Golden Mountain: Beyond the American Dream [Paperback]

Irene Kai (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2004

In Golden Mountain, Irene Kai tells a deeply personal story of how she overcame cultural bias and a difficult mother to move from China to America and become an independent woman. The child of a loveless arranged marriage, Kai was born into a culture where women were told to accept their fate and not question authority. Beginning with her great-grandmother, Wong Oi, who was humiliated by her husband's concubine, Kai traces the lives of women in her family through three generations until she reaches her own childhood. As a teen, Kai was brought to New York City by her American-born mother and began to rebel against her mother's physical and psychological abuses. In New York, she also discovered art, sexuality, and herself. Finding the strength to prosper in the "Golden Mountain," Kai made her own life and became truly independent, but she could not forget from where she came—in a poignant finale, Kai comes to terms with the family she left behind. An uplifting, unpredictable story, Golden Mountain is a book about overcoming, and coming to terms with, one's culture.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Golden Mountain" is a story of empowerment, courage and forgiveness, lessons that transcend even those influences that would isolate us. --The Mail Tribune, April 2, 2004

From the Author

I was inspired to write the Golden Mountain: Beyond the American Dream to encourage others to create their own destiny and live the life of their dreams. Born in Hong Kong, I moved to New York City at age fifteen and was plunged into the tumultuous world of sex and drugs that characterized America in the 1960s. Struggling to reconcile my roles as a dutiful Chinese daughter and a modern American woman, I rebelled against many of the cultural dictates handed down from my family. I defied Chinese convention in my relationships, education and attitude; I earned degrees in art, traveled extensively, married, opened a successful business and, 30 years later, found myself in Los Angeles at the pinnacle of worldly success.

But I wasn't happy. I felt miserable, physically and emotionally exhausted. It was only through intense meditation that I finally discovered the courage to forgive my family for all the years of abuse and to let go of an unhappy marriage. I discovered that I didn't have to simply "accept" my fate as my mother and grandmother had done. I could create my own destiny, a destiny filled with passion, vision and light.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 375 pages
• Publisher: Silver Light Publications; 3rd edition (October 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 097448900X
• ISBN-13: 978-0974489001
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,213,134 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not just for women..., April 3, 2004

By 

Joseph McCormick (Floyd, Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Golden Mountain: Beyond the American Dream (Paperback)

Although it may seem the Golden Mountain is a "woman's book", I found it inspiring from a man's point of view. In its essense the book is about finding the courage to speak the truth to yourself and to the world about yourself, about your life. There was no sugar coating of even the most intimate details of her relationships. This to me is the greatest expression moral courage. The book is an antidote to denial. Its honesty is sometimes breathtaking.

I was also inspire by the radical transformation she underwent as a person. Her first forty odd years were spent in some way under someone elses control -- her mother, the men in her life, the expectations of her chinese heritage. She clear connected with a resevoir of strength and will deep within her that said she had a choice between freedom and suffocation. She chose freedom.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars disappointing, June 17, 2009

By 

Karla Kaudel "Poloele" (Coos Bay, OR USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Golden Mountain: Beyond the American Dream (Paperback)

I have read a lot of books on the topic, historical background of Chinese women as a personal story. Fine. This one is lacking. The main character is annoying and just stupid. She does not learn from her mistakes for such a long time while the narrative is droning on and on.

what a disappointment.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling story, December 1, 2005

By 

Jonah Blue (Ashland, OR) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Golden Mountain: Beyond the American Dream (Paperback)

I loved this compelling, richly textured, vividly descriptive story. Not only was I transported into Chinese culture over four generations of the author's family, but into how family patterns and cultural mores impact us all. I was also inspired by the hope in this book. The author transcends many obstacles, including family abuse, and courageously builds a meaningful, new life.