Caldwell, Bo. The distant land of my father, a novel.Harcourt, Harvest. 378p. c2001. 0-15-602713-5. $14.00. SA This is at its core the story of a father and a daughter. The background for their relationship is much more exotic than most, since the best years they share as a family are in Shanghai, just before WW II and the Japanese invasion. When Anna and her mother leave China to live in California near Anna's grandmother, they leave Anna's father behind because he refuses to see the dangers. The mechanism of the plot is that Anna as an adult, at the death of her father, finds his papers in which he writes about his own life, and in this way she pieces together what she remembers, and what her father has written, to form The Distant Land of My Father. This is a story that will resonate res·o·nate v. res·o·nat·ed, res·o·nat·ing, res·o·nates v.intr. 1. To exhibit or produce resonance or resonant effects. 2. with any daughter who adores her father, who then is disappointed and betrayed by the man, and who perhaps at some later time in life can forgive and accept him, flaws and all. The three women of the story--Anna, her mother, and her grandmother--are remarkably strong and loving. The grand-mother could have become a caricature caricature, a satirical drawing, plastic representation, or description which, through exaggeration of natural features, makes its subject appear ridiculous. of a stern, judgmental judg·men·tal adj. 1. Of, relating to, or dependent on judgment: a judgmental error. 2. Inclined to make judgments, especially moral or personal ones: woman, the one who thought it was a bad idea for her daughter to marry and go off to China with an adventurer. But the grandmother is not such a person at all: she is flexible, supportive, even forgiving, at the same time that she is the most reasonable of the three. Anna's beautiful mother, again someone the reader might expect to capitalize on Cap´i`tal`ize on` v. t. 1. To turn (an opportunity) to one's advantage; to take advantage of (a situation); to profit from; as, to capitalize on an opponent's mistakes s>. her beauty to attach herself to another rich man after her marriage fails, does not follow this path at all. And Anna herself, rigid with grief at the betrayal Betrayal See also Treachery. Judas Iscariot apostle who betrays Jesus. [N.T.: Matthew 26:15] Proteus though engaged, steals his friend Valentine’s beloved, reveals his plot and effects his banishment. [Br. of her father and then at the death of her mother, surprises us all (maybe even herself) as she slowly changes, accepting her flawed flaw 1 n. 1. An imperfection, often concealed, that impairs soundness: a flaw in the crystal that caused it to shatter. See Synonyms at blemish. 2. father and eventually forgiving him. The details of life in China in the 1930s, the luxurious life of the Western businessmen in Shanghai, the coming of the Japanese soldiers and the humiliation and horror experienced by the Chinese and by those westerners who don't escape--this is a riveting riv·et·ing adj. Wholly absorbing or engrossing one's attention; fascinating: The last chapter was so riveting that I was reading past midnight. story as well, and Caldwell tells it convincingly. Claire Rosser, KLIATT |
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