Tuesday, May 17, 2011

There is no them; there is only us

Andrea Cheng
Honeysuckle House
Front Street, 2004

Sarah Wu's best friend, Victoria, has suddenly moved away, leaving Sarah sad and confused. Ting "Tina" Liang has left her relatives and familiar world of Shanghai to join her mother in Cincinnati. The two girls overcome a host of social pressures and cultural stereotypes to form a young friendship. Along the way, Andrea Cheng invites us into the emotional lives of families with marital tensions, work-life pressures, and sibling rivalry. Her style is never dramatic, always authentic, which seemed to me to open up a space (like the "honeysuckle house" where Sarah and her friends plunge into imaginative play) to forgive oneself and one's family and to make more generous and loving choices.

For more on Andrea Cheng, click here to visit the author's website.

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