The Jade Peony by Wayson Choy will be defended by Samantha Nutt during Canada Reads 2010.

I finished this book several weeks ago but wanted to wait until after I met with our book club to discuss it. I missed the last discussion for Good to a Fault, so I was very excited to join in on The Jade Peony gathering. I’ve just returned from our discussion, but I will do my best to convey my before, during, and after feelings. It’s amazing how much your ideas can change once discussing a book!

My initial impression of the book was general enjoyment and actually a little bit embarrassed for the way Canada treated immigrants. I enjoyed how Wayson Choy examined Vancouver’s Chinatown from the perspective of three young children, as each take their turn to narrate the novel. I thought the novel was well-written and had some valuable insights into living in Vancouver as a Chinese person in the ’30s and ’40s. We got to see how a girl-child was treated, the middle-boy, and the youngest boy.

Chinatown, Vancouver, in the late 1930s and ‘40s provides the setting for this poignant first novel, told through the vivid and intense reminiscences of the three younger children of an immigrant family. They each experience a very different childhood, depending on age and sex, as they encounter the complexities of birth and death, love and hate, kinship and otherness. Mingling with the realities of Canada and the horror of war are the magic, ghosts, paper uncles and family secrets of Poh-Poh, or Grandmother, who is the heart and pillar of the family.

Wayson Choy’s Chinatown is a community of unforgettable individuals who are “neither this nor that,” neither entirely Canadian nor Chinese. But with each other’s help, they survive hardship and heartbreak with grit and humour.

[from the publisher, Douglas & McIntyre]

At book club, we started by talking about all our favourite characters. The discussion was very organic and sometimes we strayed far from topic (which I enjoyed too). I think my favourite was Jook-Liang and Monkey King (Wong Suk) and their relationship. A lot of people really liked Poh-Poh (Grandmother) as she is a very strong character and represents “old China” as well as being part of Vancouver. I think Stepmother is a very underrated character. There was some discussion about her role and position in the family as “second wife” and even her own birth children call her “Stepmother”.

Should this book win Canada Reads 2010? My first, gut response was no. My thought-process was: The Jade Peony won the City of Vancouver Book Award in 1996 and I think this book would be a great selection for the Vancouver Public Library’s One Book One Vancouver... but I don’t think that it is something that all Canadians “need to read”. I think that this is definitely something that Vancouverites and Lower Mainland residents should read and reflect upon.

But upon discussion with the book club, it was brought up that the books that win Canada Reads don’t necessarily have anything to do with Canada, they are just written by Canadian authors. With further discussion, I came to feel that this could be a good book for all Canadians to read… because really, who is Canadian? It is one of the points brought up by the children: “Am I Chinese or am I Canadian?” One of the great things about Canada is that we are a mosaic, you can be Canadian as well as something else — Chinese, Japanese, Ukranian, Croatian, Korean, etc.

The Jade Peony is all about characters and their environment. You would have a very different story if you took the book to Eastern Canada and tried to make it work there. Because it is a story of immigration and being from somewhere — a story of identity — you’d be hard-pressed to change the location. I think that it works and it opens your eyes to a whole different side of Canada and the government’s treatment of immigrants during this era. It is a story that would touch many Canadian people, whether they were born here or not, or their parents immigrated here or not.

The question of identity is never really answered by Wayson Choy in the novel, and I think that is okay. It is a continuing struggle to find out “who am I”, not just as an immigrant, or a Canadian, but as a person. At book club, one person teaches ESL and she related a story where her students were talking about a Canadian person they saw on the bus. She asked the students, “what made the person Canadian?” and they couldn’t really answer. To open their eyes to the lesson, she brought in several other teachers with different heritage and backgrounds and asked if they were Canadian or not.

I don’t really have an answer for “what is Canadian” or which book should win Canada Reads (I haven’t even finished all the books yet)… but I will say that The Jade Peony certainly opened my eyes to a part of Canadian history that I had forgotten. I was reminded about what I learned about the Cariboo Goldrush and the building of the CPR, and the Chinese Head Tax, and the Japanese Canadian internment… but it really is a different fact when you read a novel from the point of view of child experiencing these things within their own family. It’s an honest, yet confused portrayal of the time and the experiences of the people. I really enjoyed The Jade Peony for those reasons.

In addition to our “real life” book club, I’ve also joined the online Canada Reads Challenge! [Fun fact: another person from "real life" book club also joined the online challenge!]

I have been intending to read Jane Austen for many years, and with my recent trip to Bath I thought I should read some as soon as possible. Jane Austen spent a great deal of holiday time in Bath as a young woman, and then lived there for several years with her mother and sister after the death of their father. Austen’s experiences in Bath greatly influenced her novels, and both Northanger Abbey and Persuasion take place in the city of Bath.

The local library branch in Manchester only had Pride and Prejudice, but as this is one of Austen’s more well-known works, I didn’t think anything of it. I began reading immediately and found it slow for the first hundred pages. The language is certainly a hurdle (having just finished reading something more modern and for a younger audience), but after a while I began to enjoy Austen’s style of writing and subtle humour.

For those who don’t know anything about Austen (I was one of them), Pride and Prejudice was written in 1796-97 (originally called First Impressions) and published in 1813. It is the story of the Bennett family, particularly Elizabeth Bennet, our outspoken heroine, and the second-eldest daughter of five. As the novel opens, a wealthy gentleman rents the estate near the Bennet’s and we are shortly introduced to Mr. Bingley, his sisters, and his friend Mr. Darcy. As time progresses, Elizabeth’s older sister Jane and Mr. Bingley begin to fall in love. When Mr. Darcy (who comes off as cold, privileged, and superior) realizes his friend fancies someone not on par with their rank, he removes his friend back to their London home.

This is where the book begins to pick up. A local regiment is stationed in town and Elizabeth becomes friendly with Mr. Wickham, an officer. It turns out he grew up with Mr. Darcy and that there is much behind Darcy’s cold demure. As the novel progresses, there are many letters and excursions as Jane and Elizabeth travel (separately) with their aunt, uncle, and visit their cousin near London. Elizabeth keeps running into Mr. Darcy at every turn, who cannot help but become infatuated with Elizabeth. When he proposes, he declines vehemently due to his aloof actions thus far as well as his ‘injustices’ towards Mr. Wickham. Deeply affected by Elizabeth’s accusations, Darcy writes her a lengthy letter explaining his positions. The next time they meet, Darcy is much changed and Elizabeth soon realizes that she has deeply misjudged him.

It was at this point that I found the book difficult to put down. Whenever I wasn’t reading, I kept feeling like I was missing or forgetting something. At times (earlier in the book) I felt that the writing was extremely passive; most of the interactions and conversations took place without direct confrontations, or it was via letter. Once certain events occurred, it felt like the urgent letters and the female’s passive actions were more suspenseful than annoying. I really came to like the characters, particularly Elizabeth, and felt that Austen was able to portray everyone with both pros and cons. This honest portrayal of characters really resulted in a compelling novel as characters interacted with one another. I definitely intend to read more by Jane Austen.

Whom have you met because of something related to tea? Share something about this person and how your relationship began and blossomed.

Most people I’ve met have been through something else when we discover we both share a love for tea. My best friend in high school, Anna, introduced me to The Secret Garden which I wrote about last week. I met Chelle through a local knitting meetup that would occur at a local cafe. We soon discovered we both enjoyed visiting Steeps in Vancouver. We’ve dragged Julia (another knitting friend) there a couple times.

I met Chan and Ruth via blogging, and we connected over knitting, then pets and tea too. When Ruth and her hubby visited Vancouver last February, we got to share our love for tea as well as the West Coast. I gave her an antique tea cup… and it is the same one on the Hot Tea Month button!

I know I haven’t posted much on the blog lately, but I’ve been quite the traveller with limited internet access. I’ve seen lots of England, which was my original intention: Stratford-Upon-Avon, Bristol, Bath, Salisbury, Stonehenge, Leeds, and tomorrow the destination is York. Here are a few photos as I don’t have time to relate all my travels yet.

That will have to satisfy for now. My flight home is on Wednesday and I’m planning to spend as much time as possible with my boyfriend until then. Cheerio!

This past week’s topic/discussion prompt is: If I could have my own Tea House this is how I would run things…..

I have been to several tea houses, surprisingly not that many in England though. My favourite one is The Secret Garden Tea Company in Kerrisdale, an area of Vancouver. What I like about it is the clean, bright, relaxed atmosphere of it. I think if I had a Tea House, I would run it similarly.

Their space is a mixture of sit-down and shop. In the shop you can order treats to-go, smell all the teas, and purchase accessories. If you want to sit down for lunch, a cuppa, or even high tea, there are lots of spaces. One of the really nice touches at Secret Garden is the service crockery. They’ve collected old tea cups and saucers and even have a sign on the front door saying they purchase cups and saucers.

If you’re staying in, you are seated by a member of staff and given a tea menu. You and can either choose a pot of tea to share for the table, or each order your own tea. It comes in a teapot covered in a cosy (similar to the ones available to purchase) and you can have unlimited hot water refills. If you’re doing high tea, or demi (half) high tea, the menu is set, but if you’re doing lunch there are lots of lovely salads, sandwiches, and soups for a filling yet light lunch.

I love going for high tea, which I’ve only done a handful of times. The high tea menu changes slightly, but it’s delivered on a three-tiered tray with many miniture goodies. The bottom tier is savoury sandwiches and my favourites are mini croissants with brie and roasted veggies and the egg salad pinwheels. The middle tier has scones with devonshire cream and raspberry jam. The top tier is sweets… and as full as you already are, you cannot resist the goodies up there. Favourites influde lemon tartlette, chocolate mousse cake, and various other goodies.

The few changes I would make in my own establishment would probably just relate to the different menu items and blends of tea. I think that it would be so much fun to work on making blends of tea and pairing with foods. Just give it my own personlized touch with decor as well.