Two sisters growing up in Shanghai are living an exciting, cosmopolitan life as young girls when everything is interrupted by family misfortune followed immediately by the Japanese attack of China during WWII. Their story unfolds and eventually brings them to Los Angeles, California to the heart of Chinatown. Through this story of their lives surfaces a unique story about sisters and about being Chinese in WWII America.
Note: I don't have page numbers for these quotes because I read it on my iPhone kindle.
"During this time of adversity - as it is for all sisters - our petty jealousies ad the question of which of us is loved more dissolve. We have to rely on each other."
"In Shanghai, life flows like an endlessly serene river for the wealthy, the lucky, the fortunate. For those with bad fates, the smell of desperation is as strong as a rotting corpse."
"Mama used to tell us a story about a cicada sitting high in a tree. It chirps and drinks in dew, oblivious to the praying mantis behind it. The mantis arches up its front leg to stab the cicada, but it doesn't know an oriole perches behind it. The bird stretches out its neck to snap up the mantis for a midday meal, but is unaware of the boy who's come into the garden with a net. Three creatures - he cicada, the mantis, and the oriole - all coveted gains without being aware of the greater and inescapable danger that was coming.
Later that afternoon, the first shots are exchanged between Chinese and Japanese soldiers."
"Maybe we are all like that with our mothers. They seem ordinary until one day they are extraordinary."
"I despair over what is happening to us. I want to be rescued. If not that, then I want to go back to bed, lie under the covers, and sob until I have no tears left. But I am May's older sister. I have to be braver than my emotions. I have to help us fight our bad fates. I take a deep breath and stand. 'Let's go. I'm ready.'"
"Parents die, daughters grow up and marry out, but sisters are for life. She is the only person left in the world who shares my memories of our childhood, our parents, our Shanghai, our struggles, our sorrows, and, yes, even our moments of happiness and triumph. My sister is the one person who truly knows me, as I know her. The last thing May says to me is "When our hair is white, we'll still have our sister love."
I bought two copies and sent them to my sisters!
Book 31
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