Hi All,
It was a great meeting (as always) with a good turnout. We all enjoyed this book, with ratings ranging from 3.5 to 4.25. It was a well written, poignant story about an enduring love between two star crossed kids. It was an easy read, although it bordered on being too simple. At times the story seemed implausible and too convenient. It reminded some of us of this shameful episode in American history, while a few of us were not aware of the details of the Japanese interment during WWII. We saw parallels in present day "profiling" and it cautions us to examine the present that these injustices are not repeated.
Some of us struggled with the age of Henry, as he seemed to be much too young to be so in love and so mature in his actions. While we understood that it was a Chinese cultural tradition, of a boy being considered a man at 13 years old, he seemed too old for his age. Hands down favorite characters were Sheldon and Mrs. Beatty. For relatively minor characters in the book they were very well developed and we fell in love with them. However, we did feel that the characters were all too nice and perfect, and everything seemed to wrap up nicely for the good guys. There are also some historical inaccuracies which didn't detract from our enjoyment of the book, but should have been tightened up by a good editor.
The relationship between Henry and his father, and then in turn, Henry and his own son Marty, was interesting. Reading how Henry handles his father and his prejudices, and how he struggles to not act the same way with his son, reminds us that the goal of each generation is to grow and be a better parent than the last.
Until next month.....Lindsay
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