- Hardcover: 320 pages
- Publisher: Picador
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0330465147
- ISBN-13: 978-0330465144
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
As the Earth Turns Silver
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful writing but a little detached.,
By Charliecat (Oxfordshire, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: As the Earth Turns Silver (Paperback)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
This is a beautifully written novel which weaves an almost dream-like narrative between night and day, past and present, the living and the dead, China and New Zealand. It tells the story of two people in early 20th century Wellington, New Zealand, Chung-Yung, a Chinese immigrant, trying to survive in a hostile new country and a widow, Katherine McKechnie struggling to raise her son and daughter after the death of her unbearable husband.
Soon a clandestine relationship develops between Yung and Katherine. At a time when anti-Chinese legislation was at a height in New Zealand their relationship can only unfold during the mystical twilight hours of night which serves to heighten the sense of otherworldly magic which permeates the story. This premise of two people from opposite sides is an obvious setting for tragedy which is not unexpected but no less saddening or terrible when it comes. The only problem I had with the dream-like quality of the writing was that I never felt as connected to the characters, or the action, as I should have done, or would like to have done. I often felt detached from the main events, which is a shame because the writing is really amazing and poetic it just all seemed to wash over me and did not leave the impression the author was intending.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful book - beautiful characters and beautiful language,
By
This review is from: As the Earth Turns Silver (Paperback)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
This novel is set at a very interesting time in a place where all the problems in the world seem to be magnified.
The immigration issue and the clash of the different cultures effects every society throughout the history of time to some degree - this book addresses how the New Zealand society deals with the influx of Asiatic people. There is a huge amount of irony, of course, in that the NZ society was made up mainly of British immigrants. Another theme in the book is women starting to gain recognition within society. After Katherine's husband dies she has to make her own way and support her children in a society where women were not encouraged to be any sort of leaders. Aside from the interesting history, the love story and the characters in and around it are beautiful - I was completely drawn into this book from start to finish and did not want to put it down. There is a clever reflection to today's society - the different cultures are diverse in all aspects but ways have to be found to live together harmoniously or nothing good will happen. I loved this book.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Strong characterisations,
By DubaiReader "DubaiReader" (Dubai United Arab Emirates) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER) (VINE VOICE)
This review is from: As the Earth Turns Silver (Paperback)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
This book had a quite unique feel about it; almost resembling the sort of jerkiness between words in the sound of the Chinese language. Perhaps I should describe it as a sticcato feel. The chapters were short and to the point, although I found the first few chapters extremely difficult to get into.
There isn't much plot, or, at least, the plot is almost totally revealed in the synopsis, so the book is left to rely heavily on the characters. Fortunately they are well drawn and the reader really senses the cultual differences between the Chinese and the New Zealand populations. I was not aware that there were so many Chinese in New Zealand in the early twentieth century and it was fascinating that the author's ancestors had been amongst them. She was therefore in a unique position to write this book. The reactions of the local population to the build-up of war were also interesting, very much mirroring what was happening in Britain at the time. As Wong says in her Author's Note, many of the political characters mentioned were factual and while WWI was brewing, equally significant changes were happening within China, which greatly affected the immigrant populations. When we meet Katherine she is married to the obnoxious Donald. Her two children, Edie and Robbie are studious and tear-away respectively. The whole family is traumatised by Donald's death but they all react differently. Then Katherine becomes attracted to a local Chinese grocer and the repercussions affect everyone. An enjoyable read that is lifted by the insights into Chinese immigrant life at the time. Recommended.
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