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Over de Auteur

Bo Caldwell has published short stories in numerous literary magazines. Her nonfiction writing includes a long-running series of personal essays in the "Washington Post Magazine". A former Stegner Fellow in creative writing at Stanford University, she lives in Northern California. "The Distant Land toon meer of My Father" is her first novel. (Bowker Author Biography) toon minder

Bevat de naam: Bo Caldwell

Fotografie: San Jose Library

Werken van Bo Caldwell

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Algemene kennis

Geboortedatum
1955
Geslacht
female
Nationaliteit
USA
Woonplaatsen
Northern California, USA
Relaties
Hansen, Ron (husband)

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Besprekingen

Anna’s father, Joseph, is not an American who won’t come home, he is an American born in China to missionary parents and at home there. Shanghai is his home and he loves it. His wife, Eve, is an American who wants to go home, and Anna is a child with one foot in each culture.

It is obvious to everyone that there is trouble on the horizon by 1941, but when Eve decides it is time to leave China, Joseph refuses to go with her. Thus, he is still present in Shanghai when the Japanese occupy the city and he begins a life that is separate from (and no doubt unimaginable for) his family.

The story is told from Anna’s view point and is made even more poignant because it rings so true in the way it affects her life and her own choices and decisions. It is a story about anger, about misunderstanding, about longing and about forgiveness. My eyes were not dry by the end of the novel, and I felt as if I could understand Anna’s enigmatic father, her mother who loved him despite his seeming faults, and Anna herself, who wanted the loves and attentions of a man whose choices only seemed to make for loneliness and separation.

My thanks to my good friend, Elyse, who told me many months ago that I should read this book. I bought it back then but let it languish on my Kindle for all this time. I am happy to have gotten to it at last.
… (meer)
 
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mattorsara | 16 andere besprekingen | Aug 11, 2022 |
As the grandchild & nephew of Mennonite missionaries to India I am drawn to this genre. I found this exploration of the missionary life sorely lacking. As opposed to offering a postmodern reflection on cultural relativism and colonialism, it is a 1950’s recruiting manual for one particular strand of Christianity.

For the most part God gets a pass, evil and loss are mysterious whereas fortunate turn of events are divine grace. At least part of the fortuitous events are due to a benevolent bandit, although the characters do not reflect on the source of those particular acts of grace.

If you are looking for a deeper exploration of the missionary movement I recommend “The Poisonwood Bible,” “At Play in the Fields of the Lord,” or “Dancing at Lughnasa.”
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Gemarkeerd
BHEwert | 29 andere besprekingen | Feb 18, 2021 |
City of Tranquil Light, reads smoothly and consistently as it tells of the story of an American missionary couple's work for the Mennonite church. Caldwell focuses on their love and kindness as they face difficulties like famine, illness, and bandits. The book is nicely written but I have a preference for books with more inner conflict in their main characters -- Will and Katherine were believable but sometimes a little too tranquil.

There's more on my blog, rel="nofollow" target="_top">here.… (meer)
 
Gemarkeerd
LizoksBooks | 29 andere besprekingen | Dec 15, 2018 |
The narrator of The Distant Land of My Father by Bo Caldwell is six years old in 1937 when the book begins. Anna and her parents live in Shanghai. Her father is wealthy but grew up as the son of American missionaries in China. We don't know exactly how her father earns enough to support the lavish lifestyle they lead, he just describes himself as "a businessman".

Anna's father loves China and wants her to love it too. He teaches her Mandarin words and walks with her through Shanghai on Saturday mornings teaching her street and building names. When the Japanese occupy Shanghai, Anna and her mother leave China, the only home Anna knows, to return to her mother's home in California. Her father, saying there is too much opportunity for him to leave, remains. Anna, through memory and later through her father's journals, continues to tell her family's story, a story of betrayal, reconciliation, and love.

Its hard to believe that this is Caldwell's first novel. She grabs our attention from the beginning: "My father was a millionaire in the 1930s. Polo ponies, a Sikh chauffeur, a villa on eight acres in Hungjao, in the western part of the city. Nights out with my mother at the Cercle Sportif Francais, the Venus Cafe, the Cathay Hotel, the Del Monte - these were the details of his life. He was also an insurance salesman and a smuggler, an importer-exporter and a prisoner, a borrower and a spender, leading, much of the time, a charmed life, always seeming to play the odds and for a long time coming out on top".
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½
 
Gemarkeerd
clue | 16 andere besprekingen | Jun 5, 2017 |

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Statistieken

Werken
4
Leden
759
Populariteit
#33,504
Waardering
4.1
Besprekingen
47
ISBNs
27
Talen
3
Favoriet
1

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