About this title: In her richest, most deeply searching novel yet, Tyler pens a story about what it is to be an American, and about Iranian-born Maryam Yazdan, who, after 35 years in this country, must finally come to terms with her outsiderness.
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Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Date Published: 2006
ISBN-13:9780307263940ISBN:0307263940
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 277 p. Audience: General/trade. minute tear dust cover. Ships in 24 hrs. weekdays read more
Description: Very Good. 0307263940 *HCDJ * SHIPPING WITHIN 24 HOURS! ** QUESTIONS ANSWERED QUICKLY ** THANKS ** HARDCOVER BOOK WITH DUST JACKET. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Knopf
Date Published: 2006
ISBN-13:9780307263940ISBN:0307263940
Description: A wonderful copy with some minor edgewear to the cover. Dust Jacket has some edgewear present. -, Hard Cover, Very Good / Very Good. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Knopf
Date Published: 2006
ISBN-13:9780307263940ISBN:0307263940
Description: A wonderful copy with some minor edgewear to the cover. Dust Jacket has some edgewear present. A former library book with the usual identifiers in a protective glossy dust jacket covering. -, Hard Cover, Very Good / Very Good. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Knopf
Date Published: 2006
ISBN-13:9780307263940ISBN:0307263940
Description: Good in Good jacket. 219-Z-Add ex library Books rated "Good" may have some notes, underlining, or highlighting. These books also may contain the previous owner's name, stamp, sticker, or gift inscription, or may be library discards. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Purchasing this book supports the King County Library System Foundation. Thriftbooks and KCLSF have partnered to help raise additional funds for the library system. Ex-Library book-will contain library markings. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Very good. Book has appearance of light use with no easily noticeable wear. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
"Two families meet at the airport while waiting for their adopted babies to arrive from Korea and form an unlikely friendship surrounding their adopted daughters. Each chapter is told from the pov of a different character, with the novel spanning about five years. This book was an easy, engrossing read with memorable characters. My two favorites were Bitsy, the mother of the white-bread, politically correct, comfortable New England family; and Maryam, the grandmother of the Iranian-American family. Bitsy is opinionated, pushy, big and overwhelming in her home-woven and sewn sack dresses, but she also shows some vulnerability and insecurity. Maryam is tiny, contained, imperial and rigid. Maryam in particular is so well developed that she almost becomes the protagonist of the novel.
I felt like I gained new insight into some of the ideas the author was trying to explore (family, culture, otherness, the immigrant experience) by getting to know and love the characters rather than because she banged me over the head with her themes. The writing is understated and thoughtful. A couple of scenes made me laugh out loud (the extended binky send-off party preparations) and a couple of scenes really tugged at my heartstrings. Finally, I really enjoyed the novel's ending--it offered satisfying closure without tying up all loose ends into a perfect package."
"I bought this book because I was interested in the foreign adoption process and assimilation and I thought that reading a book about two korean girls going to an uber-american, and iranian-american family would be interesting fodder for a book, and allow me to expand my horizons on the life of middle eastern women.
From the perspective of assimilation of international adoptees, the book was a complete failure. I learned almost nothing about the daily challenges. I would also say that I was not able to learn much more about Iranian life.
What was intriguing about this book was that several of the main characters, Maryam in particular, had a tendency to be aloof, unsocial, and indirect. I share all of these traits from time to time, and my control drama is definitely aloofness. What's interesting is the way that this book was written you could see how things would fall apart, or not go the way they wanted because they were being overly indirect. It made me think about that tendency and wonder how often I sabotage myself by not being plain to the people I care about.
Overall the book was so-so. It wasn't what I wanted, but it wasn't bad. I also wouldn't go out on a limb and say that it was nearly as good as some of the 4 star books that I have put on this site. It was just an ok book. I will probably read it again, but not unless I'm in a slump."
"The title of this book comes from this question: if children in the U.S. dig a hole to China, are children in China digging to America? This seems to be a metaphor for the question of whether perhaps we're all, even the most American-seeming American, digging to America, or trying to figure out what it means to be American.
When the Donaldson (American through-and-through) and the Yazdans (Iranian-American) adopt baby girls from Korea on the same day, the families become the best of friends. It is no surprise, perhaps, that the Donaldsons opt to keep their baby's Korean name and put lots of emphasis on her Korean heritage, whereas the Yazdans Americanize their daughter's name, and generally raise her as an American.
Unpredictably, it seems that the Donaldsons look as much to the Yazdans for clues about raising their daughter as the other way around. Which is what this book is really about, I think. It's not about being American. it's about creating a family."
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