Hapa Girl

I have read all of Chai's books and found each one carefully crafted. Chai is articulate, and her commanding voice has an authority that sweeps the reader up and over the plains of rural Wyoming, a place of natural beauty and also a warped, ungenerous and unwelcoming social milieu which becomes Hapa Girl's crucible. Chai's rendering of a Chinese-American family's struggle to be recognized, respected and ultimately accepted is heart-rendingly believable, in many instances heartbreakingly sad, but finally redemptive. It's the sort of narrative that challenges the reader (could I manage these circumstances if I were the protagonist?) and ultimately shows us not that suffering is ennobling, but that there are survivors who have come through suffering's gauntlet and emerged with wise conviction and a formidable dignity. Five stars for this book and its talented, smart and wise author!

Maylee's gentle mastery at weaving words, memories and strands of her family's struggles into a rich and powerful tapestry of human experience held me captivated; I read her book in one sitting. Don't mistake Maylee's memories as bitter - her message is clear to those who have eyes to read it and the faith to believe it, "Love Trumps Hate."

I could not put this book down... it was alive and witty and just plain filled with love of this girls family her mother played a very inportant part in this girls life , maylee since has lost her mother to breast cancer . the story was so wonderful deplicting how a family with different racial backgrounds . Maylee is outspoken and make the book come alife to me . thanks you for the wonderful story of part of my family.. always aunt susan

I really found Hapa Girl to be an extremely moving memoir. I related to so many of the issues this book describes. And I entirely disagree with the reviewer who said this was *bitter.* I thought the writing was funny and uplifting despite the many sad episodes that the family had to endure. Perhaps the reviewer has never had to personally face prejudice. But if you've been judged by your appearance or faced bigotry and violence, or even if you simply oppose bigotry, I think this memoir will resonate with you! I thought the writing was wonderful and will recommend this to my friends and family. This is a story about love ultimately triumphing over evil!* Another one of my favorite book from this author is The Girl from Purple Mountain: Love, Honor, War, and One Family's Journey from China to America

The emotional journey May Lee Chai must have encountered while writing the story is intense. This is about how love will triumph over bigotry. As a Chinese immigrant myself, I've encounter prejudice. Before picking up this book without too much expectation, but what happened next was two days of non-stop reading, I simply couldn't put it down, the pages turned themselves.