Bound Feet & Western Dress

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Summary: confusion abound
Review: The switch between who is telling the story was NOT clearly defined, and therefore confusing and hard to read. I myself is also a first generation immigrant and have also experienced the "split" personality" of doing the "Chinese thing" veresus "becoming westernized". Besdies, I found some of Pang-Mei's statements about her choices for future mate extremely harsh-maybe a westerner, but he MUST know China, or a Chinese man who is westernized....take a chill pill, Pang-Mei! And get over it!!!! Embrace the best of both worlds and disgard the rest and don't look back! Not a good book. There are many others who are much better in storytelling than Miss Chang. Try Ha-Jin......

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Summary: Great Book
Review: this book is a wonderful true story of Yu-i, the first woman in China to get a Western style divorce. Yu-i's whole life has been set on tradition, from her three days with bound feet that caused her such agony that her brother ordered their mother to stop, to her marriage at fifteen to a scholar and poet, Hsu Chi Mu (I don't have the book with me so I'm not sure if that is how you spell it) to her relief as she pleases her parents in law with her delivery of a son at eighteen as she attempts to be a "filial child". She is immediatly catapulted out of her life in traditional China when she joins her husband in Oxford, England, and he divorces her, leaving her to move to Berlin and having their second son, peter, who died of an intestine complication at three. This book is wonderful, and I felt increasingly sorry for Yu-i as the book progressed. She was, as her amyah said, "neither 3 nor 4," after she was released from having bound feet, meaning she wouldnever be truly traditional Chinese, nor a true Westerner.

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Summary: facinating look at the chinese culture!
Review: This book provides a facsinating look into Chinese culture through the eyes of a woman that broke age-old traditions. I found it hard to put this book down! If you have read and enjoyed Anchee Min's books ("Red Azalea" and "Katherine") I am sure you will enjoy this book. Pang-Mei Natasha Ling is writing about her Great Aunt, Chang Yu-i. Chang Yu-i life is amazing because her life is traditional and modern all rolled into one. She has a traditional Chinese marriage(arranged, complete with dowry), yet her husband admires Western ways. The authors family history is so rich and facinating... we should all be blessed with such incredible family stories!

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Summary: Bound Feet And Western Dress
Review: This is a great book. It tells about 2 different people whose lves are almost the same.

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Summary: Powerful story of old and new
Review: This is an incredibly powerful story of one woman's struggle in China. Yu-i, the daughter of a distinguished family, was born at the turn of the century in China. "In China, a woman is nothing." So the story begins. Growing up between the fall of the last emperor and the Communist Revolution, Yu-i, like all other Chinese girls, was expected to have her feet bound. This was the beginning of Yu-i's life of rebellion. At the age of three, her strong protests cut the process of binding short. Later after her husband abandoned her, Yu-i continued her education while raising her son alone. She eventually became president of China's first women's bank. She remained loyal to her ex-husband's family as she continued to care for his parents, his second wife and her lover after her ex-husband passed away. Yu-i was certainly a woman ahead of her time.Pang-Mei Natasha Chang's book, BOUND FEET & WESTERN DRESS explores the difficulty she has accepting her great-aunt's adherence to traditions that bound her to years of suffering in silence. After spending lots of time with Yu-i, Pang-Mei learned to appreciate what Yu-i had survived and accomplished. Pang-Mei saw in Yu-i aspects of her own personal struggles of the constant tug between familial duty and individual desire. This is truly a remarkable story of two women born in different eras, faced with many of the same concerns.I highly recommend this book

Rating:
Summary: Powerful story of old and new
Review: This is an incredibly powerful story of one woman's struggle in China. Yu-i, the daughter of a distinguished family, was born at the turn of the century in China. "In China, a woman is nothing." So the story begins. Growing up between the fall of the last emperor and the Communist Revolution, Yu-i, like all other Chinese girls, was expected to have her feet bound. This was the beginning of Yu-i's life of rebellion. At the age of three, her strong protests cut the process of binding short. Later after her husband abandoned her, Yu-i continued her education while raising her son alone. She eventually became president of China's first women's bank. She remained loyal to her ex-husband's family as she continued to care for his parents, his second wife and her lover after her ex-husband passed away. Yu-i was certainly a woman ahead of her time. Pang-Mei Natasha Chang's book, BOUND FEET & WESTERN DRESS explores the difficulty she has accepting her great-aunt's adherence to traditions that bound her to years of suffering in silence. After spending lots of time with Yu-i, Pang-Mei learned to appreciate what Yu-i had survived and accomplished. Pang-Mei saw in Yu-i aspects of her own personal struggles of the constant tug between familial duty and individual desire. This is truly a remarkable story of two women born in different eras, faced with many of the same concerns. I highly recommend this book

Rating:
Summary: confusion abound
Review: This is another generic book about generation gaps and Asian-American women. The book is also constrained by the fact that it's a memoir because there are too many names and irrelevant information. The prose is too flowery and the shift between the two narratives is confusing. There are far more superior and original storytelling in Samantha Lan Chang and Ha Jin's stories.

Rating:
Summary: Offers nothing new to the genre
Review: This is another generic book about generation gaps and Asian-American women. The book is also constrained by the fact that it's a memoir because there are too many names and irrelevant information. The prose is too flowery and the shift between the two narratives is confusing. There are far more superior and original storytelling in Samantha Lan Chang and Ha Jin's stories.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable reading
Review: This is just another one of those Chinese memoirs that bring to life history through the eyes of its writer.

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Summary: Makes a great gift ...courage in the face of change
Review: This novel was given to me by my younger brother for Christmas 1997. He said he thought it might be interesting for me--I think it is the best gift he's ever given me. I am the eldest daughter of a Chinese family; my own mother came from China and I and my brothers were born here in America. The biography "Bound Feet and Western Dress" serves to further enrich all the stories and experiences that my mother has been telling me about our own family history. For me, the book serves as just one piece to the complex puzzle of what happened to some of the families in China during the first half of the Twentieth Century. The novel's poignant story lets me know that I'm not alone in my mother's methods to raise me as a "good Chinese daughter" -- with her strange proverbs, her continuing treatment of me as second to the males in our family, and her insistence on a daughter's family duty. This book illustrates time after time how the main character, Chang Yu-I, deals with many unforeseen circumstances with strength and dignity -- surviving a short-lived marriage, changing cultural traditions, raising children on one's own, living in a foreign land, dealing with wartime, working hard, fulfilling family duty, and doing what is needs to be done. In this story, I do not believe the main character intends to push through major changes but, rather, she does not cower at what life brings to her. This gives the reader extra courage to know that you can deal with whatever the future holds for you. It made me laugh and cry. I especially love this book because of all the translated Chinese sayings. I saved the Christmas ribbons (which wrapped this gift from my brother) and I use the strips for bookmarks; the book sits cheerfully on my shelf bookmarked in numerous places with bright red and green to bring me straight to the poetic and beautiful sayings. The author was introduced to me last night at a dinner event as "Pang Mei" (prounounced like "Bang Mei") -- I was delighted at her beauty, animated enthusiasm and her down-to-earth approachability. I highly recommend "Bound Feet and Western Dress" for young and old alike. Be prepared for the jumping of the timeframes and the two narrative voices--the story will, nonetheless, enrich your life and hopefully it will help you understand a bit more about some of the Chinese women you may meet. The story is quick to read and would be a good springboard for the discussion of duty and honour, and the ability to change, be responsible, and succeed regardless of gender and class.