Customer Reviews

Disappearing Moon Cafe: A Novel

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

As a student of the first Chinese Canadian history course offered in any Canadian university (University of Alberta), I found Sky Lee's Disappearing Moon Cafe one of the most profound and intellectually stimulating novels I have come across in my life. Though a background in the history of Chinese Canadians is by no means a pre-requisite to this novel, I believe Lee has thoroughly researched the social and political climate of the Chinese in Canada during the time in which her novel is set. Indeed, Lee's ability to integrate factual history with fiction in her narrative is quite remarkable. That she utilizes the theorized union between the Chinese and Aboriginal peoples to both begin and complete her narrative speaks to her creativity and willigness to move beyond simple facts.

I would recommend this novel to any individual seeking to extend their understanding of the Chinese Canadian experience and especially to those local born Chinese who, like myself, are searching for a cultural identity that combines both our cultural roots in Canada and in China. This novel is poignant, reflective and completely deserving of our attention.

This is perhaps the worst piece of politically-correct, falsely historical literature the CanLit factories have ever produced. The narrator of the novel implies that the entire book is just her trying to make the past all goody-goody so she can live a happy care-free life, and as a result the book reads like a 14yr-old gossiping about the Backstreet Boys. If you want to read good Chinese literature, read something else, Six Records Of A Floating Life or something. If you want to read a bland, tasteless, stereotypical novel with flat, uninteresting, stupid and weak characters, read Disappearing Moon Cafe. A book that is not Chinese-Canadian literature so much as it is an example as to just how easily books that play to the racial stereotype can find a publisher. I am from a Chinese family that's been in Vancouver for over a hundred years, and the "Chinese-Canadian" experience detailed in this book bears no relations whatsoever to actuality. The only redeeming quality of this novel, for me, is that there's a chapter set in a building my family used to own. For immortalizing this brick forever in the great genre of poor literature, I commend Sky Lee. This book is the foul stench upon which Chinese literature floats, and should not have any more time wasted on it.

It's been nearly four years since I first read this book but I find it lingers long in my thoughts. The ability to stay in your mind is, I feel, the sign of a truly great book. A loving story of complex lives moving back and forth in time and place. Sad and joyous without shallow sentimentality. Forget about the books by Amy Tan. If you really want to read a great story about Chinese families, this is the book to buy! Sky Lee is ten times the writer that Ms. Tan will ever be. This is a must read.