Disappearing Moon Cafe: A Novel [Paperback]

Sky Lee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1990

Sometimes funny, sometimes scandalous, always compelling, this extraordinary first novel chronicles the women of the Wong family from frontier railroad camps to modern-day Vancouver. As past sins and inborn strengths are passed on from mother to daughter to granddaughter, each generation confronts, in its own way, the same problems — isolation, racism, and the clash of cultures. Moving effortlessly between past and present, between North America and China, Sky Lee weaves fiction and historical fact into a memorable and moving picture of a people’s struggle for identity.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Powerfully and elaborately wrought, Lee's first novel traces generations of a Chinese Canadian family and their ties to (and clashes with) one another, their culture, and their land in China and North America. Patriarch Wong Gwei Chang arrives in Canada in the late 19th century, and he and his family struggle against the poverty and racism of railroad camps. Eventually moving to the safe but stifling Chinatown in Vancouver, they become entangled in many related conflicts: old traditions vs. modern ways; male vs. female roles in the family and community; the Chinatown elders vs. the dominant white society. Sections of each chapter tell different characters' stories at key points in the family's history; gradually one voice, that of Kae Ying Woo, Gwei Chang's granddaughter, emerges. The chronological shifts within sections effectively sustain narrative tension and flesh out characters, although the connections among those characters can be confusing. However, the layers of experience, emotion and cultural identity of succeeding generations build to an abundantly detailed story.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Lee's elegant, intriguing first novel merits a place in the welcome current wave of Chinese-American experiences chronicled in fiction ( The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan, LJ 6/1/91; Tripmaster Monkey by Maxine Hong Kingston, LJ 4/1/89). It pieces together the history of a convoluted young dynasty of Vancouver's Chinatown. Hip, opinionated contemporary narrator Kae Ying Woo, aware that she is her story's conclusion, searches out the lives linking her to her great-grandfather, a young adventurer in the Canadian wilderness in 1892. Wong Gwei Chang becomes locally influential, but Kae focuses on her complex grandmother and great-grandmother and their lifelong battle of wills. Shifting frequently, usually smoothly, among dates and characters, Kae finds sexual entanglements, unwitting incest, racial and familial crises. A promising debut and a good addition for general, regional, and feminist collections.
- Janet Ingraham, Worthington P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Douglas & McIntyre; 2nd edition (1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0888947216
• ISBN-13: 978-0888947215
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #940,629 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not really the worst book ever, February 15, 2002

By 

"diana9" (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Disappearing Moon Cafe (Paperback)

Though I wouldn't call Disappearing Moon Cafe the BEST book ever, I would hardly go as far as to call it the worst. Comparing it to works such as Six Records of a Floating Life is, furthermore, problematic; the distinctions between Chinese literature and Chinese-Canadian literature are far too vast to place in the same category.
I would recommend this book to anyone, though it is definitely a very slanted view of the Chinese-Canadian experience. It does draw out certain important points, however: the divisions between the Chinese immigrant and other races, the effects of the Chinese Exclusion Act, the role of identity, and both family and interracial relationships. It is DEFINITELY a very intriguing read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, December 23, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Disappearing Moon Cafe: A Novel (Paperback)

I really did love this book and how it depicted Vancouver's Chinatown in the past. It was a story, not a true tale of someones life. I'd read it over and over again.

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing, September 11, 2003

By 

"moonstaz7" (Toronto) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Disappearing Moon Cafe (Hardcover)

How this book could even be compared to Six Records of A Floating Life is beyond me. They deal with two different issues not to mention era's. Six Records was written by a heart broken widow after his wife's death while this one gives a historical account of the Chinese Canadian Experience in British Columbia. It is the furthest thing from "happy" and describing the story as such leads me to believe that Chris didn't read the book. Personally I would describe this novel as heart wrenching at points. The story is intended for entertainment and does not mean it is "everyone's story". Though even the idea of making a story that covers all Chinese Canadian's experiences during this time period itself is highly problematic.

And I do not understand how the book can be referred to as racist either. He says that the book reads like gossip, and maybe it is the extramarital affairs which offend Chris so much. Surely we are not so bold to say that one race is morally superior to the rest and thus would not succumb to doing this. Every culture has and if this is what upset this reader so much, maybe he should think of what type of stereotypes he started with before opening the novel.

That being said, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in a terrific read or the subject.