A Long Stay in a Distant Land: A Novel

A Long Stay in a Distant Land: A Novel [Chieh Chieng] on leondumoulin.nl *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. A hilarious and inventive first novel tracing three.
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The humor is dry and often funny but degenerates to cute. The basis of the humor is that members of the family are not completely acculturated into America, or Hong Kong either, so they make mistakes in both cultures with charming misunderstandings and mispronunciations. In that sense the humor is condescending. Most of the humorous situations arise when a Lum fails to appreciate subtle mainstream cultural connotation or is unable to adequately express context in the second language. It reminds me in some ways of the often goofy, loopy humor of Native Americans.

I prefer the oatmeal, but I want you to have it…Chocolate can give you cancer. But amusing in a charming, child-like sort of way. Or consider this example, when Bo joins the Boy Scouts.


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Melvin decide Bo had to learn to start a fire before his first Scout meeting. He lit the cloth with a match and then tossed in into a coffee can to snuff out the flame. Cute, cutesy, and mildly humorous. The scenes are deadpan like that, no nudge, nudge, wink, wink to the reader, giving the reader plenty of distance to look down his or her nose at the cute immigrants. I found it not only tedious, but slightly offensive. Mar 09, Laurel Deloria rated it liked it. A rather convoluted confusing story of three generations in a distant land US. Jun 16, Jerjonji rated it it was amazing Shelves: The New York Times views this story as a "coming-of-age" story, but for me, the novel was more about discovering who the other people in your family really are instead of discovering who you are.

Lewis Lum is convinced that the Lum family is cursed and that Death is collecting the remaining members one by one as revenge for his grandfather cheating it. If you think that Death is chasing you, it affects some of the decisions you make- like you never eat hamburger at fast food restaurants, you alw The New York Times views this story as a "coming-of-age" story, but for me, the novel was more about discovering who the other people in your family really are instead of discovering who you are. If you think that Death is chasing you, it affects some of the decisions you make- like you never eat hamburger at fast food restaurants, you always look both ways two or three times before crossing the street, and you invite Jesus into your heart three hundred and fifty times A quirky family tale that made me laugh and giggle, Chieng does a great job of making a different culture accessible and comprehensible to the non-Chinese reader while at the same time portraying a loving, but somewhat manipulative family.

One of my favorite passages is when Lewis is eating out in Hong Kong and orders turnip cakes. When the golden cakes arrive at the table, he smells them carefully, examining every inch before tasting them.

Long Stay in a Distant Land

His grandmother had made the terrible tasting things from an old family recipe for every family gathering which is mostly premature funerals from bizarre events and nobody likes them. For the first time in his life, Lewis is about to discover what they are really supose to taste like.

It's an awesome scene and one I wish I'd written. The characters seem real and they each have their own story which is slowly revealed. With such a distinctive voice, I don't have to worry about losing my own, and since it's not a complicated read, it helped with the sense of brain boredom. I found this book when I was chasing down another book that hasn't arrived yet!

I'll tell you about it when it's here and read! I wish Chieng had more books written for me to read- that's the worst part about reading 1st books! I picked this one up solely because it fit the book challenge category "set in your hometown", figuring Orange County, CA was close enough. As a result, I once again knew nothing about the book before starting to read it. Notice the theme this year? I was quite pleasantly surprised by this story. While I couldn't necessarily see myself in any character, I could definitely see the humanity in each of them.

I loved the realistically flawed family, the one that can't admit grandma's cooking I picked this one up solely because it fit the book challenge category "set in your hometown", figuring Orange County, CA was close enough. I loved the realistically flawed family, the one that can't admit grandma's cooking isn't good, the one with the son who must escape the overbearing mother, the one with the father drinking himself to death over the loss of his spouse, the one with secrets revealed only when they believe no one is listening, the one that isn't entirely sure whether or not to believe in the family curse.

To keep it interesting, the book jumps around in time, place, and perspective; remarkably, it's still easy to follow. Chieng does an excellent job of keeping the reader along for the ride. I would recommend this as a light, quick read, especially if you're looking to diversify your bookshelf.

It's been more than a decade since Chieng published, but I do hope there might be more in store sometime. Apr 30, Melissa rated it really liked it. Really a fun read -- I loved the chapter headings how often can you say that about a book? I particularly liked how the something dad, Sonny Lum, was a knowledgeable rap music fan, how his son, Louis, is convinced the family is cursed and therefore orders his hamburgers from the fast food place without the meat patty Wishing there was something else out there by this author, a terrific sense of humor!

Aug 26, Nena rated it liked it. I read this a while ago and forgot about it. I remember the record collection of the father's character and how he wanted to assimilate his son to his affinity for hip hop while still having "FOB" tones and annunciations to speech. Also, I remember the search for the brother or was it half brother; either way, brother and some obstacles the protagonist faced.

Pretty good read from what I recall. Jan 05, Diane rated it really liked it Shelves: It is the story of a Chinese American family who are pretty much Americanized. I enjoyed the spare style, the slightly amusing tone, and the delight that the author takes in his characters. It even has a great ending. Sep 01, Dufus rated it really liked it Recommends it for: Very entertaining read of growing up Asian American in Orange County, CA, especially as told through the eyes of three generations of Lums.


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Accurate and poignantly funny, it's a great first novel for this emerging local writer. Nov 13, V. The funniest, most honest book I've ever read about being part of a crazy immigrant family. And if anyone I'm related to ever happens to find this page and this review, I swear I was referring to immigrant families in general and not anyone specifically.

Especially not you, Mom.

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Feb 24, Mariah rated it liked it. I like this book despite the occasional odd mismatch between the serious themes of family and history and the comedic tone overall. Quick and fairly amusing read that raises worthwhile issues of family and identity without getting too dark or bogged down. Picked this audio book out at random and was very pleasantly surprised. The interactions of different generations of Chinese immigrants are funny, believable, and never stereotypical. The actor reading the book sets just the right tone and the voices are perfect.

I want to read the book!

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A Long Stay in a Distant Land: A Novel - Chieh Chieng - Google Книги

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About A Long Stay in a Distant Land

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