In 1871 a famine swept China, and an impoverished peasant sold his young daughter into slavery. Lalu went through the hands of many abusive owners in China, then was shipped to America where she ended up sold at auction to be the slave of a Chinese saloon-keeper in California. He treated her terribly. Polly (as she was renamed in America) suffered for years under his ownership but never gave up hope of improving her situation. Eventually she was used as transaction in a gambling bet and won by a new owner, a white man called Charlie. A much kinder man, he bought Polly her freedom and together they ran a boarding house. Slowly their partnership developed into a romance, which was quite controversial back then- racism is also part of this story. Polly finally found some happiness in marriage to Charlie, but even then her trials and heartaches were not over....Thousand Pieces of Gold is full of interesting history, especially depicting how poorly Chinese immigrants were treated on the western frontier. Unfortunately, it's not very well-written. Despite the turmoil of events it chronicles (which are based on a true story) and oppressive situations Polly lives through, the book did little to touch my emotions. It's just not very memorable. I would recommend it if you're really interested in learning more about Chinese Americans in the 1800's. But as far as inspirational stories about women overcoming adversity, it leaves a lot to be desired.
Rating: 2/5 338 pages, 2002
Dang! I was getting really excited until you said it wasn't very well written. I love Asian stories as a whole but sounds like I should skip this one.
ReplyDeleteSorry! Sometimes I feel like I should withhold saying how much I liked/didn't a book and let others judge for themselves. I remember wanting to enjoy the story more, but just not being able to care about the protagonist, which is disappointing considering all her trials and patience in suffering.
ReplyDeletethe topic sounds interesting but the story sounds a bit.. lame and also the whole bit about the guy saving her, a bit too 'happy ending' almost sounds like it doesn't fit. And if in turn it's not written well, well that's even more lame! haha
ReplyDeleteSkipsters!
What is with all these awesome sounding books you're reading that turn out to be duds? lol
ReplyDeleteHm,well maybe they're not as bad as I made them sound. Hopefully some of you will feel like trying them for yourselves and see if they're better than I thought. You might like what I didn't!
ReplyDelete