Beautiful as Yesterday
A Novel
-
- 18,99 €
-
- 18,99 €
Descrizione dell’editore
Mary and Ingrid are sisters who were born and brought up in China but now reside in the United States. Mary is the older of the two; seemingly a devoted wife, mother, and churchgoer. Yet she is tormented by adultery, a grudge toward her parents, and her despair at work. Her estranged sister Ingrid has never settled for anything; she prefers her bohemian friends’ culture to her own, and is haunted by her college boyfriend’s tragic death. When their widowed mother travels to the United States for the first time, they can’t avoid a family get-together. Amid all it stirs up, it becomes clear that the uneasy relationship between the sisters has roots deeper than either had ever acknowledged—and extends to their parents and their homeland.
Stretching from mid-century China to the United States at the turn of the millennium, Beautiful as Yesterday explores issues of identity, of family and friendship, love and loss. Written in beautifully crafted prose, this is a penetrating exploration of what it means to belong, and the impact of history and memories on one’s life.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this second novel from Wu (February Flowers), the story of two estranged sisters who have emigrated to the United States from China sings in places, but is otherwise wooden and unsurprising. In the turn-of-the-millennium Bay Area, Mary Chang is struggling to overcome a restlessness generated by the growing distance in her marriage; her bitter feelings toward her younger sister, Ingrid; and the impending six-month visit of her widowed mother which Mary hopes will become permanent. Having witnessed Tiananmen Square as a college student in China, Ingrid is now piecing together a living in New York as a tour guide and translator, traveling often, changing boyfriends just as frequently and hanging with artsy, bohemian friends. When her mother arrives in the U.S., Ingrid moves to San Francisco to be close by. Predictably, secrets from the past are revealed. A surprise plot twist in the climax is oddly devoid of tension. Shifting points of view among chapters don't clarify the characters, who remain half-formed and fuzzy. Though strong in the sections set in China, the book feels unfinished and derivative of Amy Tan and other Asian-American writers.
