Rating: WORTHY!
From an advance review copy for which I thank the publisher. Strictly speaking we're not supposed to post reviews until 30 days before publication, but since this book has almost a dozen reviews up on that execrable monopolizing review-site-killing Amazon-owned Goodreads venue already, I don't see that my modest one is going to make any difference.
Erratum:
"She holds the thermos up before setting in on the ground." - it on the ground
This is a story set in modern China and written by someone who has been there and seen what's going on. It paints a sad picture. The story is even more sad because it involves the untimely death of a family member. Na grew up as a sort of spare part in a family that was devoted to Bao-bao, the second born, but first valued. The very name, in Chinese, means treasure. That is, bao means treasure, and duplicating it means baby, so he gets to be the treasured baby boy. His parents spent their lives scrimping and saving, and borrowing to get the best education and the best preparation for the all-important entrance exam for college, but Bao-bao fell short and then he died.
Called back from her own modest college life, Na has to squeeze the details of what happened out in any way she can. All she knows to begin with is that her family is broken, especially her father, and at that point it seemed obvious to me what had happened, but I wasn't absolutely sure. I read on not because I needed to know about that, but because I found Na's life and her take on things engrossing. She is a strong female character who works hard to do what's right, but in the end, in discovering things about her resented brother, she discovers things about herself that make a huge difference to her life.
If I had a complaint it would be about the repetitive nature of the names in the story. They all seem babyish and sing-song, and while I know this is a thing in China, perhaps for western audiences it might have been toned down a little. If Na is just Na, then Bao-bao could have been just Bao, for example! But that for me was only a minor thing. I commend this as a worthy read and an interesting insight intro modern China that all of us could use right now.
