"On Gold Mountain"

In On Gold Mountain (1995), Lisa's Chinese family history, the reader is given a wonderful narrative that helps explain the successes and failures of the Chinese men and women who worked so hard to make real their dreams about coming to America.  The reader is immersed in China, its history and culture, aided by the opportunity of frequently seeing the enigma of China from the American perspective.

Lisa does a masterful job of relating her long and complicated family history to the changing nature of both China and the US for 100 years.  I was not aware of how badly Chinese immigrants were treated and of the many ways they tried to cope with a frequently hostile environment.  Lisa's narrative skill greatly enhances the flow as the reader moves from generation to generation, person to person.  Thank goodness for the family tree!  In the beginning I found myself going back to it over and over again.

One of the fascinating things about OGM is how Lisa remains objective in telling her family story.  Even in describing in some detail the horrible experience many Chinese men went through in working on the railroad, she stays calm – which in one sense makes the details she discusses even more disturbing (cf. Swift, who was never able to do this).  I especially enjoyed Lisa's treatment of her mother and herself as she grew to maturity – even referring to herself as “Lisa” many times in the narrative.

What a wonderful picture gallery.  It is fascinating in its own right, but in addition it helps ground the memoir.

I was especially affected by Lisa's treatment of Ticie and her mother.  I identified with Ticie throughout the book and found her separation from Fong See to be painful.  What struck me about Ticie and Lisa's mother is their strength and creativity and their different ways of dealing with traditional Chinese views concerning the role of woman.  Although Fong See dominates the narrative, I tended to see him from the outside – hard working, strong in mind and body, creative, determined, and to some extent trapped in a narrow view of the world, seeing it largely in terms of money and traditional views of the relationships between men and women.  His character finally clicked for me when Lisa describes his reflections as an old man about the meaning of life – and as I looked at his pictures over the years.

I really like the way Lisa ties the beginning and ending of OGM  together  -- her family's story begins in Dimtao and she returns to Dimtao at the book's end.  Her description of her journey to Dimtao is both humorous and touching.  She has such a nice control of tone here.

And her acknowledgments.  She is the only author whose acknowledgments I’ve ever read.  When I come to them my standard response is to quickly move on.  But her acknowledgments are so warm and thoughtful, that I can’t skip them.  Shame on her!

In the end I have to quote one of Lisa's most deeply held ideas:  “History is not just about wars and dates; it’s something that happens to real people.  Do they rise to the occasion and challenges or do they fail?”