By mistake when I first listed this book in our calendar of titles to read I called it The Land of My Distant Father...I think this works , too.
Prologue. I was thumbing through the book and began the prologue. As the publishing marketing people write, "I couldn't put it down."
Don't we all want to find mysterious papers or diaries our parents have written so we come to discover that our dull, boring parents are really exciting, smugglers with a past in Shanghai.
I have thrown away all my old diaries because they are pages and pages of boring, mundane drivel. Sometimes launching into lists of things I must do. Most of the writing is about loosing weight. If I had spent as much time writing fiction or poetry as I did about loosing weight my books would fill a library.
I suppose this is why I am blogging. But I will not bore you with new plans for my weight lose. I think I have given up. My body now has a mind of it's own. It's not listening to me anymore.
Back to our book. I was getting a little bogged down with all the location information about Shanghai. It was awkward. Screaming, you see I did my homework. I know old Shanghai. Information to hang the plot on. Location. Color. Sense of place.
So why does Anna's father take her to HongKew "to look at a piece of machinery?" Her mother has said not to take her out since the last time he was arrested and taken away. An upsetting incident for everyone.
Prove to himself, things are OK. Normal? Anna's father told her, "It was good for me to get out, and there was no reason for any American to be afraid."
If her takes her, things will be OK. Not logical since he was arrested the last time they went out together.
Prove to Anna life in Shanghai is "normal". But it wasn't. "My father's expression told me that this was not at all what he'd expexted and I was immediately terrified. I'd heard too many whispered stories not to be, and a part of me expected to be bayoneted on the spot."
So her father believes the old fortune cookie advice, chaos presents opportunity. It is also usually dangerous.
I hope we get to learn a little bit more about how his mind works as the book progresses.
Enjoying the book!
