Gender and birth order play a huge role in Chinese culture. It's unfortunate because the first POV we experience is Jook-Liang, only sister. Being female and not being the oldest in the family puts her in a position of, well, I'd like to say invisibility but she's visible and constantly being told by her grandma that girls are worthless. No one wants girls. Jook-Liang is nothing if not persistent, even becoming best friends with an old Chinese man, Wong Bak. You notice that in this POV Chinese culture is very prevalent.
Our next voice is Jung-Sum, Second Brother. Still not a place of austerity but certainly better than being a girl. Jung is adopted and he's taken with boxing, getting lessons and learning how to shadow box. As you're reading, you notice he has a need to be "manly", with boxing, fighting, and how he dresses. As you walk through Jung's POV with him, you discover his secret.
Our last POV is the youngest brother Sek-Lung, a sickly little kid that was constantly kept out of school and was a favorite of the grandma. His POV is distinctly void of Chinese culture and he's very clearly a spoiled kid. Probably the least favorite of the sections because it didn't feel like it had a point (you'll notice the other two did). Sek-Lung takes in all the disinformation about the Japanese, including with Pearl Harbor that forced America into the war, and he joins in bullying Japanese children, even while admitting that he was mistaken for being Japanese and had to be protected. Well, perhaps that is the point?
This was a good book with great perspective on, essentially, being a stranger in a strange land....illegally.
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