Family Storms

Family Storms
by
V. C. Andrews
(ghostwriter, V. C. Andrews has been dead for some time now)
young adult/adult fiction

Family Storms by V. C. Andrews. V. C. Andrews has been dead for some time now, so this is ghostwritten. Sasha's life is at a low - she and her mother are homeless. It sinks lower when her mother is killed by a druggie driver. Her luck changes when she is taken in as a foster child, but rich families are not all they seem and the foster mother and sister both have sinister agendas...

I have not read any V. C. Andrews' books for a while. I was disappointed that this book was not as creepy as I had hoped. There was some secret/menacing stuff, but not as bad as the incest and other topics in previous works.

Girl in Translation

Girl in Translation
by
Jean Kwok
YA or adult fiction
and the book on CD Narrated by Grayce Wey

Kim and her mother immigrate from Hong Kong some time before it reverts to Chinese control (probably 1965-1980). They are sponsored by her mother’s sister who sets them up in a horrible, condemned apartment and gets Kim’s mother a job in a clothing sweat shop in Chinatown, New York. The mother deals with very long work days and Kim has to help her mother at the factory and at home whenever she is not in school. Kim struggles with cultural assimilation and extreme poverty.
The most memorable character is the "evil aunt". Kim's aunt does the minimal amount to help Kim and her mother to save face and show family loyalty, but really she treats them like dirt.
The book on CD features a narrator with a strong Chinese accent. I guess this makes sense. In the printed version, the main character hears some words wrong and the author puts them down in italics as Kim heard them wrong.

Topics for discussion:
Plight of Chinese immigrants;
Plight of immigrants;
Sweat shops;
Poverty in America

Somewhere Inside

Somewhere Inside
One Sister's Captivity in North Korea and the Other's Fight to Bring Her Home

Adult nonfiction.

Reporter Laura Ling made the mistake of her life. In her excitement to get a story she set foot on North Korean soil. This book traces what happened next as American journalists and politicians work to have her freed from a life sentence of hard labor in this totalitarian communist country.
Throughout the whole book I kept thinking "How could you be SO STUPID?". She KNOWINGLY stepped into North Korea. We are talking about NORTH KOREA. Hello?
I do feel very bad for her family and friends that she might have been shot or sent to a labor camp for life. If not for the sake of yourself, then for the honor of your country DO NOT GO TO NORTH KOREA! This is the country that George Bush considered to be one of the Axis of Evil!
It is kind of like wondering about the people who walk around the city streets at 3 a.m. then get shot or raped. They have to know this is not a good idea.
She claims that although she knew she was crossing the line, she trusted her guide and reporters have to trust their guides. Have you ever heard that if your friends decide to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge then maybe you shouldn't jump off the Brooklyn Bridge, too?
This book does help to keep people informed about the current political climate in the Far East. As I write this the U. S. and South Korean navies are practicing war maneuvers in international waters near North Korea.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
by
Jamie Ford
adult historical/romance fiction

Henry is Chinese American, born in Seattle, Washington twelve years ago. Keiko is Japanese American, also born in Seattle twelve years ago. They are the only Asian students in their public school in 1942. As such, they are both outsiders and ridiculed. Their friendship develops as the school year goes on and as World War II escalates Keiko's family is increasingly ostracized. Henry's father is one person who can not stand that his son, whom he sees as Chinese, not American, can possibly be friends with the enemy. Japan is not only at war with the U.S.A. but with China. Even before WWII Japan had been bombing China.
Henry and Keiko see themselves first as Americans. Why can't other people understand this? In addition to the hatred between the Chinese and the Japanese, the children enjoy Black music - specifically Seattle based jazz. Again, they don't see a problem with this.
This book is, as the title implies, a sweet and bitter story. These children who are on the verge of adulthood are innocent and naive, but the world is spinning out of their control. Keiko is taken away to an internment camp. Henry is expected to go to China to study after the war dies down. Can their fledgling friendship, or is it love, survive?
This is a very well written novel I would recommend for teenagers, adults, and senior citizens alike. It is more likely to appeal to females, but men like it for the jazz scene or other aspects of the book. I can safely recommend this to our gentle readers who do not want sex or violence in their reading.