C Pam Zhang
Author of How Much of These Hills Is Gold
About the Author
Works by C Pam Zhang
Associated Works
Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart [and] How Much of These Hills Is Gold by C Pam Zhang (2020) — Contributor — 2 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- USA
China (birth) - Birthplace
- Beijing, China
- Places of residence
- San Francisco, California, USA
Kentucky, USA
Iowa City, Iowa, USA - Education
- Brown University
University of Cambridge - Occupations
- novelist
- Short biography
- C Pam Zhang is an American writer best known for her work How Much of These Hills is Gold, released by Riverhead Books in 2020.
Zhang was born in Beijing and moved to the United States when she was 4. Growing up, she moved a lot and lived in ten different places by the time she was 18. She attended Brown University and has studied at Cambridge University. Zhang was the 2017 Truman Capote Fellow at the Iowa Writer's Workshop.
How Much of These Hills is Gold follows two newly orphaned children of immigrants, who are on the run, trying not just to survive but to find a home. The novel is set against the twilight of the American gold rush. How Much of These Hills is Gold is inspired by Zhang's childhood of moving around and reckons with the grief she experienced after losing her father when she was 22.
The New York Times said: "C Pam Zhang’s arresting, beautiful first novel is filled with myths of her own making as well as sorrows and joys."
The San Francisco Chronicle said that Zhang's novel is a “a fully immersive epic drama packed with narrative riches and exquisitely crafted prose…Zhang captures not only the mesmeric beauty and storied history of America’s sacred landscape, but also the harsh sacrifices countless people were forced to make in hopes of laying claim to its bounty.”
Zhang has been awarded support from Tin House, Bread Loaf, Aspen Words and elsewhere.
Members
Reviews
I didn't enjoy this book, but it was haunting. Lucy and Sam are orphaned sisters. They struggle to make their way in mid-19th century California. Sam does this by passing as a boy. Another reviewer characterized this book as Faulknerian and I think that is a good description. It is painful to listen to or read.
Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!
This was more so a long form poem, I found myself struggling to find the plot, but also was swept away by the prose and language of it all. It was beautifully written, but not necessarily something I was craving as an escape at this moment in time.
This was more so a long form poem, I found myself struggling to find the plot, but also was swept away by the prose and language of it all. It was beautifully written, but not necessarily something I was craving as an escape at this moment in time.
Oct 2020: DNF. I can't with the literary misery, especially right now.
Dec 2023: Also, this will forever remain in my memory as The One WhereThe Children Carry Their Father's Decomposing Body Around In A Chest And Pieces Start Falling Off Of It And The Daughter Sees Her Father's Penis Fall Off And Kicks Dirt Over It And Revels In Her Power Over Him . Like, I get that it's supposed to be symbolic and surreal, but it's actually an unintentional parody of the entire genre.… (more)
Dec 2023: Also, this will forever remain in my memory as The One Where
Lists
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 2
- Also by
- 5
- Members
- 1,160
- Popularity
- #22,147
- Rating
- 3.6
- Reviews
- 48
- ISBNs
- 29
- Languages
- 5
The imagery and descriptive writing is phenomenal. Zhang is deliberate in linking language across the story: the "calculus of loss" becomes the "connoisseurship of loss"--a subtle juxtaposition spaced several chapters apart, easy to miss. Metaphors abound: "...as I would not serve bitter greens without the consolation of oil, I began to keep back my less palatable feelings..." The insights, too, are plentiful: "Across the years it is hard to make out this version of myself, so blinkered by ambition that she sprinted through thirty years without asking, why?"
It was a slower "read" for me than I anticipated, but there is, forgive me, much to chew upon.… (more)