Searching for Sylvie Lee

by Jean Kwok

He is an old cow eating young grass, and so he must pay the price for his pleasure.

I loved all of the Chinese expressions/metaphors in this book.

Now, many years later, I was not sure if we had truly loved each other or merely the versions of ourselves we had seen reflected in the other’s eyes—as

Of course, Lunar New Year is the most important holiday to the Chinese, but it’s hard to celebrate with all your heart when your festivity isn’t reflected by the society around you—no films on television, no displays in department stores, no friends with gifts, and no propaganda about peace and love whatsoever.

To my horror, we are heading straight for the edge of the canal, which is not secured by any type of guardrail. If this were the U.S., someone would drown there every five minutes, but in Europe they seem to believe that if you’re dumb, you deserve to die so you don’t pass your genes on to the next generation.

“I think that wherever you are, to live in the world as a white person is a completely different experience than a person of color. Discrimination is invisible to them because it does not affect them. They are truly shocked.”