nightowlreader's review
2.0
I read this in middle school, and this is a spin-off to the book, Ties that Bind, Ties that Break because it follows the good friend of the main character from the original book. I remember liking it a lot less than the original book because it was more political, and I think also the character relationship, in my opinion, was a bit weird. Anyways, that's what I remembered.
arisbookcorner's review
3.0
My only problem with it was that I found it tedious. This is rare, I don't usually find historical fiction boring, but this novel moved so slowly. Also, I don't think it helped to have half the story take place in Ithaca, New York. After all, nothing happens in Ithaca! There's no diversity and hardly anything to do. Yanyan was bored and lonely and I was bored with her. I wanted more China time or to really delve into the experiences of Chinese students in America. Yanyan is an outsider, so she doesn't spend much time with the few Chinese students there and I wish that she had. I wanted to know about their experiences too, to have their stories interwoven.
The novel does present an interesting portrait of China because China is torn apart by different groups fighting.
I enjoyed reading about the differences between the two groups (Manchus and Chinese) of people and following Yanyan and Liang Boshu's debates. Of course, Yanyan meets someone in America too, so we have a distant love triangle. I love Yanyan though, she studies martial arts with her Eldest Brother (her Second Brother ignores her), she discusses politics with her father, devotes herself to learning English at the school she attends in China and studies medicine on her own. In America, she takes hard courses precisely because her counselor told her Chinese people and especially Chinese women, could not succeed at them. This was refreshing to read about because Yanyan does not necessarily prove him wrong (I don't like when a character comes into a new setting and does perfectly at a strange school in hard subjects), she struggles but she handles the situation maturely. I also really admired her for leaving her home at the age of sixteen and traveling across the world to a foreign place where she wasn't fluent in the language. That takes courage.
An Ocean Apart, a World Away had potential with a strong female main character and unique setting, but this novel crawls along and there's little action. There's a lack of secondary character development which is a shame, because the other characters (not just the Chinese students but the other women students) seem to have interesting background stories. I liked reading about China in the early 190s and the learning about the various disputes going on, and of course, the discrimination against Asians and women made my blood boil. Other people will probably enjoy this novel more than I, it had too little action and adventure for my tastes
The novel does present an interesting portrait of China because China is torn apart by different groups fighting.
I enjoyed reading about the differences between the two groups (Manchus and Chinese) of people and following Yanyan and Liang Boshu's debates. Of course, Yanyan meets someone in America too, so we have a distant love triangle. I love Yanyan though, she studies martial arts with her Eldest Brother (her Second Brother ignores her), she discusses politics with her father, devotes herself to learning English at the school she attends in China and studies medicine on her own. In America, she takes hard courses precisely because her counselor told her Chinese people and especially Chinese women, could not succeed at them. This was refreshing to read about because Yanyan does not necessarily prove him wrong (I don't like when a character comes into a new setting and does perfectly at a strange school in hard subjects), she struggles but she handles the situation maturely. I also really admired her for leaving her home at the age of sixteen and traveling across the world to a foreign place where she wasn't fluent in the language. That takes courage.
An Ocean Apart, a World Away had potential with a strong female main character and unique setting, but this novel crawls along and there's little action. There's a lack of secondary character development which is a shame, because the other characters (not just the Chinese students but the other women students) seem to have interesting background stories. I liked reading about China in the early 190s and the learning about the various disputes going on, and of course, the discrimination against Asians and women made my blood boil. Other people will probably enjoy this novel more than I, it had too little action and adventure for my tastes
More...