The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane in Club Drunk But Not Too Drunk To Read The Book

Apr 03, 2019 Ying rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, would-recommend

No coincidence, no story.

I really loved this book. It was a lot more than I expected.

It is set between the 1980s to the present, and begins with the story of a young girl growing up on a tea farm in Yunnan. I loved this setting. Having been to Yunnan and spent a lot of time in Xishuangbanna, the book had an extra element of familiarity for me. I also loved learning more about the process and background of Pu-er tea, which I admit I did not know much about.

My favourite part was the first section No coincidence, no story.

I really loved this book. It was a lot more than I expected.

It is set between the 1980s to the present, and begins with the story of a young girl growing up on a tea farm in Yunnan. I loved this setting. Having been to Yunnan and spent a lot of time in Xishuangbanna, the book had an extra element of familiarity for me. I also loved learning more about the process and background of Pu-er tea, which I admit I did not know much about.

My favourite part was the first section of the novel. The descriptions of the traditions of the Akha people were so well written. The incident with ((view spoiler)) was so intense!

I went into this book knowing nothing at all about it, so many of the subsequent things that happened were so unexpected. Below are my thoughts on what happens in the rest of the book.

(view spoiler)

Overall I loved this book, and I will definitely read future books by this author. Lisa See has such a way with words. ...more

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Apr 26, 2019 Uks rated it really liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Absolutely loved the first 35% of the book - it was incredibly enlightening to learn of the Akha way and all about Pu'er. I knew nothing of both subjects prior to this book(didn't even know Pu'er was fermented!). Lisa See's writing style was detailed and so vivid that while reading the book, I could almost imagine the Pu'er taste in my mouth.

I loved how the author used various format to introduce Haley bit by bit. What better way to tell a story of an infant than doctor's notes and emails to pa Absolutely loved the first 35% of the book - it was incredibly enlightening to learn of the Akha way and all about Pu'er. I knew nothing of both subjects prior to this book(didn't even know Pu'er was fermented!). Lisa See's writing style was detailed and so vivid that while reading the book, I could almost imagine the Pu'er taste in my mouth.

I loved how the author used various format to introduce Haley bit by bit. What better way to tell a story of an infant than doctor's notes and emails to parents? And once Haley grew up, the group therapy report with other adopted Chinese children is one I'll remember, especially the term "angry, but grateful". Got to see different aspects of what being an adopted Chinese child to a white family is like (double pressure from white parents and internally), and it was heartbreaking.

Honestly wasn't a fan of this cliche meet-a-rich-husband who fixes all the problem (oh your tea shop goes bust because of your lying friend and the bubble bursting - don't worry, you have a rich husband so you won't be homeless, you can donate to the orphanage, let's go to America and buy houses, let's adopt De-Jah, etc). Part of me thought, 'yes, after all she's been through, she deserves this fairy tale modern rich prince and amazing mother-in-law'. Of course I didn't want to see her suffer more, but it felt too... Contrived for me.

And the whole Haley and Sean romance - I get the whole "No coincidence, no story", but that was.... Too fairy tale.
No parent would allow their child to go to rural China with a guy she's only known for days that they haven't met. No reasonably minded woman would do that either.
I did laugh at the part where she swooned at the things he said about tea - how it connects them etc etc.
It reminded me of myself when I was that age and I would swoon at guys who were "deep" and "mindful". (Oh God, am I too jaded and bitter to enjoy this magical and lovely book?!)

The ending was too convenient for me. I was looking forward to them mending their relationship and how they would go about it. I wanted to see the in-depth conversation between Haley and Li Yan - especially Haley working through her past feelings of resentment and abandonment and Li Yan addressing it and finding out about her daughter's identity struggles. I wanted to see Haley bonding with Paul, and their beautiful sibling relationship and Haley giving advice and insight on how to be okay with being ethnic minority when surrounded by Han majority and white people.

But all in all I enjoyed reading this book so much. Lisa See writes beautifully and vividly, and I did indeed learn a lot. ...more

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Apr 23, 2019 Evan rated it really liked it

Started very strongly, and though incredibly depressing, the culture is completely new to me, and was super interesting. But once Li Yan went to college, it got a bit too pedestrian and kind of Crazy Rich Asians.

For a book about a girl from rural Yunnan, the American Dream cliche was weirdly dominant in parts of the story.

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Apr 12, 2019 ShannonX rated it it was amazing

This is a great book about people and nature, culture, family and love. It's also provides very austenitic image of the Pu er tea history, trade as well as how it links different places across the world ...more

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May 02, 2019 Sam MR WORLD WIDE rated it liked it

I enjoyed reading this book and it seemed like Lisa see did a lot of research to make the story come alive. However I found Jin's character to be really annoying and implausible, like we are supposed to believe that this millionaire guy wants to buy a bunch of houses for her but is also fine living in a newly wed hut in her village. I don't buy it, also I didn't like how the story showed dei je when she goes to live with them in the US like a servant, the book portrays her as a some idiot becaus ...more

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