Water Ghosts
A Novel
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3.8 • 4 Ratings
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
A mesmerizing debut novel that weaves history and mythology around a community of Chinese immigrants and the ghosts that haunt them
Locke, California, 1928. Three bedraggled Chinese women appear out of the mist in a small Chinese farming town on the Sacramento River. Two are unknown to its residents, while the third is the long-lost wife of Richard Fong, the handsome manager of the local gambling parlor. As the lives of the townspeople become inextricably intertwined with the newly arrived women, their frightening power is finally revealed.
A lyrical imagining of what happens when a Chinese ghost story comes true, Water Ghosts is a rich tale of human passions and mingling cultures that will appeal to readers of Lisa See, Anchin Min, and Gail Tsukiyama.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A dreamlike haze shimmers over Ryan's debut, the tale of a real-life immigrants' enclave in early 20th-century California. In the mining town of Locke outside Sacramento, Richard Fong's Lucky Fortune casino and Poppy See's brothel provide the only entertainment for Chinese workers sending their wages back to the families they can't bring into the country. For Chloe, a white prostitute who is Richard's favorite, it's also a place to hide from her family just a few towns over. Mired in the past, the town's residents are jolted into the present when three strange Chinese women, including Richard's long-lost wife, arrive during the Dragon Boat Festival looking for their husbands. After years of her absence, Richard struggles to adapt his bachelor lifestyle to accommodate a woman who has become a stranger to him, and Chloe dreams of starting over somewhere new when Richard abandons her bed. Ryan's fluid flashbacks allow the past to sweep over the collective population of Locke, and her elegant female protagonists manage to exercise their own agency even when they're hemmed in by life in Locke.
Customer Reviews
As wonderful as Steinbeck or Hemingway
This is a wonderful novel, which I appreciated even more on the second reading. Shawna Yang Ryan, portraits each character beautifully. I especially liked the contrast of the weak, drifting, impulsive young girl who ends up as an abused harlot- and the tenacious, driven, abandoned wife who seeks her revenge even after death. Her determination is so strong that she steals the very life away from the hapless husband who failed to send for her.
This book is so colorfully well done that it can dispense with many standard compositional rules. In this way it is similar to Steinbeck or Hemingway, and is equally enjoyable. I am looking forward to Shawna Ryan's next book.
What the?!?!?!
This has got to be one of the worst books I have had the misfortune of paying full price for and reading in a long time. I had such high hopes for this book, but was sorely disappointed. The plot described in the synopsis became a side story that never developed. The lack of punctuation made it difficult to decipher between actual dialog or random thoughts of characters. None of the mini plots developed into anything interesting. The author bounced back and forth between past and present so often it was as if this was intended to be a short story that was unmercifully stretched to make it a book. If I could give this book less than one star, I would.