Though this book seems like it was written for YA, the themes are definitely mature. Set in Seattle during the Great Depression and early days of film, you do get a sense of the time from the Chinese immigrant perspective.There is William, and when the story is in his voice, it truly shines. The boy lives in kindly orphanage where he has good friends, One of these, Charlotte, is blind and her back story is also a focus. When William sees a poster of a woman in a traveling show he thinks is his mother, he and Charlotte escape the orphanage to seek her out. This leads to the mother's sad story and how she became a stage and film star. Her story highlights the poverty, corruption, and prejudice in the Chinese immigrant community. There is a happy ending but much suffering and misery before you get there. Worth reading. A picture of a time and place very foreign to me. This book was recommended to me by my favorite librarian at the Centre County Library in Bellefonte. We tend to have the exact same taste in books–we love the same books and we dislike the same books. So, when she raved about Songs of Willow Frost, I knew I would enjoy it, and I did.This book alternates between the story of William Eng, a 12-year-old Chinese-American boy who has been living in the Seattle Sacred Heart Orphanage for five years; and the story of his mother, Liu Song (Willow), whose skills as a singer and an actress helped her survive the trauma of losing her parents. William’s friendship with Charlotte, a young blind girl at the orphanage, was particularly moving, and their relationship seemed an integral part of what I enjoyed about this book.I especially liked reading about Depression-era Seattle and the beginnings of the film industry. The details Ford uses to describe the people and the places bring them alive.As I often do, I’d like to share some favorite quotes rather than offer plot spoilers:“The library is like a candy store where everything is free.”“Somehow life had become a story problem, and William was horrible at math.”“The city has been reborn during her short lifetime as streetlights and electricity transformed each block into a carnival of neon. Men walked the streets with purpose, with lacquered canes and polished shoes, and women crossed the streets in bobbed hair and sequined gowns that shone pink, lilac, and periwinkle beneath gas lamps and the sweeping headlights of shiny automobiles. The city had grown up around her; she was a mother, but she still felt like a lost little girl?”“She’d never felt more alone, even as hundreds of people walked by. No one recognized her, and she began to treasure her anonymity as a gift.”So, if you’re in the mood for a heartfelt, heart-wrenching historical fiction piece, pick this one up–I know that now I want to read Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet also by Jamie Ford. I’d also just like to take this opportunity to appreciate all the librarians out there–so many librarians in my life have opened doors to new worlds, old truths, and everything possible. Thank you to all the librarians of the past, present and future!
What do You think about Come Un Fiore Ribelle (2013)?
interesting look at Chinatown in Seattle in the 1920-1930's
—Niako
