The Distant Land of My Father

One of the best books I have read in years. Great portryal of Shanghai prior to the invasion of the Japanese and gives a well researched presentation of historical facts and the changes and hardships which this invasion brought upon the families living there. The story centers around the impacts on a young American family living in Shanghai (father, mother and daughter), and is told from the viewpoint of the young daughter (from age six to a grown woman with children). It focuses particularly on the relationship between father and daughter whom he abandons, by sending his family back to the U.S. (L.A) as he stays on in his beloved Shanghai and ultimately ends up spending a couple of years in war camp. I bought several copies for my fellow bookworm friends and they all loved it is well. We couldn't believe this was the author's first novel and are eagerly awaiting her next. In a word: fantastic.

This compelling family portrait spans over four decades and dances between Shanghai and San Fransisco as a girl, and later a woman, gets to know her father in his multiple incarnations- multimillionaire Shanghai "businessman," prisioner, betrayer, role model, and hero. What makes the story so intense is the fact that it is told from the perspective of the one person who is simulatenously loved and hurt by this man, her father, and her journey of umderstanding and love. Set amid troubling times in Shanghai, the historically relevant parts of the book are both educational and insightful. A must read!!! Would be great for a book club as well.

I read this book in one day; I could not put it down. I felt as if I couldn't read it fast enough; it was like being on a train whose momentum I could not stop, and didn't wish to stop. The author's exploration of bustling, commercial Shanghai in the 1930's and the Japanese invasion of Shanghai from the perspective of the child narrator (Anna) rendered it very real; I had read hardly anything about Shanghai during this historical period, and the writing made me feel as if I were there. I could picture the buildings on the main street, as described by Anna's father and memorized by the young Anna; I could taste the food sold by vendors; I could feel the fear gripping the city as the Japanese invaded. As the narrator grows, the story takes the reader to California, where Anna and her mother settle after escaping Shanghai at the time of the invasion. The story is a poignant exploration of the relationship between Anna and her father, who decides to remain in Shanghai despite the invasion, and cannot bring himself to permanently return to his wife and daughter, even after his imprisonment later in the novel. As a child, Anna is almost awed by, and worships, her father; he is the pinnacle of a handsome, successful businessman. As she grows older in American, Anna is discouraged by her father's seeming disinterest in her and her mother, and grows resentful toward and emotionally closed off from him. Anna's father ultimately returns to California in an effort to renew his relationship with his estranged daughter. It is a tribute to the author's abilities that the reader cannot help but sympathize with Anna's father when he realizes that his life's decisions and hopes have been delusions, and that Shanghai never brought him what is truly important in life. I was truly moved at several points in this novel, by the author's exploration of relationships and the sweeping nature of historical forces. The ending was also very powerful.

This book is a treasure, a novel that transported me back in time. It is a vivid journey back to the distant land of the narrator's childhood, the city of Shanghai, her father's city which he could not bring himself to leave. The book is beautifully, historically accurate. I spent my early childhood in the Far East and have visited Shanghai. I recognized the sights, sounds, tastes, and allure of this magical city. But more than a journey through time and distance, this book is a journey within, to the depths of compassion and the narrator's own self-discovery. It holds a world of experience between its covers, blending human weakness and dignity, power and beauty. Reading this book is to follow the path with heart.