Whether recalling her early years in a tumultuous China or sharing
her bittersweet days in America, Dream Variations presents a candid
picture of one Chinese American woman's journey across two
continents. "Weihua Zhang takes us on her journey across two
continents, 12,000 miles, and half a lifetime, as she charts what
it is to be Chinese-American. She discovers that while she has made
a new life for herself and her family in the States, this
'sojourner daughter' is never far from her Chinese roots. Her
vignettes and photographs give a poignant sense of triumph,
sacrifice, and homesickness. She allows the reader to develop a
real appreciation for the immigrant experience and for the many
meanings of 'home.'" Mary Doll "In Dream Variations, Weihua Zhang
provides mesmerizing accounts of her experiences in two vastly
different worlds. She vividly describes her tormented childhood in
China amidst the tension of the deteriorating marriage of her
parents and her harrowing experiences as a young girl caught in
service of Mao's tyrannical Little Red Guard. Zhang's candid
narratives provide insightful reflections of her often painful and
awkward experiences as a 'Chinese in America, ' the difficult
choice between her homeland and her adopted country, and her
continuing transition and commitment to being an 'American of
Chinese background.'" John Jung "The U.S. has inspired many stories
of immigrants' struggles, adaptation, and success. But we've heard
few stories of how someone who is now a U.S. citizen grew up in
China in the 1960s during the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution.
Dream Variations is a personal story about China and America that
all Americans should know, and Weihua Zhang tells it vividly and
well." Peter Schmidt Reader reviews: Weihua has written a wonderful
collection of essays, stories, and poems. Some brought tears to my
eyes and all gave wonderful insight to her experience as a woman
scholar, mother, immigrant, and daughter. Her piece on the Chinese
countryside field work was especially poignant as was the time at
Swarthmore College away from her beloved daughter back in China.
Female readers will be empowered by Weihua's struggles and
successes as a scholar who stays on her chosen path of
African-American Literature. Yvonne Weihua Zhang writes a very
honest and at times wrenching story of being an immigrant, a
stranger, a student, a teacher, a daughter, a mother, and finally,
a citizen of America. One of her book's most compelling themes is
its insistence that becoming comfortable in her American skin is an
unfinished project that has rested upon a process of both leaving
and returning to her mainland Chinese homeland and family. Weihua's
non-chronological, circular method of storytelling and her
photographs that seamlessly interweave pictures of family members
with her own artistic shots documenting Chinese and American
culture reinforce her theme that her journey is still evolving and
unfolding. She is also very aware that her story is as historic as
it is personal. She evokes the memory of early Chinese immigrants
who laid railroads across the American continent, calling them
bridge builders "that linked the future generations of Chinese
immigrants to the country's infinite possibilities." Weihua reckons
that she, her husband, and her daughter are participants in an
ongoing task of construction and transformation, where the bridges
they are building stand on pillars composed of heritage,
literature, art, and culture. Barbara McCaskill Weihua Zhang's fine
memoir tells the story of her "journey across two continents" and
invokes poignant and painful memories of the people and nation she
left behind. The chapters on China's Cultural Revolution are
especially good. The writer owes it to herself and her readers to
write a book-length autobiography of those years, when the private
and the political intersected in new and strange ways. George
Williams
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
(1)
