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All Who Live On Islands
All Who Live on Islands introduces a bold new voice in New Zealand literature. In these intimate and entertaining essays, Rose Lu takes us through personal history – a shopping trip with her Shanghai-born grandparents, her career in the Wellington tech industry, an epic hike through the Himalayas – to explore friendship, the weight of stories told and not told about diverse cultures, and the reverberations of our parents’ and grandparents’ choices. Frank and compassionate, Rose Lu’s stories illuminate the cultural and linguistic questions that migrants face, as well as what it is to be a young person living in 21st-century Aotearoa New Zealand.
240 pages, Paperback
Published November 1, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 95 reviews
April 12, 2020
I usually shy away from books that discuss the immgirant experience as it feels too close to home, in a way that is distracting and guilt provoking. I enjoyed Rose's book as it told her story as is, too many times this genre leaves me feeling inadequate (ie my own achievements pale in comparison) or too privileged (ie i am too well adjusted to have grappled w social disparity).
Many excerpts were so beautiful I had to stop and read again. Then I would take a picture of the paragraph and send it to people. It truly captured the experience of being a 1.5 immigrant generation. To quote The History Boys, its like a hand has reached out of the book to hold mine.
It also allowed me to reflect on the arduous journey that I had to take to get to where I am today, the parts of myself I had to sacrifice in the pursuit of being viewed as an acceptable immigrant citizen.
Many excerpts were so beautiful I had to stop and read again. Then I would take a picture of the paragraph and send it to people. It truly captured the experience of being a 1.5 immigrant generation. To quote The History Boys, its like a hand has reached out of the book to hold mine.
It also allowed me to reflect on the arduous journey that I had to take to get to where I am today, the parts of myself I had to sacrifice in the pursuit of being viewed as an acceptable immigrant citizen.
January 23, 2020
This is great and way more relevant to today's audience than most teen coming of age books, it would be a great book for studying in high school too.
Read
April 17, 2021"Aotearoa has a particular isolation that cannot be found anywhere else - an isolation of pointed significance to migrants. I grew up in a town of forty thousand people... there is no Chinatown."
.
"I habitually pushed back against being Chinese, but I realised what I was railing against was a spectre, one concocted from a lifetime of misinformation."
.
"With my grandparents, I speak tshon-min'eu |Chóngmíng dialect. There are three languages in the house, and each generation favours a different one."
[Assorted quotes from various essays...]
Likely my favorite of the personal essays I've read lately - a beautiful blend of personal narratives and cultural essays by New Zealander of Chinese descent, Rose Lu.
Family relationships between her parents, grandparents, and her younger brother, the "Hustle" specifically as it relates to immigrant communities through the process of interviewing and hiring at a tech firm, an experimental micro narratives in "Alphabet Game", bodily functions in cultural context plus yoga in "How is Your Health?", and much much more.
Each essay contains interlinear conversations and terminology in Mandarin and English, with some discussion in her "A Note on Languages" appendix re: the specific Wú Shanghai dialect she uses in the text. This nod to word and linguistics enthusiasts - great reading.
Born on Chóngmíng Island in Shanghai, and moving to Aotearoa as a child, Lu relates this "island" life physically and metaphorically.
It works really well. Beautiful debut.
.
"I habitually pushed back against being Chinese, but I realised what I was railing against was a spectre, one concocted from a lifetime of misinformation."
.
"With my grandparents, I speak tshon-min'eu |Chóngmíng dialect. There are three languages in the house, and each generation favours a different one."
[Assorted quotes from various essays...]
Likely my favorite of the personal essays I've read lately - a beautiful blend of personal narratives and cultural essays by New Zealander of Chinese descent, Rose Lu.
Family relationships between her parents, grandparents, and her younger brother, the "Hustle" specifically as it relates to immigrant communities through the process of interviewing and hiring at a tech firm, an experimental micro narratives in "Alphabet Game", bodily functions in cultural context plus yoga in "How is Your Health?", and much much more.
Each essay contains interlinear conversations and terminology in Mandarin and English, with some discussion in her "A Note on Languages" appendix re: the specific Wú Shanghai dialect she uses in the text. This nod to word and linguistics enthusiasts - great reading.
Born on Chóngmíng Island in Shanghai, and moving to Aotearoa as a child, Lu relates this "island" life physically and metaphorically.
It works really well. Beautiful debut.
December 12, 2019
an incredible book. the compassion and enthusiasm with which rose details the subjects of each of the essays in this collection - from food preparation to her yoga teacher to her reading of other new zealand chinese authors to her remarkable, affectionate but clear-eyed, portrayal of her exes - is amazing, as is the interweaving of languages throughout the text to give full voice to the different people within it. through all the pieces in the book, one of the most important things that rose does is draw a kaleidoscopic portrait of, and love letter to, her family - the collection opens with her grandparents, and closes with an astonishing piece addressed directly to her younger brother - in a way that's beautifully specific and very very affecting. read it now!!!!
December 25, 2020
No time to give this the recommendation it deserves, but I put this right up there with the best books of the year for me.
January 16, 2020
I loved this. This was a read-in-one-sitting book. I learnt a lot and also saw myself in it - not many books can do that to a person.
May 25, 2022
Gorgeous series of essays that made me laugh and educated me all at once
May 28, 2021
[ 4.5/5 ⭐️]
ALL WHO LIVE ON ISLANDS is a debut release from queer, Chinese New Zealand author Rose Lu. This collection of essays explores themes such as immigration, internalized racism, and Lu’s experience of being a Chinese New Zealander. Similar to the U.S., New Zealand also had a wave of anti-Asian immigration sentiments that have reverberated through the generations of its people. Lu also explores the relationship between Māori, indigenous Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand, and Pākehā, New Zealanders primarily of European descent.
I really enjoyed this new voice in literature, and reading more about New Zealand (which, embarrassingly, I had never read about before). Lu’s writing style is very approachable, and it almost felt like I was listening to her talk about her life and thoughts over coffee. I loved seeing her journey with her identity over time, and how she outlined the turning point for her relationship with her Chinese identity. I also appreciated her comments about how the subcultures within China are very distinct (like European countries), and how blanketing 1.4B people into one idea of “being Chinese” is not an accurate representation of the country. Lu also experiments with structure in this book, with the chapter that’s structured like the alphabet game being one of my favorites. Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and look forward to seeing more of what Rose Lu writes in the future ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 4.5/5! Great for those who love personal essays, or are looking to pickup API titles from others outside the U.S.!
ALL WHO LIVE ON ISLANDS is a debut release from queer, Chinese New Zealand author Rose Lu. This collection of essays explores themes such as immigration, internalized racism, and Lu’s experience of being a Chinese New Zealander. Similar to the U.S., New Zealand also had a wave of anti-Asian immigration sentiments that have reverberated through the generations of its people. Lu also explores the relationship between Māori, indigenous Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand, and Pākehā, New Zealanders primarily of European descent.
I really enjoyed this new voice in literature, and reading more about New Zealand (which, embarrassingly, I had never read about before). Lu’s writing style is very approachable, and it almost felt like I was listening to her talk about her life and thoughts over coffee. I loved seeing her journey with her identity over time, and how she outlined the turning point for her relationship with her Chinese identity. I also appreciated her comments about how the subcultures within China are very distinct (like European countries), and how blanketing 1.4B people into one idea of “being Chinese” is not an accurate representation of the country. Lu also experiments with structure in this book, with the chapter that’s structured like the alphabet game being one of my favorites. Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and look forward to seeing more of what Rose Lu writes in the future ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 4.5/5! Great for those who love personal essays, or are looking to pickup API titles from others outside the U.S.!
November 11, 2019
Look, Rose is a friend, and it's hard to shake this bias - and if I didn't like the book, would I even leave a rating here? - but I just devoured the entire book while flying back to Melbourne this evening. Rose writes so deftly - clear, thoughtful, honest, and with heart the entire way through - and so it was hard to _stop_ reading it. Perhaps the one advantage of having a longer-than-sensible flight path home meant that I had just the right amount of time with no distractions so I didn't actually need to stop.
At a Verb Wellington event over the past few days, the host of a panel that featured Rose said that after reading this book, you feel like you're now Rose's friend, and that rings true (even though, well, I already was). There's such a vulnerable and beautiful depth captured here, and I'm trying to decide who I'll lend my copy to, because I can already think of a handful of friends and family who will appreciate this.
At a Verb Wellington event over the past few days, the host of a panel that featured Rose said that after reading this book, you feel like you're now Rose's friend, and that rings true (even though, well, I already was). There's such a vulnerable and beautiful depth captured here, and I'm trying to decide who I'll lend my copy to, because I can already think of a handful of friends and family who will appreciate this.
March 11, 2020
While reading the book of short essays on the authors life growing up in New Zealand as an immigrant , I couldn’t help but stop and reflect on my own upbringing in New Zealand in a small town moving to Christchurch and then to Wellington after the earthquakes .
At the end of the book Lu notes her target audience as Chinese immigrants who grew up in regions , but I think Lu probably doesn’t realise that her short stories actually personify a lot about modern New Zealand identity . The short stories show Lu navigating where she fits in this world but I think a lot of New Zealanders ( immigrant and non-immigrant) alike can relate to the stories , many of us coming from generation old immigrant families where our identities are blended between what we know of our lineage and this weird small multicultural island that doesn’t understand its own identity.
Brilliantly written - loved it
At the end of the book Lu notes her target audience as Chinese immigrants who grew up in regions , but I think Lu probably doesn’t realise that her short stories actually personify a lot about modern New Zealand identity . The short stories show Lu navigating where she fits in this world but I think a lot of New Zealanders ( immigrant and non-immigrant) alike can relate to the stories , many of us coming from generation old immigrant families where our identities are blended between what we know of our lineage and this weird small multicultural island that doesn’t understand its own identity.
Brilliantly written - loved it
December 26, 2019
This book is an honest account of Rose's life from her intersectional perspective. It places Asian women into literary discourse in a way that made me, as an asian woman feel visible and heard.
It is an exploration of sexuality, cultural identity, adulthood, and life. It is an important book in my life, and whilst Rose's life was drastically different from mine in many elements, it resonated with me in so many ways as a Korean-New-Zealander.
He tino pai tō mahi e hoa.
It is an exploration of sexuality, cultural identity, adulthood, and life. It is an important book in my life, and whilst Rose's life was drastically different from mine in many elements, it resonated with me in so many ways as a Korean-New-Zealander.
He tino pai tō mahi e hoa.
March 24, 2020
Read this book! I felt like I was saying goodbye to a friend when I finished this book.
The writing is warm, clear and so alive. Rose, if you're out there, please write another book (when it suits you of course...).
The writing is warm, clear and so alive. Rose, if you're out there, please write another book (when it suits you of course...).
February 11, 2021
This book has been praised for capturing many aspects of a Chinese immigrant experience, and I appreciated learning more from those parts of the book. For me, though, I loved how much this book captured the essence of growing-up-in-provincial-New-Zealand-circa-2006 - the torment of staying up late texting too intense friends and hooning around the mean streets of Whanganui (or for me, Hastings) in teenage cars. I have never read a book that captures the early 2000s teen experience in small provincial centres so perfectly. This is a book that can be both a window and a mirror.
January 8, 2023
Lovely little book that gives such a good perspective from a first gen Nzer. Emotional and funny, I really enjoyed hearing from someone who has had a very different experience of NZ than me. Always great to read from someone who is in a similar age bracket to me as well! Highly recommend 😄
April 11, 2021
Wonderful! Highly readable short stories. A beautiful insight into growing up in a Chinese-NZ family with sharply relatable commentary on being a young NZer.
I feel so seen that someone else likes a clean corn cob.
I feel so seen that someone else likes a clean corn cob.
April 13, 2025
Such a well-written and readable collection of personal essays. Touches on the immigrant/diaspora experience in a relatable way without it being gimmicky or clinging onto tropes. Genuinely such a surprisingly pleasant read.
August 14, 2022
This is the kind of book I want to recommend to my friends, co-workers, well-meaning Pākehā people who want a small glimpse into what my life feels like. The details may be different but the experiences Rose Lu shares feel achingly familiar.
I’m thinking of a passage in this book where Lu longs for more stories about (and from!) Asian people in Aotearoa — that, this island creates a feel different from the identity the diaspora in the US or UK may construct. I’m thinking about Justice Joe Williams’ talk that “we are all pacific islanders”. There are many beats in Lu’s book that feel familiar to me — we’re the same age, actually, from a similar part of China. I too grew up with Txt2000 and MSN Messenger, went back to China at around the same ages, and live in Wellington now.
I found the episodic construction of this book didn’t bother me. I was also okay with the narrative voice shifting in the essay about travelling in Nepal and in the last essay to her brother. (And NZ being the small place it is, of course Rose Lu would be good friends with Sharon Lam, whose writing I maligned in my previous review.) I thought this book was more enjoyable if you were bilingual. I noticed some subtle translation discrepancies between the Chinese text and English, and at times when no translation was provided.
— Oh, one technique I particularly liked, the way the characters would be introduced with largely no ethnicity markers. How as you get to know someone you’ll eventually click that Serena’s Chinese or Kimberley is Fijian-Indian. It felt very humanising; in a way I feel contemporary literature hasn’t evolved into doing yet. It was subtle but very effective.
I’m left feeling thoughtful after finishing this book. It feels very real to me, and I hope others — who perhaps don’t share our backgrounds — can see that too.
I’m thinking of a passage in this book where Lu longs for more stories about (and from!) Asian people in Aotearoa — that, this island creates a feel different from the identity the diaspora in the US or UK may construct. I’m thinking about Justice Joe Williams’ talk that “we are all pacific islanders”. There are many beats in Lu’s book that feel familiar to me — we’re the same age, actually, from a similar part of China. I too grew up with Txt2000 and MSN Messenger, went back to China at around the same ages, and live in Wellington now.
I found the episodic construction of this book didn’t bother me. I was also okay with the narrative voice shifting in the essay about travelling in Nepal and in the last essay to her brother. (And NZ being the small place it is, of course Rose Lu would be good friends with Sharon Lam, whose writing I maligned in my previous review.) I thought this book was more enjoyable if you were bilingual. I noticed some subtle translation discrepancies between the Chinese text and English, and at times when no translation was provided.
— Oh, one technique I particularly liked, the way the characters would be introduced with largely no ethnicity markers. How as you get to know someone you’ll eventually click that Serena’s Chinese or Kimberley is Fijian-Indian. It felt very humanising; in a way I feel contemporary literature hasn’t evolved into doing yet. It was subtle but very effective.
I’m left feeling thoughtful after finishing this book. It feels very real to me, and I hope others — who perhaps don’t share our backgrounds — can see that too.
March 12, 2023
I've said it before and I'll say it again - I LOVE reading books set in New Zealand!!! Seeing my city mentioned many times!!! Making comments about the "poor" and "rich" supermarkets and understanding the jokes and the connotations!!!
Ahem, anyway...
This was recommended to me as part of a course I'm taking to work with ESOL students, and I am very glad that I picked it up and read it. I found some of the essays definitely more interesting than others, but nonetheless, the book on the whole was fantastic and provided valuable insight.
Ahem, anyway...
This was recommended to me as part of a course I'm taking to work with ESOL students, and I am very glad that I picked it up and read it. I found some of the essays definitely more interesting than others, but nonetheless, the book on the whole was fantastic and provided valuable insight.
March 1, 2020
Such a good read - so many super relatable parts for me (living in Aotearoa, being a teenage girl, queer shit) and so many beautifully enlightening parts about Rose's unique experience as an immigrant, as a Chinese person living in rural NZ, as a kiwi trying to navigate the widening cultural divide between her and her family. Really beautifully written and engaging - thoroughly recommend everyone give it a read!
May 31, 2020
I devoured this collection of personal essays. Such a fantastic addition to Aotearoa literature and a good insight into what it may be like to be a 1.5 generation Kiwi of Chinese descent! May be like because as Rose Lu points out it is not a universal experience but all dependent on your family, where you end up living, and so on and so on. The last essay about Lu's brother Matthew is especially moving. More please Ms Lu!!
June 28, 2020
I really wanted to enjoy this book as the ideas/style is unique and I quite enjoyed how each story flicked between different narratives. The integration of Mandarin quotes and Chinese tradition and culture made the book interesting to read and Rose Lu writes well, however the story itself bored me. Some of these essays made me feel like I was watching an episode of Skins and those kinds of teenage shinanigans don't interest me.
November 17, 2019
Excellent read and ranges extremely broadly. Could be just as easily read by a high school English class looking for a coming of age story as an adult looking for better insights into New Zealand.
September 1, 2020
This is quite possibly the best book I have ever read and ever will read
December 30, 2020
All Who Live On Islands - Rose Lu
This was a great read!! I devoured it within 24hours. Rose Lu writes with such a good flow. The book is super easy to digest while tackling some heavy/important topics!
Rose opens up about her experience to establish her own cultural identity while growing up in New Zealand and being Chinese. Her parents immigrated to NZ when Rose was a young child and she speaks about enforced adaption into a new culture, experiencing racism and inequality, social pressures and her family life.
This book again highlights how important immigration and diversity is to any society and how hostile, unfair and unappreciative kiwis are towards people who we seem to think don’t belong here (I have touched on this previously after reading The Girl from Revolution Road by Ghazaleh Golbakhsh).
Honourable mention: I loved reading about how Rose leads the charge in creating a workforce that supports diversity and a positive work environment that everyone can grow together in!
This book was equally as insightful as it was relatable, enjoyable and inspiring!
I was lucky enough to win a giveaway hosted by @whatfern_reads who purchased this book from @booketybookbooks for me. Thanks again Fern for this great read! 💕
This was a great read!! I devoured it within 24hours. Rose Lu writes with such a good flow. The book is super easy to digest while tackling some heavy/important topics!
Rose opens up about her experience to establish her own cultural identity while growing up in New Zealand and being Chinese. Her parents immigrated to NZ when Rose was a young child and she speaks about enforced adaption into a new culture, experiencing racism and inequality, social pressures and her family life.
This book again highlights how important immigration and diversity is to any society and how hostile, unfair and unappreciative kiwis are towards people who we seem to think don’t belong here (I have touched on this previously after reading The Girl from Revolution Road by Ghazaleh Golbakhsh).
Honourable mention: I loved reading about how Rose leads the charge in creating a workforce that supports diversity and a positive work environment that everyone can grow together in!
This book was equally as insightful as it was relatable, enjoyable and inspiring!
I was lucky enough to win a giveaway hosted by @whatfern_reads who purchased this book from @booketybookbooks for me. Thanks again Fern for this great read! 💕
April 26, 2020
Really enjoyed this book. Stories told with clarity about developing self-knowledge as one grows up and of whakawhanaungatanga. I think my favourite stories were Five-Five, Alphabet Game and All Who Live on Islands. I loved the dialogue between the author’s past selves in Five-Five, and the way the author captures the intensity of teen friendships and the appurtenant fatigue in Alphabet Game. The author is a first generation Chinese New Zealander. The stories have a specificity that reflects that point of view, and so I learned a lot, but also articulate many sentiments to which I could personally relate.
April 18, 2020
Just finished the book. I love Rose Lu's style of writing. The last chapter that she wrote for her brother was so heart wrenching. I really enjoyed reading about her different experiences and the way she wove together different time lines.
Highly recommend. Especially if you live in New Zealand and/or if you're a 1.5 generation immigrant.
Highly recommend. Especially if you live in New Zealand and/or if you're a 1.5 generation immigrant.
March 24, 2020
I love Rose’s style of writing and how she flicks between different narratives/time periods/locations/characters. Greatly appreciated the Mandarin and various Chinese elements in this, I feel like I would like to read more about Chinese culture (all of its cultures!) after this book. Laugh out loud moments abound. Classic Whanganui tales.
October 22, 2023
I loved the essays in this book. Each felt like its own little experiment with literary form. The thematic, rather than linear, approach of the book was striking. My favourite essay was five-five, about hiking in Nepal, told in the second person.
October 3, 2020
Great insights and generally got a lot out of it.
March 31, 2022
Witty, sad, insightful and incredibly real
Displaying 1 - 30 of 95 reviews