The Distant Land of My Father

Rating:
Summary: ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL!!!
Review: Distand Land of My Father is the best book I have read in years, and was the first book that brought tears to my eyes in ages. I flew through this book in two days because I couldn't bear to put it down. It is hard to believe that it is not actually a memoir, as the sights and sounds of Shanghai are so real, and the narrator's (Anna's) story seems so true.

I will tell as many people as possible about this book, and I look forward to Bo Caldwell's next effort.

Rating:
Summary: seemed too real to be fiction
Review: Having read many memoirs and biographies of persons who have lived in China or who have come to terms with an estranged parent, this book seemed too real to be fiction. Regrettably, the author's bio in the paperback did not provide sufficient information to determine how Caldwell gained her insight into the subject matter. This insight combined with her wonderful, descriptive prose produced a book I could not put down. It left me crying through the last chapter.

This book tells of Anne Schoene?s relationship with her speculator father. It tells how his love for the city of Shanghai made Anne feel enchanted when he showed to her as a young child, disillusioned when he could not protect her from its wartime horrors, and abandoned when he chose it over life with Anne and her mother. It tells how he wormed his way back into her after being forced to leave Shanghai for good.

Rating:
Summary: seemed too real to be fiction
Review: Having read many memoirs and biographies of persons who have lived in China or who have come to terms with an estranged parent, this book seemed too real to be fiction. Regrettably, the author's bio in the paperback did not provide sufficient information to determine how Caldwell gained her insight into the subject matter. This insight combined with her wonderful, descriptive prose produced a book I could not put down. It left me crying through the last chapter.

This book tells of Anne Schoene?s relationship with her speculator father. It tells how his love for the city of Shanghai made Anne feel enchanted when he showed to her as a young child, disillusioned when he could not protect her from its wartime horrors, and abandoned when he chose it over life with Anne and her mother. It tells how he wormed his way back into her after being forced to leave Shanghai for good.

Rating:
Summary: This is a very tender story.
Review: I picked this book up at the library not knowing what a jewel it is. This story is about what it really means to love people and places and the sacrifices we make for both. It was hard to put down and I've learned so much just be reading it.

Rating:
Summary: Like being transported to 1930's Shanghai
Review: I read this book in one day; I could not put it down. I felt as if I couldn't read it fast enough; it was like being on a train whose momentum I could not stop, and didn't wish to stop. The author's exploration of bustling, commercial Shanghai in the 1930's and the Japanese invasion of Shanghai from the perspective of the child narrator (Anna) rendered it very real; I had read hardly anything about Shanghai during this historical period, and the writing made me feel as if I were there. I could picture the buildings on the main street, as described by Anna's father and memorized by the young Anna; I could taste the food sold by vendors; I could feel the fear gripping the city as the Japanese invaded. As the narrator grows, the story takes the reader to California, where Anna and her mother settle after escaping Shanghai at the time of the invasion. The story is a poignant exploration of the relationship between Anna and her father, who decides to remain in Shanghai despite the invasion, and cannot bring himself to permanently return to his wife and daughter, even after his imprisonment later in the novel. As a child, Anna is almost awed by, and worships, her father; he is the pinnacle of a handsome, successful businessman. As she grows older in American, Anna is discouraged by her father's seeming disinterest in her and her mother, and grows resentful toward and emotionally closed off from him. Anna's father ultimately returns to California in an effort to renew his relationship with his estranged daughter. It is a tribute to the author's abilities that the reader cannot help but sympathize with Anna's father when he realizes that his life's decisions and hopes have been delusions, and that Shanghai never brought him what is truly important in life. I was truly moved at several points in this novel, by the author's exploration of relationships and the sweeping nature of historical forces. The ending was also very powerful.

Rating:
Summary: captivating...
Review: I read this book on my way back to Shanghai visiting some relatives- it kept me awake on the airplane. The author definitely did a lot of research on the history of the city- however, Shanghai is so quaint that some experiences one simply can not put into words until one has been there, and has lived and breathed the air there. Nonetheless, I was inspired enough to re-visit the places mentioned in the book and try to re-capture the timeless essence of a land, of a people. For those of you who are more into the actual plot- it has a rather surprise ending with sophisticated and tailored hints of spiritual redemption.

Rating:
Summary: immediately absorbing
Review: I was absorbed by this captivating novel from the first page. The backdrop of Shanghai in the 1930s and 40s is so vivid that, literally, you are there. Caldwell lays a loving story of family estrangement, reconciliation and emotional maturing in this vibrantly-rendered time and place.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: If you can call crying through the last 60 pages, and jotting down each lovely Chinese phrase, loving a book -- I certainly did. Impossible to put down and beautifully written, I recommend this journey to everyone. You will not be sorry for having taken the time to read Bo Caldwell's amazing achievement.

Rating:
Summary: Worthy of 10 Stars!
Review: If you can call crying through the last 60 pages, and jotting down each lovely Chinese phrase, loving a book -- I certainly did. Impossible to put down and beautifully written, I recommend this journey to everyone. You will not be sorry for having taken the time to read Bo Caldwell's amazing achievement.

Rating:
Summary: Terrific Work
Review: The Distant Land of My Father is a book that was narrated with the innocence of six-year-old girl that continued with passion of a teenager and finally culminated in the resolution of a twenty-something, married-with-children woman.
From the beginning of the book, even from the street scene on the cover jacket, one is pulled into the hustle-bustle, romantically nostalgic world of pre-war Shanghai. The writer Bo Caldwell wrote with such authority and eloquence that one is bound to believe that she experienced life in Shanghai first hand. Though she may not have experienced Anna's (the heroine) life but she lived it in the book. I, as a reader, lived it.
I started the book with great reluctance, not because I never wanted to read it, I just finished a contemporary novel and The Distant Land of My Father seemed a book one would read during fall / winter months. The first 100 pages or so took me about two weeks, but I was too far-gone in the story to slow down afterwards. I devoured the rest of the book on my third weekend.
The novel is historical, it spanned six decades, and it is more than worthy of a mini-series, though I doubt they'll ever come close to giving viewers as much enjoyment as readers got. It certainly deserves a good mention in current literary classes and if there were six stars on Amazon[.com]'s rating, I'd given it seven.