My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is the continuation of Shanghai Girls - where Joy naively believes in Red China and runs away to be a contributing member of their society as well as to find her father. Pearl follows to rescue her daughter. The father, ZG, is a peripheral character with the dual stories of Joy's life in the country and Pearl's life in Shanghai being the central story lines.
Some of this book seemed very contrived - how easily a girl in her young 20's could manipulate and trick the leader. How everyone else is the bad guy - Joy's husband and his family, Pearl's house boarders (except of course her boyfriend Dunn) and Joy and Pearl and anyone close to them are pure and without blame, etc. Also, they make contradictory statements - that Baby Samantha screams so loudly and then later, they say that she is born under the sign of the boar and the boar always suffers in silence. (I guess she is a boar at selective times) How does Joy know that 'chicken feathers' are a sign of distress but her mother Pearl has never heard of this? Some things just didn't connect.
Still, this is an interesting look at Communist Red China. This book was entertaining but I didn't think it was as good as The Shanghai Girls.
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