THE EIGHTH PROMISE: An American Son's Tribute to His Toisanese Mother - Couverture souple

Lee, William Poy

Couverture souple

ISBN 13 : 9798601807906

Editeur : Independently published, 2020

Synopsis

A memoir of a relationship between a mother and son. Their stories unfold simultaneously in his mother's ancient Chinese farming village while under attack by the Japanese army and in America during the civil rights era, Vietnam War, and the countercultural 1960s and 1970s of William's coming-of-age. Poy Jen keeps alive the vital eighth promise and instills its importance into her son's very soul. He writes, "It is the Eighth Promise to live with compassion toward all that I think of as the ever-living promise, the one for all of one's days. And this promise, this wayperhaps arising to the level of a moral pathstrikes me as the distillation of all the wisdom of my kin." The author survives the Jim Crow segregationin the San Francisco of his youth. When violence erupts in Chinatown in a series of slayings and William's brother is wrongfully convicted of murder, William must remember the Eighth Promise in order to do what is right. Told in two voices, the author's and that of his motherthis book is a tale of violence, fortitude, survival, and triumph."Whatever our level of familiarity with the main ingredients of this story, it nevertheless continues to exert a powerful allure. After reading William Poy Lee'sThe Eighth Promise, we are reminded why: Each family has its own emotional landscapes, its own idiosyncrasies and neuroses. In the end, it is observing the way particular families respond to stress that makes such narratives so compelling." San Francisco Chronicle "The Eighth Promise is a lively read and a significant contribution to the body of literature that continues to bubble up from the steaming cauldron that is the American immigrant experience." Salon.com "The Eighth Promise is the rare book that tells a story we have not heard before, yet poses questions that are eternal. Who are we, having left the land of our ancestors and settled among others similarly displaced? How do we find 'home' in the present when the past meant a thousand years in the same place? How do we honor parentsparticularly our motherswhose lives were the bridge that brought us safely to a more promising land? In this unusual, wise, insightful and healing memoir, William Lee Poy explores territory that reflects and intrigues us all." Alice Walker "One of the very few books that completely conveys a life as lived from the inside and makes us as readers feel we are living it too." Gloria Steinem "At once a family story, a political tale, a crucial piece of American history, a drama of betrayal and ultimate survival, The Eighth Promise promises to be a book that will be read by generations of readers."Kim Chernin, author of "In My Mother's House""In this remarkable memoir, mother and son, in alternating chapters, tell the story of their life in San Francisco's Chinatown from the 1950s to the present . . . Fans of Amy Tan and Maxine Hong Kingston shouldn't hesitate to embrace this formidable matriarch and the son she taught to cook her chi soups."Publishers Weekly (red starred review)

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Independently published
• Date d'édition: 2020
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 13: 9798601807906
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 233
• Coordonnées du fabricant: Manufactured by Amazon on behalf of the author; https://www.amazon.fr/hz/contact-us; ; c/o Amazon Media EU S.à.r.l., 38 Avenue John F. Kennedy; Luxembourg; L-1855; Luxembourg