Memoirs of a Eurasian

by Vivian Yang

Overview

With Book Club Guide and Chinese excerpts, Vivian Yang's award-winning novel depicting the turmoil of 20th-century Chinese and Russian diasporas is called by PUBLISHERS WEEKLY as "an engaging exploration of a world unknown to most Westerners. ... Readers will find this fascinating novel very enjoyable and readable." As the plot of this evocative novel set in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, St. Petersburg, and Warsaw twists and turns through the lost glorious days of Old Shanghai, the Sino-Soviet ideological split, the Cultural Revolution, the economic reform that ensued, Japan's bubble years, and the 20th century immigration, a captivating tale of one girl's extraordinary journey unfolds. Themes of beauty, identity, race, romance, friendship, food, and cannibalism are vividly fleshed out in this unique tale of a private life heretofore untold in English literature. This is a triumphant work of fiction: utterly captivating, seductive, and original. Editorial ReviewsVivian Yang is "one of the Most Important English-Writing Chinese Authors" writing today. -- San Diego Chinese Historical Museum"This latest novel (Memoirs of a Eurasian) from Yang (Shanghai Girl) is an engaging exploration of a world unknown to most Westerners. ... Readers will find this fascinating novel very enjoyable and readable." -- Publishers Weekly "The reader experiences 20th-century China -- the Cultural Revolution, the industrialization of the coastal regions and the transformation of Hong Kong - through (Memoirs of a Eurasian protagonist)'s struggles and triumphs and the novel progresses competently from episode to episode. This gives Memoirs of a Eurasian a pleasing, consistent tension ... The novel is structured as an Asian woman recounting her life story to a Westerner, and as such brings to mind Arthur Golden's massively successful Memoirs of a Geisha. Despite these superficial likenesses, the protagonists of the novels are entirely different. While Geisha gave a delicately crafted look at the exotic, Yang's tale is more relatable ... (and) provides a unique perspective on an under-explored era." -- Kirkus Review"Memoirs of a Eurasian is a complex novel spanning four decades of cultural upheaval in China. ... One particularly bold narrative detour is when a character leaves for Japan and then falls prey to cannibalism. Yang presents the event with little sensationalism. ... The moments of sensuality in the novel are recounted less as sexual awakenings and more as empowering moments for the female characters of the story. These moments serve as some of the most powerful of the story, and demonstrate Yang's willingness to take her narrative beyond a comfortable zone." -- Hyphen Magazine"Shanghai Girl is superb literature ... one of the best of contemporary novels written by Chinese authors ... (Yang is a) Shanghai success ... We eagerly await Yang's next literary feat." -- EVE Magazine"Shanghai Girl - a feat in itself ... Yang puts a new, often lighthearted spin on frequently covered topics like Chinese identity, the U.S. immigrant experience and reverberations of the Cultural Revolution. -- HK Magazine "A novel that is hard to put down once you've picked it up ... Yang masterfully transports the living onto the page in a way that is sure to make any writer jealous and any reader sit up and take notice." -- Blogcritics.org"Yang brings with her an expanded array of journeys and experiences, reflective of not only a changing America, but also of a world in transition." -- The Museum of Chinese in America"Compelling story ... Fiercely feminine voice ... Great description ... Inherently fascinating locale ... Very likable narrator ... Strong language ... A pleasure to read." -- The New Jersey State Council on the Arts "Another 'Tale of Two Cities' ... Paris and London played roles in Dickens' famous novel A Tale of Two Cities. In Shanghai Girl, it is Shanghai and New York." -- The Sampan (Boston)"A new voice from Shanghai." -- The Hong Kong Sta

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781542369961
Publisher:	CreateSpace Publishing
Publication date:	01/04/2017
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.46(d)

About the Author

VIVIAN YANG is an award-winning, Publishers Weekly profiled and star-recommended author of the novels Shanghai Girl, Memoirs of a Eurasian, Shan Hai Gaaru, and Status, Society, and Sino-Singaporeans, a nonfiction. The San Diego Chinese Historical Museum honored her as "one of the Most Important English-Writing Chinese Authors" writing today. Vivian's short story "First Breakup Recalled" won The WNYC Leonard Lopate Essay Contest. At age 22, she began teaching English and Journalism full-time at Shanghai International Studies University in her native Shanghai and was first published at age 23. She served as a Panelist for the U.S. Department of Education-sponsored "The Nation's Report Card" Writing Achievement Levels-Setting Initiative. She was a Literary Arts Mentor at New York Foundation of the Arts. Her work has appeared in The Asian Pacific American Journal, BBC World Service, China Daily, Far Eastern Economic Review, HK Magazine, The National Law Journal, The New York Times, The Shanghai Observer (in Chinese), Sampan (bilingual), South China Morning Post, and The Wall Street Journal Asia. Her fictional works set in Asia, Europe, Oceania, and the U.S. feature original characters - Caucasian, Eurasian, Hong Kong Chinese, Chinese-American, Japanese, mainland Chinese, Russian-American, Shanghainese, Soviet émigré, Western expatriates in Asia, and China-born immigrants to British-Hong Kong, New York, Tokyo, and Sydney, covering a time period from the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution to the 21st century present. This range of narratives is matched by few literary writers of English and Chinese. She has also translated some of her work into Chinese. Visit Vivian's website at: http://ShanghaiGirlUsa.wixsite.com/VivianYang, and join the Shanghai Girl Page on Facebook.

Editorial Reviews

In 1944, a young Chinese teenager falls in love with a Russian exile in Shanghai. She dies in childbirth, leaving an orphaned girl, who in turn becomes pregnant as a teenager and gives birth to a daughter named Mo Mo. Even as a child, Mo Mo is entrancing and exotic because of her Russian heritage, but she is also mistrusted for the same reason. Mo Mo travels from Shanghai to Hong Kong and back again during and after the Cultural Revolution and through China’s economic reforms, along the way grappling with both racial prejudice and a strained relationship with her mother. This latest novel from Yang (Shanghai Girl) is an engaging exploration of a world unknown to most Westerners. Yang navigates Hong Kong and the insular Chinese world of Shanghai with equal ease, convincingly charting Mo Mo’s life from childhood to adolescence and adulthood. And while Mo Mo isn’t always likable, she always offers a unique perspective. Readers will find this fascinating novel very enjoyable and readable.

Publishers Weekly