Sunday Salon: Three New Books Reviewed

 

Reviews

Kinda Korean: Stories from an American Life by Joan Sung

Genre: memoir

This novel is about a Korean-American girl's immigrant Tiger Mom, but it's about much more too that's just as, if not more, important. It's about growing up Asian in a society that "fetishizes" and "hypersexualizes" Asian woman. The writer discusses being assaulted so many times and "brainwashed" to believe that you should live in shame for who you are.

I found the memoir enlightening about the author's experiences and challenges faced by triple threats - having immigrant parents, being Asian, and being an Asian woman. To be made to feel that "being different" is always a bad thing. It was interesting that even a positive for Asians, being considered studious and hardworking, could be turned into a stereotype that implied that Asians could not experience racial discrimination.

The honest and forthright stories are compelling, amazing, and disturbing. It's a good thing that so many Asian women are finally speaking up, writing books, memoirs, histories that tell their stories and show their points of view and experiences.

I would encourage all readers to read this book, to understand in more depth the immigrant experience in the U.S., which may be similar to those in other countries as well.

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for a copy of this book.

The Hunter's Daughter by Nicola Solvinic
Genre: magical realism, mystery, suspense

Anna Koray is a cop, but she grew up with a father skilled in outdoor living and the natural world - a hunter, who taught her about the forest and the creatures that live there. When Anna was still a teen, her father was executed for the murders of young women,. But now young women are being found again in the forests or woods, prepared in a way reminiscent of her father's methods. And Anna is on the case, no one knowing her real name as a child or who her father is.

The suspense was in finding out slowly about Anna's childhood relationship with her hunter father through frequent flashbacks in the narration. The element of magic in her father's belief in a demanding nature god adds to the strange atmosphere of the story. Anna's conflict between law and order and her love for her father add a lot to the understanding of a complex father-daughter relationship to the natural world.

A haunting, magical story mixed in with crime solving, family drama, suspense, and mystery.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book

Code Word Romance by Carlie Walker

Genre: romantic mystery

I like the setting on the Amalfi Coast of Italy, and the plot that involves two women who could be identical twins. Drama follows when Max is asked to impersonate her double, Sofia, a prime minister of a small European country who is on a trip to Italy.

The romantic interest makes the story more interesting, as Max's CIA handler on the trip, Flynn, is a former lover. There is suspense when the two have to flee and hide from would be assassins who want to take out the prime minister Sofia. The book lost me, though, when Max morphs into another personality, suddenly becoming a daredevil involved in drama on the scene. I wish she had remained in her original character, someone who needs Flynn's help to dodge killers while she impersonates Sofia.

I did enjoy the first part of the book, however.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book

Currently reading

She Doesn't Have a Clue by Jenny Elder Moke

 Mystery writers meet publishers at an up scale wedding on an island in the Pacific Northwest. This romantic mystery becomes a locked room trope as weather traps them all there with a murderer. I'm enjoying it so far.....

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book

What are you reading or watching this week?

Memes:  The Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves