20 October 2016

Reading Challenge - Book 11

The 11th book I read this year satisfies #37 on the PopSugar Reading Challenge - a book about a culture with which you're unfamiliar.

The Woman Who Breathed Two Worlds by Selina Siak Chin Yoke was (I think?) an Amazon Prime Kindle freebie for October. I chose it pretty blindly from an email list, but I'm so glad I did.

This very engaging book was about the life of Chye Hoon, a Malayan-Chinese woman. Through her life, she teaches us everything she thinks is important about being Nyonya (the name for the Malayan-Chinese mixed culture). I find it fascinating to read about the world at that time (the late 1800s into the early 1900s), and how she differentiates her culture from the Malayan world around her in her adult life. Her love for her culture is obvious, as well as how much she wants her 10 children to love and respect it as well.

Everything is discussed in this book, including her daily life, friendships, marriage customs, food, and the role of women in all of it. So much of the relationship struggles she dealt with were truly a story of, 'the more things change, the more they stay the same,' and I loved her strong spirit through everything.

I would love to see this book turned into a movie, to discover how much my vision of it matched or contrasted with what the author was really trying to say. I would definitely recommend this book.

6 comments:

Liz Parker said...

I love the title of that book! Pinning it to remember to read it at some point :) my TBR piles are out of control currently, lol.

Mom Among Chaos said...

How many stars would you give it? It sounds like a good read!

Rachel said...

Sounds like an interesting read. Thanks for the review!

Amanda Ripsam said...

This book is right up my alley, I can relate to living in two worlds. I am originally born and raised in Toronto Ontario Canada. I live in a small town in Michigan with my family. Toronto is a melting pot of cultures I would love to read this book. Great book review. I two write book reviews.

Unknown said...

Sounds interesting to go that far back in time. 10 kids? Wow!

The Non-Housewives said...

Interesting! I love when I find a good freebie book :)