List Books In Favor Of Women of the Silk (Women of the Silk #1)
Original Title: | Women of the Silk |
ISBN: | 0312099436 (ISBN13: 9780312099435) |
Edition Language: | English |
Series: | Women of the Silk #1 |
Setting: | China |
Gail Tsukiyama
Paperback | Pages: 278 pages Rating: 3.94 | 14712 Users | 1050 Reviews
Itemize Appertaining To Books Women of the Silk (Women of the Silk #1)
Title | : | Women of the Silk (Women of the Silk #1) |
Author | : | Gail Tsukiyama |
Book Format | : | Paperback |
Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
Pages | : | Pages: 278 pages |
Published | : | October 15th 1993 by St. Martin's Griffin (first published October 1st 1991) |
Categories | : | Historical. Historical Fiction. Fiction. Cultural. China. Asia. Literature. Asian Literature |
Representaion Conducive To Books Women of the Silk (Women of the Silk #1)
Sent by her family to work in a silk factory just prior to World War II, young Pei grows to womanhood, working fifteen-hour days and sending her pay to the family who abandoned her.In "Women of the Silk" Gail Tsukiyama takes her readers back to rural China in 1926, where a group of women forge a sisterhood amidst the reeling machines that reverberate and clamor in a vast silk factory from dawn to dusk. Leading the first strike the village has ever seen, the young women use the strength of their ambition, dreams, and friendship to achieve the freedom they could never have hoped for on their own. Tsukiyama's graceful prose weaves the details of "the silk work" and Chinese village life into a story of courage and strength.
Rating Appertaining To Books Women of the Silk (Women of the Silk #1)
Ratings: 3.94 From 14712 Users | 1050 ReviewsNotice Appertaining To Books Women of the Silk (Women of the Silk #1)
One of my students recommended this to me as one of her favorites, and I enjoyed it as well. It reminded me a little of one of my summer reads "The Blood of Flowers" which I liked even more than this. Reading about the silk factories of China in the 1920s-30s was very interesting, and I like novels that take me to new places. An easy and entertaining read.This is the story of Pei, a woman of the silk, who was taken to work in the silk factories as a child of eight. This simple fact is the basis for the novel and a way of life for many girls and women in China in the 1920's and 1930s. They initially helped to support their poor families and ultimately gained a degree of freedom for themselves.I enjoyed this novel as an introduction to a way of life completely foreign to me. I really don't know anything much of China during that time prior to WWII.
Approaching this review has been difficult for me due to my confusion over this book. There was so much I enjoyed and learned from this book that this easily could have been a top read if only certain incidents didn't take me away from the book. This was my first buddy read and it brought a wonderful level of enjoyment to the read, thanks Jeannette! I loved the moving, poignant and empowering story of Pei and her sister silk workers, their simplicity and strength can't help but move you. Overall
This book should have been a nonfiction book presenting the silk factories. The plot and characters seemed to exist only to illustrate an aspect of Chinese history or factory conditions or options in 1920-30s China for women. I am intrigued by the hair dressing ceremony wherein women could choose to become a member of the sisterhood of silk workers, an alternative to arranged marriages. A parallel ceremony to marriage; the choice as permanent. Like secular nuns. Even if the factories allowed
Ugh. This feels like a novel with such potential--its a story about Chinese factory women in 1926. There's so much that could be explored here about conflicts between family responsibility and individual choice, or the development of modern life versus tradition. Or even of working conditions in China during WWII. The book definitely talks about those things . . . but that's about all this book does--talk at the reader. The narrator simply finds it easier to tell the reader all about Pei, rather
Gail Tsukiyama's "Women of the Silk" is an interesting look into the lives of women who worked in the silk factories in China, in the early 20th century. Come to find out, this grueling labor actually gave these women a kind of freedom from traditional marriage roles, as they lived independently, off their own earnings. Tsukiyama follows a young girl, Pei, through to her years as a young adult, having been left without explanation at the silk factory by her father when she was little.
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