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readallthenewberys2017-09-03 09:29 pm
justice_turtle) wrote in readallthenewberys2017-09-03 09:29 pm
Entry tags:
- 1933,
- author: elizabeth lewis,
- era: 1920s,
- era: contemporary,
- first-time read,
- genre: fiction: contemporary,
- good at: characters,
- good at: people of color,
- good at: research,
- newbery medal winner,
- place: asia: china,
- protagonist gender: male,
- protagonist race: east asian,
- protagonist type: human,
- review,
- stars: five,
- style: prose
Review: Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze (Elizabeth Foreman Lewis)
Summary: Teenaged "Young Fu" (he has a full name, but nobody uses it) and his mother move to Chongqing after his father dies. The book follows their first five years in the city, during which Young Fu becomes an accomplished coppersmith, learns to read and write, and has several adventures.
Reaction: *flomps* Glory hallelujah, we are DONE with chinoiserie! :D Young Fu is a realistic teenager living in (as far as I can tell) an accurately portrayed 1920s Chongqing. Sometimes he's full of himself, sometimes he screws up, but he's a generally good kid who works hard and takes good advantage of the luck he has. I feel like he might be just a titch too modern-Western in his kind of "pssh, evil spirits" attitude at times, but it is mostly earned.
Rating: Five stars. I'm so bloody happy to have a really good book set in China that I can't even criticize it. :D And it is honestly a good book.
Reaction: *flomps* Glory hallelujah, we are DONE with chinoiserie! :D Young Fu is a realistic teenager living in (as far as I can tell) an accurately portrayed 1920s Chongqing. Sometimes he's full of himself, sometimes he screws up, but he's a generally good kid who works hard and takes good advantage of the luck he has. I feel like he might be just a titch too modern-Western in his kind of "pssh, evil spirits" attitude at times, but it is mostly earned.
Rating: Five stars. I'm so bloody happy to have a really good book set in China that I can't even criticize it. :D And it is honestly a good book.