Three words for this novel: Over. The. Top. Fai (the psuedonym of Geoffrey Morgan Pike) is a scholar of holistic medicine and a martial arts master, so he should something about Chinese culture. He probably does, but that did not translate into good writing in this case. This novel deals with three generations of Chinese women and every conceivable facet of Chinese life from 1906 to 1941. Unfortunately, Fai chose to feature the details that Westerners would find most juicy, sensational and dramatic, and packed them all into an over-rich melodrama – from foot binding and concubines, to noble sea captains rescuing tender Chinese maidens from fates worse than death. By the end I had had an overdose of long philosophical, poetic ramblings and excessive romanticism. The three stars are derived from four stars for the first part of the book, and two stars for second half. The story of Li Xia was interesting enough that it was easy to overlook the occasional grammatical mistake, the inconsistent way of referring to her name, and the less than believable circumstances. But by the time Siu Sing is introduced, the mistakes became distracting, culminating when the author mistakingly replaces Ben for Toby in the last paragraph of chapter 30. If the author is having trouble keeping the love interests separate, perhaps the book has either gone on too long, or the story has become too cumbersome. Then again, when the said love interests are both nothing more than White Western Saviors pitted against the savagery and cruelty of the Chinese, I guess they become easy to mix up. The book would have benefitted from a lot more character development and a lot less of constant and repetitive cruelty.
What do You think about The Concubine's Daughter (2009)?
Excellent book. It is a story about a mother and daughter journey to their destiny.
—smithjulia90
