emilyusuallyreading's review
3.0
What I Liked
I love Lisa See. She's one of my favorite authors, and On Gold Mountain helped me to better understand where she came from and how she came to be the incredible Chinese-American author she is now.
What I Didn't Like
I can see why See took such tremendous effort to create this odyssey, but for those not in her family, it can come across as long and slow, with names being blurred together and generations becoming confusing.
I love Lisa See. She's one of my favorite authors, and On Gold Mountain helped me to better understand where she came from and how she came to be the incredible Chinese-American author she is now.
What I Didn't Like
I can see why See took such tremendous effort to create this odyssey, but for those not in her family, it can come across as long and slow, with names being blurred together and generations becoming confusing.
author_d_r_oestreicher's review
4.0
It is said, “History is written by the victors.” On Gold Mountain by Lisa See reports the history of Chinese immigration to the United States (aka Gold Mountain) from the transcontinental railroad to the post-WWII era. She builds this memoir around her great-grandfather Fong See (1857-1957) who arrived in 1871. While the author reports on Chinese Exclusion legislation and discrimination, Fong See and his family managed to thrive despite these obstacles. The result is a positive history of the family’s experience, mostly in Los Angeles.
This is a success story of Chinese immigration.
For my expanded notes: https://1book42day.blogspot.com/2022/07/on-golden-mountain-by-lisa-see.html
“As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.”
Check out https://amzn.to/2SpaDMN to see my books.
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This is a success story of Chinese immigration.
For my expanded notes: https://1book42day.blogspot.com/2022/07/on-golden-mountain-by-lisa-see.html
“As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.”
Check out https://amzn.to/2SpaDMN to see my books.
Check out https://amazon.com/shop/influencer-20171115075 for book recommendations.
josiemi's review
challenging
informative
slow-paced
4.5
This book is slow, but so worth it. On a personal level, it’s so inspiring for me to read about Chinese American history as person of Chinese descent. I loved how See tackles what it means to be American; what it means to be Chinese; and what does family mean?
attytheresa's review against another edition
5.0
It told the story of the Chinese in America through the eyes of one family.
Thus the author summarizes exactly what she accomplished with this amazing book, in the epilogue added to the 2012 reissue I just read. It's her family history that she tells, based on copious research and oral histories. I found it nearly impossible to put down, stretching out breaks from work and staying up way too late just to read more of this story of Chinese immigration in California.
'Gold Mountain' is the Chinese name for the United States. See's great-great-grandfather, Fong Dun Shung, with his 2 eldest sons, left his very small impoverished village in Southern China (directly north of Hong Kong and near Canton now Guangzhou) in 1866 to come to the Gold Mountain in search of work and money. He was an herbalist and worked on the building of the transcontinental railroad but as an herbalist/healer rather than a laborer, the work his sons took. After the railroad was completed, he opened a store in Sacramento selling herbs and tinctures. A few years later, Fong See, See's great-grandfather and Fong Dun Shung's Number 4 son, emigrated and established the family roots first in Sacramento and then in Los Angeles. Fong See was 14 years old and is 97 when he dies in LA, leaving a large prosperous Chinese American family behind.
This may be a memoir or a biography of an immigrant family from the time they arrived to the end of the 20th Century, but it is also a serious history of Chinese immigration in the US, and California in particular. There is so much here I never knew: Exclusion Law, anti-miscegenation laws, extreme immigration limits and restrictions on Chinese, all persisting until mid-20th century and to some extent later (state laws). The story of Old Chinatown vs. New Chinatown in LA, the incredible story of how Fong See and other immigrants worked around these laws and restrictions to own businesses, bring family and especially wives from China, buy property, and especially marry caucasians is utterly engrossing.
Also told is the story of the inevitable conflict between desires of the immigrant generation to have their children remain steeped in the chinese traditions, culture, and behavior and their children born in America, and desperately wanting to assimilate. See also does not neglect the story of the family that remained in or returned to China. We see some of the history of China play before our eyes, including the impact on Chinese Americans when Mao defeated Chiang Kai-shek and the borders of China were closed tight. While writing and researching the book, See went to the village of her family, Dimtao, meeting with cousins and extended family there, and collecting yet more oral histories and information to fill in some of the gaps. When See returned, some of the elders in her family actually opened up and confirmed information never before discussed.
See's special storytelling gift is evident here, her first published book: the ability to keep out western judgment while telling a compelling story. It's not as perfected as in her later historical fiction, but it is very evident. While occasionally a tad episodic in the middle, those moments are few as the story of See's family on Gold Mountain totally engrossed me.
There are photos, maps, a family tree (which I consulted frequently), and an extensive bibliography and list of sources. First published in 1995, it was reissued in 2012 with some updated material based on new information and photos that Lisa See has acquired since its first publication, as the process of learning a family's history never ends.
Thus the author summarizes exactly what she accomplished with this amazing book, in the epilogue added to the 2012 reissue I just read. It's her family history that she tells, based on copious research and oral histories. I found it nearly impossible to put down, stretching out breaks from work and staying up way too late just to read more of this story of Chinese immigration in California.
'Gold Mountain' is the Chinese name for the United States. See's great-great-grandfather, Fong Dun Shung, with his 2 eldest sons, left his very small impoverished village in Southern China (directly north of Hong Kong and near Canton now Guangzhou) in 1866 to come to the Gold Mountain in search of work and money. He was an herbalist and worked on the building of the transcontinental railroad but as an herbalist/healer rather than a laborer, the work his sons took. After the railroad was completed, he opened a store in Sacramento selling herbs and tinctures. A few years later, Fong See, See's great-grandfather and Fong Dun Shung's Number 4 son, emigrated and established the family roots first in Sacramento and then in Los Angeles. Fong See was 14 years old and is 97 when he dies in LA, leaving a large prosperous Chinese American family behind.
This may be a memoir or a biography of an immigrant family from the time they arrived to the end of the 20th Century, but it is also a serious history of Chinese immigration in the US, and California in particular. There is so much here I never knew: Exclusion Law, anti-miscegenation laws, extreme immigration limits and restrictions on Chinese, all persisting until mid-20th century and to some extent later (state laws). The story of Old Chinatown vs. New Chinatown in LA, the incredible story of how Fong See and other immigrants worked around these laws and restrictions to own businesses, bring family and especially wives from China, buy property, and especially marry caucasians is utterly engrossing.
Also told is the story of the inevitable conflict between desires of the immigrant generation to have their children remain steeped in the chinese traditions, culture, and behavior and their children born in America, and desperately wanting to assimilate. See also does not neglect the story of the family that remained in or returned to China. We see some of the history of China play before our eyes, including the impact on Chinese Americans when Mao defeated Chiang Kai-shek and the borders of China were closed tight. While writing and researching the book, See went to the village of her family, Dimtao, meeting with cousins and extended family there, and collecting yet more oral histories and information to fill in some of the gaps. When See returned, some of the elders in her family actually opened up and confirmed information never before discussed.
See's special storytelling gift is evident here, her first published book: the ability to keep out western judgment while telling a compelling story. It's not as perfected as in her later historical fiction, but it is very evident. While occasionally a tad episodic in the middle, those moments are few as the story of See's family on Gold Mountain totally engrossed me.
There are photos, maps, a family tree (which I consulted frequently), and an extensive bibliography and list of sources. First published in 1995, it was reissued in 2012 with some updated material based on new information and photos that Lisa See has acquired since its first publication, as the process of learning a family's history never ends.
happylatitudes's review
4.0
An excellent book from a historian's perspective....but if you plan to read it as a work of fiction, it does drag a bit, could have been edited more closely.
llkendrick's review
2.0
I love this author so I really wanted to like this book. The first half of the book was very enjoyable and learned a lot about when the Chinese first came to America. But then the second half really dragged and it was a chore to get through. I probably wouldn't recommend this book to anyone.
blearywitch's review
2.0
If I said Shanghai Girls were a little too obviously made up, this one is the opposite extreme - incredibly factual it's almost difficult to enjoy at times. All those families, names, years, shops, locations, numbers, and of course drama makes for a great story. There were incredibly interesting parts and then some not so much. I admired Fong See - his risk taking, generosity, ambition, intelligence, love and perseverance allowed him status in an America at a time where there was incredible intolerance for non-white races and miscegenation laws were in place. Chinese people are still as hardworking as ever.