Cloud Mountain

Ordinarily, I pass on books I've read to a wide circle of friends and avid readers. Then there are the "file 13" books, books I wouldn't subject the misery of reading them on anyone. This is a file 13 book. First, you have a woman, the heroine, often narrator, who gives up EVERYTHING for her husband, despite the ongoing fact that he tcontinually chooses his obsession and his vision of China over his own family; but she stays with him, despite being discriminated against among his own family and his beloved culture, and despite his being a bigoted emotionless man when it comes to respecting women! We are supposed to feel for her when the obvious choice within weeks of landing in China, and years later, when she did have the money, was to return with her children to America. Good grief, in the end,, while she leaves it undone, I imagine this woman, having gone bAck to America, and now back to China, may be just stupid enough to stay. Hawkeye

Every o9ther year or so, I weed through the hundreds of books in my personal library and donate the ones that I know I will not re-read over and over again throughout the years. Cloud Mountain is one book I will never part with. In fact, I think I am going to buy it again to have on my NOOK. I have read this novel 3 or 4 times now and each time sink deeper into the world it so vividly creates in my mind. I can see the main characters as they struggle to keep their love together in a time and place where asians just did not marry white women. It just wasn't "proper". They followed their hearts and took their vows and then the long journey of their life together began. We are immersed in their life as Paul's political beliefs bring the family to many places in the world. It is a tale that must be read to fully be understood. It is full of complexities and is the kind of book that is a great read the first time though, awesome the second time and amazing the third time. In my mind, this book is already a classic and I hope that some day Aimee Liu gets recognized for writing such a fine literary work of art.