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Summary: Great Women!
Review: This was a popular book of my book discussion group. It is a lovely story about friendship and courage. It is easy to read and there was alot to discuss.
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Summary: Compelling and Vivid - Not to be Missed
Review: Women of the Silk captures the realities, struggles, and infrequent joys of working women in early 20th century China. Gail Tsukiyama's elegant portrayal of Pei, a girl sold to a silk factory by her destitute parents is riveting. Pei's life, though riddled with hardship, is enriched by her relationships with other women who share her fate. The factory women enjoy a sisterhood, which bolsters their self-confidence and sense of self worth. This bond, coupled with the autonomy afforded them by living on their own without husbands, enables the silk factory women to enjoy a measure of freedom and self-confidence that was unobtainable to married Chinese women of the era. Instilled with a sense of belonging and confidence, the "sisters" gather the collective strength to stand up to the brutal factory chiefs and fight for their rights. Women of the Silk is a compelling story of sisterhood, finding inner strength, and standing up for what you believe in. Gail Tsukiyama's writing style is flowing and well organized, making the story immensely enjoyable to read. The characters are three-dimensional and extremely well developed. Ms. Tsukiyama's vivid imagery allows the reader to actually "see" the scenes that she describes. The story of Pei and her sisters will make you think, as it provides accurate historical overviews of life in China in the 1920s and 30s. The women endure tragedy, societal abuse, and the effects of political strife while enjoying unique bonds of friendship and solidarity. I was sorry to see this book come to an end, but luckily there is a sequel - The Language of the Threads.
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Summary: Lovely story w/ some insights into early 20th century China
Review: Women of the Silk is the story of a poor young girl, Pei, growing up in the countryside of China in the early part of the 1900s. When she is around 8 years old, her family, strapped after a few difficult farming seasons, decides they must "give her to the silk work." Without her understanding what is happening, Pei is brought to the city and left at a home for girls who work in the silk factory. The money she earns pays for her boarding and the rest is sent home to her family. The book is Pei's story of growing up with the other silk workers, the deep friendships she forms, and her coming to accept what her parents needed to do. Although this isn't a book where a lot "happens," I enjoyed it for its rich description of Pei's world and for its graceful writing. I was interested to learn how the silk workers were among the most independent women in the culture, often looked upon as strange. Some went through "the hairdressing ceremony" to become wedded to silkwork, vowing never to be married, presumably because a woman dedicated to her work cannot also be dedicated to a marriage. They were also quite sheltered and many never saw much of he world outside their small area. Most of the characters in the book are women, and through them, Tsukiyama nicely illustrates the role of women at that time, the values and constraints they lived with, and the choices they were allowed to make. It was also interesting to see how any foreigners were considered devils, referred to as "the white devils" or "the Japanese devils." There is a stretch of the book, after Pei becomes a young adult, when the book seems to stall without a direction, but on the whole, it kept my attention and I found myself caring for many of the characters and interested to learn more about their lives.
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Summary: Heart-warming but not dramatic enough
Review: Women of the Silk tells the heart-felt story of a young girl's journey of self-discovery among a fellowship of the women silk workers. The novel is set in an industrial, rural China around the early twentieth century, leading up Japanese invasion of the country. Pei is full of life and radiates optimism and acts as the main protagonist. Unlike her stoic family, she is naturally affectionate and is always innocently asking them questions to feed her over-imaginative, curiosity but is seldom ever answered. With her sister Li, their father takes them to the village fortuneteller to see what is to become of them. Pei's future is predicted that she will be loved by more than one with many difficulties along the way to face. Since Pei becomes designated as non-marrying, as her father assumes, he decides to sacrifice his daughter to the silk work. At the tender age of eight, Pei is sent away to work at a silk factory in the Yung Kee village to raise money to support her family. After the shock and sadness of being left by her father subsides, she becomes enlightened by the silk work. The experience as a silk worker brings Pei and her friends independence and freedom that they could hardly dream of back in their own homes. Their idol is the goddess of mercy, Kuan Yin, who went against her family's objections to become a nun. After observing two of her friends, Pei joins Lin in the hair dressing ceremony that will swear them off marriage. The belief that a woman is either dedicated to her work or to a marriage, but not both, was highly supported by their society. Gail Tsukiyama writes from many different perspectives to give insight into the how Chinese women living in this era viewed the world around them. Her intent in writing this novel is to tell the story of a group of determined women, allied by the silk work, who want choices and are willing to break the restraints society has against them; all the while focusing much of the attention on Pei. Their first taste of freedom is received from working in the silk factory and living in their own residencies. Based from the strength of their friendship, ambition, and dreams, they are able to create a sisterhood. When working conditions become unbearable, they fight back by forming the first strike the village has probably ever seen. It's interesting how silk workers were some of the most independent women in their country yet were often looked upon as strange and were sometimes even ostracized. The only thing wrong is that Tsukiyama tries too hard to be dramatic and ends up writing too many unrealistic cliché incidents that are hard to believe. When she attempts to instill a relationship beyond friendship between Pei and Lin the results end in romanticism. It seems that she writes these events in order to spark added interest to her reader but ends up writing things that come out of nowhere. Even when Tsukiyama set about to evoke fear with trepidation by describing the Japanese invading innocent villages, it didn't seem to instill a sense of distress. Her best work in infusing emotion into her writing are during the sentimental, heart-felt scenes of family and friendship. Women of the Silk is still a nice book though that I advise anyone interesting in this particular time period and setting to check out. The subject of the novel is appealing to read about. It is the reason why my interest was kept throughout the book. I'm curious about what happens after Pei and Ji Shen's ferry nears its harbor in Hong Kong but luckily there's a sequel: The Language of the Threads.
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Summary: ...
Review: Women of the Silk tells the story of Pei, who as a young girl is given over to the silk factories to earn money for her family. Pei lives with her 'sisters', other silk workers, and forms particulary strong bonds with some of them, especially Lin, a girl from a rich Canton background. The book is set in the period leading up to the Japanese invasion, and looks at peasant and industrial life in early 20th century China This is the kind of book i usually enjoy - it is set in a period that interests me, and the idea is intriguing - young girl growing up in all female environment in a male dominated world. BUT - the writing is simply not competent. The prose is wooden and lacklustre - there is nothing 'lyrical' or 'poetic' here as far as i can see, which is contrary to the claim of other reviewers. The dialogue is simply unbelievalbe - no-one speaks in such cliche-ridden, stilted ways! I also disliked the way there was little continuity in time - the author skips from one year to two later with little flow. I think this is the kind of book that you either love or strongly dislike after the first chapter, and you stick with your opinion to the end. (I have started the sequel to this book, 'The Language of Threads' and i actually think it is much better!)
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