author's note at the end and any additional blank pages. I often feel cheated when I see a book listed with a certain number of pages and it turns out that there's significantly less reading material.(less)

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3 details about the book that I want to know: 1.:Where did the tiger head come from that was put on Ba’s grave? 2. The various parts are titled with xx and 2 numbers. Example xx62. Is xx supposed to be 18? For example 1862. 3. Why did Lucy have to stand by the mine entrance all day just to open and shut the door twice?

Emily Hardy I think xx is meant to blow our minds as the tale could have been set in 1862 or 2062 or 2262 … it could be a dystopian California of the future.

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For the Chinese speakers who read this book did the characters' Chinese vocab/grammar seem too modern for that time period? That was the sense I got when I read it. These characters should have been speaking classical Chinese in the mid 19th century and would not have used words such as "ben dan" or "qin ai de". I wonder if the use of modern Chinese was intentional on the part of the author and why?

Rosa Only just saw your question and perhaps you've already seen this info elsewhere since asking, but just in case - I can't address how modern the Mandar…moreOnly just saw your question and perhaps you've already seen this info elsewhere since asking, but just in case - I can't address how modern the Mandarin was because I don't speak it, but I can say it's the wrong Chinese dialect, since nearly all of the Chinese who left to seek their fortunes at the time of the novel's setting came from southern China (because that's where the war/rebellions had the most immediate damaging impact, mostly around Canton/Guangdong [to the Western Hemisphere], but also from Fujian [though I want to say those Fukinese hopefuls went more throughout other parts of Asia, like Malaysia, Philippines, etc.] - at this time, Mandarin fluency was not a given throughout China, the way it is now). I wrote about this a-historical language choice at length in my (some have complained too-long) review (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...), but that's the long and short of it, wrong flavor of Chinese. Reading your question makes me wonder if that was intentional on Zhang's part, calling attention to the fact of the language's inaccuracy by making it ultra modern - if so, I am genuinely stymied as to who the intended audience of this book is (a recurring theme of mine throughout my overly-long review), aside from C Pam Zhang.(less)

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Unanswered Questions (4)

what is the metaphor for salt?

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This question contains spoilers... (view spoiler)

Was Ma's third child fathered by Teacher Leigh? There was a portion where Teacher Leigh says to Ma "You're still very beautiful" and then corrects himself when caught to "You are very beautiful" which made me think they met in the past. Then when Ba is recounting her death he insinuates that the child isn't his when he says "Not what she did, or with whom, or how she felt looking into some other man's face."

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