Cloud Mountain

I too loved this book. I have read many books about China and this is one of the best. The history of China is fascinating and the love story is sometimes joyful sometimes heartbreaking.i definitely recommend this book.

In the last few years I have read many books that deal with China's history and this book was by far one of my favorites. It is a beautiful book that I felt compelled to share with others and purchased more than one copy so I could lend it out and make sure to have a copy for my collection. This book will not dissapoint, especially if you are as intrigued with China and it's history as I am! When I got to the last 20 pages or so I turned them very slowly in hopes of making it last longer! :) I urge you to buy this book and one for your friends! It is a very moving picture of what a person can live through and still see the beauty in life around them!

Aimme E. Liu has written a wonderful fictional accounting of a true story. I have been a friend of the Luis family for over forty five years. Aimee's cousin John was my boyhood friend. And we still keep up. The family story has always fasinaated me. (John is Herb Luis' son, Teddy in the book.)Although Aimee says it is about 70% true, I know through conversations with John's mother that basically ALL of the major persons, dates, places, and events are true. The 30% is mostly side sories and details for dramatic effect.I also want to point out that in a prior review of "Cloud Mountain" by "Elizabeth" she states that the only place in 1908 where the name Jennifer existed was Cornwall. Well, the fact is Hope's real name WAS Jenny Trescott. In fact, I found that Aimee used family names for fictional charactors in several instances. But never the real name for the real person.Although I have to say that I read this book because I had already heard the story and had a personal interest in it. But even if I hadn't I still would not have been able to put it down. Aimee Liu's use of words to describe are incredibly original (I don't know how she came up with some of them) and they really do "paint" a picture in your mind as you read.She is a real literary artist.This is not only a love story. In fact, I would just as much descibe it as a story of courage, of two people who dared to cross the bariers that a bigoted society had placed between them. It is also the story of a man committed to saving his counrty by bringing it democracy even if it could have cost him his life. It is a story of a woman who stood by him, travelled halfway around the world to an unstable society trying to grow up into democracy, but turned out to be a house of cards.Read this book and take a trip back to a past and place few Americans are aware of. Enjoy the exciting people and places, but also learn a history of a different place, time, and people.

Using stories told by her Grandfather, Aimee Liu provides an insiders tale to a time of turmoil in China. The story starts in San Francisco at the time of the big quake. It is a love story of an American girl and a very educated Chinese boy at a time when women hardly spoke to a Chinese person, much less married one. Her husband is a part of Sun Yet-sen's battle to topple the Manchu Dynasty. Within the novel is the history of China from the Opium War in 1840 to the Communist's War of Liberation in 1949. Good insight into the people of China and their relationship with the Western Powers.

I had to write a few words. Every now and then I hit upon an author that pulls and pushes at your heart. I listen to dozens of audio books every month driving to and from work. This story was so very well written. It has real life in it. It has passion, love, danger, devotion, understanding, pain - it has it all. It is a must read/listen for historical and just plain enjoyment reasons. (The plot is in the description.) I must now seek out other books by this author. If you want to fill moments of your life with a treasure include this story. dorothy

Cloud Mountain by Aimee E. Liu is a wonderful book. Inspired by her own Grandparents story, this book is impossible to put down. It is romance of the first order, as well as vivid history, both Chinese and American during the turbulent times from the San Francisco earthquake to the Chinese Revolution. Miss Liu brings these times to life in ways that I have never read before. This book explores the relationship between an American woman (who, being part Native American is considered mongrel in her own country) and an upperclass Chinese scholar and revolutionist. Cloud Mountain is moving, well researched, and never dry. I couldn't put it down. Any Amy Tan and Memoir of a Geisha fans out there should run for this book. A truly sweeping, beautifully written novel.