Why a Booktrail?
1860s, 1920s, 1980s, 2000: Gold, Silver, Jade and Pearl – four gems to tell a story of Chinese American relations
The Fortunes
What you need to know before your trail
A novel in four sections – Gold, Silver, Jade and Pearl – each section looks at a new character living in a new place and time. Four gems if you like scattered around to tell a story of 4 parts.
Gold – Ah Ling, son of a prostitute, is sent to 1860s California when the Gold Rush was just at its end.
Silver – Anna May Wong is one of the first Chinese film stars in 1920s Hollywood
Jade – 1980s Detroit – Vincent Chin has been murdered killed by two colleagues in the car industry who hate the fact that cheap imports from Japan are threatening the car industry and therefore their business.
Pearl – A couple are adopting a Chinese baby from an orphanage.
All four strands of the novel are to come together in unexpected ways
Travel Guide
Gold Mountain
This is the name that the Chinese give to a part of North America in and around San Francisco due to the Gold Rush which took place there.
GOLD – San Francisco- 1860s
The novel starts in the period just after the Gold Rush. Thousands of people from all over flock to the area in the search for wealth and jobs, a new way of life. This is a city and a community undergoing extreme change and this extreme changes are not always good. Chinese people are being exploited and abused here, they are treated as nothing more than cheap labour. Women are traded for sex and for the enjoyment of men who are working here. This is the tine of the Railroad expansion too and the city and the people here are in flux, in chaos and it’s every man for himself.
SILVER – Hollywood – 1920s
Anna May Wong is the first Chinese film star. As to showcase the variety of acting roles, the chapters can be as short as a curtain opening, one number in a show, or one act of a play. The acting world is uncertain and ever changing yet for those of Asian origin, the roles seem strangely stereotypical. Oriental women are only allowed to play oriental roles. Sometimes love scenes are banned or frowned upon. Racial segregation seems rife.
On the other hand, Silver does reveal the glam and the glitz of the Silver screen. Marlene Dietrich and huge cinema stars.
JADE- 1980s Detroit
Vincent Chin’s murder comes at a time where racism is rife and where businesses are struggling due to cheap imports from Asia. Japanese car parts seem to be destroying or at least severely affecting the car industry in the city of Detroit. Misunderstandings and racial differences lead to a tragic outcome.
PEARL- Present day
A couple are adopting a Chinese baby from an orphanage. The prospective father is a writer, writing about his experiences of Chinese- American relations. Suddenly, the Gold, Silver, Pearl shine as one
Booktrailer Review
Clare: @thebooktrailer
This was a reading treat in many ways. A thoroughly though provoking and well researched book. There were many strands and issues to really get you asking about just how much the world has changed and of course how it hasn’t with regards to racism and immigration.
I really enjoyed the historical parts where the time of the Gold Rush and the building of the Railroad, the conditions where the workers worked under really was insightful. I’ve read lots about the Gold Rush and never really considered the Chinese who came there and what they endured.
Each story in fact – the second one about Holly wood – again interesting. I never really hear about how Chinese people or Asian people do or don’t fit into a culture and what they have to go through to be the same as ‘white hollywood stars’ and there are certainly more dark sides to Hollywood than you would think.
The humour in the book really shines and despite the dark heart of the novel, there are a lot of sometimes jokes which touch on the unstable force that is racism, such as pronunciation problem, a joke between a Jew and a Chinese man…very effective and very revealing in their ordinariness and how they are just placed in the novel when you least expect it.
The issues here are so relevant today and I realised with a heavy heart just how blind we still are. The racism and problems are so casual, they’re shocking.
Whether you ‘re reading about immigration, cultural identity and the need to adapt to a new land, this is a really interesting read. I just wanted more from each section. Too short but maybe that’s the point. Makes you think and then – on to the next thought.
Booktrail Boarding Pass Information: The Fortunes
Author/ Guide: Peter Ho Davies Destination: San Franciso, Hollywood, Detroit, China Departure Time: 1860s, 1920s, 1980s, 2000s
Back to ResultsWhere Next?
