The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane in Retro Chapter Chicks

Sep 19, 2020 Maureen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: china, rcsummer-challenge

Another wonderful read from Lisa See. I am not a tea drinker but this novel was so captivating that I think I am missing out on something special.
This book is a history lesson on tea farming and it's production along with the benefits of Pu'er tea.
More research is needed on this tea for me.

"Confucius taught his followers that tea could help people understand their inner dispositions."
"While Buddhists grant tea the highest spiritual qualities, ranking it among the four ways to concentrate the min ...more

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Jun 04, 2023 Book Concierge rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, china, culture, historical-fiction, library, concierge, strong-women, indigenous

Book on CD narrated by Ruthie Ann Miles and Kamiko Green

This work of historical fiction focuses on the indigenous Akha people who make their living harvesting tea in the mountains near the borders with Laos and Myanmar. Li-yan is a young girl who follows her family tradition, but dreams of more. She is encouraged by her teacher who recognizes her intelligence, but she is soon derailed by love.

Lisa See has crafted a marvelous story of perseverance, cultural difference, and the enduring bonds of ...more

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Apr 06, 2019 Nancy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2019-books, 80-countries, rcc-spring-challenge

I enjoyed this book so much. I loved the story that was told but I also loved learning about the Ahka people featured in the story and all their beliefs, superstitions and traditions. I found myself constantly looking up something about them while reading the book. It fascinates me to learn about different cultures. It also gave me a desire to visit China which I have never had before.

Another aspect of the story was about tea. I have just recently become aware of how many different teas there ar ...more

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Jan 09, 2017 Kris (My Novelesque Life) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

RATING: 4 STARS

(I received an ARC from the NETGALLEY)
(Review Not on Blog)
Listened to on Audio

When I read an ARC of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan I was immersed in the book until I finished. The time, place and cultural was so rich and detailed I felt like I was there and feeling all teh emotions. I then read Peony in Love and I was disappointed. I don't know if my expectations were too high but it the story fell a bit flat for me. Since then, I have not gone back to Lisa See's books. When I RATING: 4 STARS

(I received an ARC from the NETGALLEY)
(Review Not on Blog)
Listened to on Audio

When I read an ARC of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan I was immersed in the book until I finished. The time, place and cultural was so rich and detailed I felt like I was there and feeling all teh emotions. I then read Peony in Love and I was disappointed. I don't know if my expectations were too high but it the story fell a bit flat for me. Since then, I have not gone back to Lisa See's books. When I read historical fiction, I prefer North American or Europe as those were my concentrations in History. The cover and story interested me with The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane so I thought this would be a good one to dip my feet back with. I finished one of my audiobooks quicker than I thought so when I saw this was available at the eLibrary I knew it was meant to be.

My family is from Northern India, from a village, and most of my stories came from my maternal grandmother and mother. My dad came here when he was young so he only remembers Canada. It wasn't until I went in 1989-1990 that the village life my mom was born into became a reality. The fact I went four months without indoor pluming has scarred me from camping for life. I always find my Indian background fascinating and I am proud of being Indian but it is also a bit removed from me as I grew up in Canada, and is 90% of my "culture". When I dream of my wedding dress for walking down the aisle it is white, rather than red. This long story is what emotions and thoughts that came up for me reading this novel.

See captured my imagination and the details had me thrust into the time and place. The Akha culture was so fascinating -in that we get the meaning behind some of their traditions. My favourite part of the story was the tea history, and the coming-of-age story of Li-yan . It was also interesting to see what happens to her child and her child's new family, and others like her. Anne Tyler's novel Digging to America touches on the subject of adoptions from China, but from the adoptive parent's pov. It was nice to get more of a birth mother's story. While we know about the one-child policy it was interesting to see the other factors. I really felt for Hailey, Li-Yan's daughter, and her struggle to find her place. While she loves her parents and her life there is the fact she doesn't know her birth family, the cultural she belongs to and being an outsider as she does not look like her parents. That cultural divide brought up a lot for me even though both my parents are Indian and I'm not adopted. I just found that See handled all the elements so well. I think no matter how See ended this book it would be problematic for readers - whether Li-yan finds her daughter and what becomes of reunion or never finding each other.

I would recommend this one to any book lovers!

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Jul 10, 2019 Tasha rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audio-reads, historical-fiction

I enjoyed the story and all the tea talk. This book has me googling Pu'er tea and wanting to try a cup! I did this one on audio and feel it was well done. I think this is my 3rd book by Lisa See and another solid read. ...more

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Apr 16, 2018 Lory Sakay rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Kudos Lisa See. I was a reader not sold on Snowflower and the Secret Fan, one of her earlier books - it was a bit drab and blah for me. This book was GREAT. There is no doubt that See put a lot of time and research into the Akha and the Chinese tea trade. I'm already googling more about this hill tribe and their unique rituals and mores. I'm surely going to look into experimenting myself some Pu-Erh tea as well. :) I was also very impressed on how such varying polarities of status, society norms ...more

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Jul 10, 2019 ˜”*°•.˜”*°• Sheri •°*”˜.•°*”˜ rated it liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction

As you’ve guessed by the title this book is a LOT about tea. 😊 Realizing that not so long ago and even now in certain cultures, it’s ok for a husband to sell a wife, it’s ok for a man to abuse a woman, and it’s ok to abandon a baby girl or disabled child, is disturbing to say the least.

A few things bothered me. I have friends who’ve adopted Chinese children, one adopted a 15 year old deaf Chinese boy because he was old enough to be turned out onto the street to live as a beggar, and I felt this As you’ve guessed by the title this book is a LOT about tea. 😊 Realizing that not so long ago and even now in certain cultures, it’s ok for a husband to sell a wife, it’s ok for a man to abuse a woman, and it’s ok to abandon a baby girl or disabled child, is disturbing to say the least.

A few things bothered me. I have friends who’ve adopted Chinese children, one adopted a 15 year old deaf Chinese boy because he was old enough to be turned out onto the street to live as a beggar, and I felt this book is harsh against international adoption in general as if adoptive parents who don't come from the same culture as their adoptive children are destined to not understand their children fully, that their children will be missing out on vital heritage upbringing, and society will place burdens on these children because their parents didn't bring them up in the culture that matches their skin tone. Those are valid realities to a certain extent, but to me it’s better than growing up without a family and/or being totally homeless. I would have liked to read some more positive moments in Haley's life with her parents in America.

I found the Akha tradition of encouraging premarital sex but then ostracizing girls who were pregnant out of marriage illogical.

no coincidence, no story. There were a lot of coincidences. Of course, I wanted Haley to be found but thought it was the least authentic feeling part of the book. And ending up with a millionaire seems far fetched IMO.

These things didn’t make me dislike the book though. I liked that Li-yan made many strong and difficult decisions no matter what the culture. Her decisions to give up her daughter, to leave her husband, to pursue educational opportunities and then to become a successful business woman were great. I liked that Li-yan’s mother showed she was strong too when breaking traditions for the good of her family.

I had no idea that there are so many ethnic groups in China and have never really considered how much my own values are based on how I was raised. My father was in the military so I didn’t actually grow up in a particular spot and have noticed over the years how my interpretation of events differs from people who have lived in the same spot for their entire life.

My general opinion is that I thought Li-yan was a compelling character in that she had realistic flaws but was still likeable, suffered hardships but kept a drive to improve her life. I thought the letters and emails were a good way to describe Haley's childhood.
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