Love Made of Heart

Rating:
Summary: I read it straight through...
Review: This is a poignant tale of a young woman, Ruby Lin, who is grapling with identity issues which are amplified by her mother's mental illness. Having one foot entrenched in her Asian past and the other firmly planted in her American present, Ruby struggles to make the right choices and sometimes fails. I found the personal challenges Ruby faced trying to be the "good daughter" while hanging on to her hard-earned independence both realistic and honest. I highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Love Made of Heart
Review: This is a touching, moving book. Anyone who has had problems with mothers [and who hasn't] can relate to the struggles of the heroine of this story.
A sensitive first novel that warms the heart.
Look forward to hearing more from this author.

Rating:
Summary: Reader
Review: This was an excellent book. I read through this book in just a couple of sittings, it is defintely a book that is hard to put down. It was very interesting to read and learn about the asian culture. Defintely a must read!

Rating:
Summary: Heartwarming and Inspirational
Review: We've read plenty of stories about the Cultural Revolution; it's about time an Asian American author writes about the all too common, silently accepted universal crime of domestic violence. Apparently, the Publisher's Weekly critic was too short-sighted to see this socially responsible message that LeYung Ryan is conveying.
It's not about bashing men and glorifying women. Everyone is depicted sensitively and fairly. No shaming. No blaming. Just healing and loving.
As an elementary school teacher, I know that Asian children are often too quiet and obedient, while others will act out alerting us to trouble at home. Sadly, the Asian kids might go completely unnnoticed. Like with the character in this book, Ruby Lin, problems might not manifest themselves until adolescence or young adulthood.
LeYung Ryan's story has universal appeal, but I especially recommend educators of ethnic studies or family/social issues at the senior high school and university levels to add this to their bibliographies.
Being a San Franciscan, I have had the opportunity to see LeYung Ryan read from her book. Her skills as a writer and talent as a speaker were so powerful she evoked emotions from the audience easily. I found myself and the entire crowd laughing from carefree childhood memories of watching the Flintstones to being moved to tears remembering the not-so-pleasant memories of getting hurt or witnessing a loved one being hurt.
We need more brave Asian American writers like LeYung Ryan to bring about social awareness of child abuse and domestic violence. It takes a lot of courage to break the cycle of violence and I applaud her for sharing that courage with us.