A Long Stay in a Distant Land.A LONG STAY IN A DISTANT LAND. Chieh Chieng. 2005. Read by James Yaegashi. 6 cds. 6.5 hrs. Blackstone Audiobooks. 0-7861-8236-9. $55.00. Vinyl; plot, author, reader notes. SA This is an immigrants' story, a comic novel A comic novel is a work of fiction in which the writer seeks to amuse the reader: sometimes with subtlety and as part of a carefully woven narrative, sometimes above all other considerations. One of the most notable British comic novelists is P.G. and a look at what it means to grow up in America. The main character is Louis Lum n. 1. A chimney. 2. A ventilating chimney over the shaft of a mine. 3. A woody valley; also, a deep pool. , the grandson of the first Lums to come to Orange County, California Orange County is a county in Southern California, United States. Its county seat is Santa Ana. According to the 2000 Census, its population was 2,846,289, making it the second most populous county in the state of California, and the fifth most populous in the United States. , but the story travels between the generations in an almost helter-skelter fashion. What connects all the separate stories is the author's humor and the love and acceptance among the family members even as they often shake their collective heads in dismay over the idiosyncrasies and idiocies of the individual members. These include the grand mother's famous turnip cake, Sonny's tape recording of his childhood, and the unfortunate demise of many of the members of the Lure family by tainted cheeseburger or speeding ice-cream truck. Real tragedies as well as genuine emotions are conveyed with humor, but also with understanding and compassion. Narrator NARRATOR. A pleader who draws narrs serviens narrator, a sergeant at law. Fleta, 1. 2, c. 37. Obsolete. Yaegashi reads with a funny tilt to his voice, which somehow makes the reader think he must have had the equivalent of a Grandma Esther or Uncle Bo in his family. These characters are Asian American, but most listeners who are close to their own grandparents grandparents npl → abuelos mpl grandparents grand npl → grands-parents mpl grandparents grand npl will recognize them as part of their American family. Nola Theiss, Sanibel, FL |
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