Genealogy Books - The Concubine's Children

Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating:

Summary: Fabulous!
Comment: Denise Chong is a master storyteller. This must have been a hard story to tell, and she does not
flinch from the task. You could easily visualize everything she describes. It was a wonderful
read.

Customer Rating:

Summary: good story, iffy book
Comment: the book is immensely valuable as a document of family history, but unfortunately it blatantly
exploits the rich chinese culture and serves it up to white audiences as a curious existence full of
superstitions and chinoiserie. hence, the meaningless accolades from the lily white literary world.
her story is remarkable, but in the grander context, pretty common in the chinese-american/canadian
immigrant narrative...it would have been much better if she just stuck to the story,( which is
powerful enough in itself) without the endless chinese in quotations to lend the writing a false
sense of credibility. furthermore, the title in and of itself exploits the sexualized image of the
asian woman, so she can sell more books, when in fact, may-ying's character was not merely a
concubine(and all that entails in the western context), but ms. chong fails to realize all the
loaded messages the usage of that word conjures up. not to mention arousing all the prurient
interests of curious white men looking for their subservient lotus-blossoms.. all of which further
serves to marginalize and exoticize a culture, whose main problem is overcoming its perpetual image
as strange and other...

Customer Rating:

Summary: so boring
Comment: i don't like this boo

Customer Rating:

Summary: Simply one of the best books I've ever read.
Comment: I couldn't put it down, and lent it to several friends who had the same experience. Brilliantly and
honestly written, it will completely pull you in to a new "old" world.

Customer Rating:

Summary: nice story, too redundant
Comment: Although I enjoyed reading this book, it seemed to be redundant and unorganized. It's a really nice
a compelling story. The live of Ms. Chong's grandmother is interesting and not uncommon for the
time and the place. The problem is the book's structure. There are bits and pieces of the story
scattered all over. If you are interested in the chinese-american (US/Canada) culture, this is a
good book to read. On the other hand, if what you want is a coherent, well structured book, this
book is not going to cut it. The pictures are a nice touch:)

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