I adored Choy's first 2 novels - Jade Peony and it's sequel, and the basis of this memoir sounded so intriguing- after discussing his first novel on the radio the author gets a phone call telling him heat his parents were not his real parents. What follows is is search for the truth, but first we get his memoirs. Sadly they are in dire need of an editor. There is too much repetition and too much time spent on boring details, on the other hand, intriguing details are given a bare mention and never elaborated upon. ( )

Synopsis: An auobiography/memoir of Wayson Choy's childhood in Chinatown, Canada.
My Opinion: Quite slow at the beginning - Wayson Choy doesn't mention the adoption again until the end of the book. But it became easier to read and more engrossing around the middle.
Pages: 338 ( )

I have always been curious to read Wayson Choy's other book The Jade Peony, but ended up having to read this one first. I was somewhat bored by the beginning, but as it went on I got more engrossed by it (It was lucky that I had to finish reading the book as it was required by a university course, or else I would have tossed it aside long ago.)

This book, to me, is distinctly Canadian even though it talks about pre and post-war Chinatown and Chinese in Victoria and Vancouver, BC. The language is clean and very easy to read. It reminds me of Alistair MacLeod's No Great Mischief. Recommended. ( )