A Paper Son

Buchholz, Jason. A Paper Son. New York: Tyrus 2016. Print

First Sentences:

It was the day before the storm hit, the storm we'd been watching on newscast Doppler as it approached from Alaska, devouring the coast like a carnivorous planet made of teeth and ice and smoke.

The weatherpersons pointed to it, their expressions mixes of glee and trepidation, their predictions heavy with superlatives, italics, underlining. 

Description:

There is one word that comes to my mind to describe Jason Buchholz's debut novel A Paper Son and that word is "intriguing." It's a plot that cannot be predicted, full of scenes and people that are completely, unexpectedly interesting, mysterious, and slightly quirky. It is the kind of book that one cannot stop reading, becoming completely immersed in the lives and situations portrayed. And then, once we stop reading for whatever reason, the characters and story stay with you like a haunting melody or a puzzle that needs to be examined over and over in order to understand it and wonder how to solve it.

In A Paper Son, Perry Long is an third-grade teacher in San Francisco, happily giving his charges interesting assignments during the day and writing unpublished stories at night. But one day he sees in his cup of tea a vision of a small Chinese family looking off into the distance. Although the vision quickly dissipates, the people in the image capture his interest and he writes a story that night about them and their possible lives on a boat he imagines is taking the family to China.

The story appears in an obscure magazine and leads to a knock on his door from Eva, a elderly Chinese woman. Eva demands to know why Perry has robbed her family's history by telling its story. She then questions him about the fate of one of the figures in Perry's fictional story, settles in to Perry's apartment and vows not to move out until that boy is found and her family's complete story unfolded. It is up to Perry to keep writing their stories to somehow reveal an ending that solves the mystery of Eva's family.

Huh? See what I mean about intriguing?

Perry begins to experience other inexplicable situations and people. While swimming, looking into a puddle, gazing at a distorted figure in a mirror, or listening to Eva comment on the accuracy of each new chapter, he witnesses unusual daily occurrences in his life which no one else notices. For example, he repeatedly hears a mournful Chinese tune and sees a group of quadruplets playing mahjong. 

When the second chapter in "Eva's family story" appears in the same magazine (although no one had submitted it), Perry, completely confused now, sets out to explore what really is happening in his life and the "real" lives of what he knows to be fictional characters of his own creation. 

What is real and what is Perry's own imagination somehow come to life? Is it possible he is writing a story as it really happened to characters that somehow, somewhere, sometime actually were real? Each day presents new visions that challenge his grasp on reality, fiction, and his role in it all.

Absolutely fascinating, extremely well-written, and absorbing plot and characters make this a highly recommended book for anyone willing to jump down a rabbit hole into the "intriguing" world of fiction at its finest. Memorable in every aspect of the world of great writing.

Happy reading. 

Fred

Other book recommendations
About The First Sentence Reader blog

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

See, Lisa. China Dolls.   

Three young Chinese women meet at the 1938 San Francisco World's Fair and become friends, if albeit different personalities. The novel follows their lives and relationships in the United States, good and wrenching, as they find their place and personality in the new country. Lovely writing with interesting descriptions of cities and people of that era. (previously reviewed here)

The Poker Bride

Corbett, Christopher. The Poker Bride: The First Chinese in the West. New York: Atlantic Monthly. 2010. Print.

First Sentences:

The old woman came own out of the mountains in central Idaho the same way she had gone in more than half a century earlier: on the back of a saddle horse, across some of the most rugged and remote country in the American West

Description:

While most of us have some knowledge of the California Gold Rush of 1849 and subsequent mining in territories like Alaska, Nevada, and Idaho, few know of the vast immigration of Chinese men seeking gold and how they changed this country. That fascinating story is told in Christopher Corbett's thoroughly-researched The Poker Bride: The First Chinese in the West.

Corbett uses the real life story of Polly Bemis as background for bringing us into this historic era. Polly was a Chinese girl sold into prostitution by her family (for them to survive) and later shipped to San Francisco as a "Soiled Dove" for the brothels of the Gold Rush era. Polly was eventually won in a poker game by Charlie Bemis, a gambler living on an isolated farm on the Salmon River in Idaho. He and his "Poker Bride" moved to a isolated farm where they lived for decades and even married, an unheard of occurrence for a white man and a Chinese woman at that time.

But the majority of The Poker Bride tell the details of the Gold Rush in California. Corbett uses exhaustive research into diaries, newspaper articles, interviews, and books of that era to weave a detailed look at the people and the energy behind that age. We learn of the first discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill (both the discoverer of gold as well as the owner of the land ended up without a penny), the abandoning of every ship in San Francisco Bay as crews desert their posts to hunt for gold, and the rough-and-tumble, lawless towns exploding around mines and rumors of riches.

The Chinese came to California, too, but came as free men seeking their fortunes. They obtained jobs in laundries and restaurants, building railroads, and performing other tasks that American men disdained. The work was hard, but no harder than the abject poverty of their lives in China. Eventually, there were so many Chinese in California that laws were passed to restrict immigration and deport those already living there.

But Polly is saved from deportation by marrying Charlie and living in the wilds of Idaho, a farm that took days on the back of a mule to reach. There they lived with their pet cougar for 60 years, never seeing a train, a car, electricity, or other modern devices.

You can hear the voices of the old prospectors, the sheriffs, and farmers, and so many others via Corbett's quotes from interviews taken from original source documents. It was a wild time of ambition, greed, and hope for a better life for everyone from Polly and Charlie to the miners, to the immigrating Chinese. Corbett captures this era perfectly, painting a picture of an era and its people rarely examined in such depth. A strong retelling of this wild, optimistic age.

Happy reading. 


Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Corbett, Christopher. Orphans Preferred: The Twisted Truth and Lasting Legend of the Pony Express

History of the short-lived Pony Express enterprise taken from interviews, articles, and diaries, separating the heroes from the liars. Covers the beginning of the Pony Express and the aftermath as the legend grows.