Ava Chin

Mott Street is the most prominent street in New York City's Chinatown, and it's where many of author Ava Chin's ancestors settled on their arrival in the United States in the late 19th/early 20th centuries. It's also the fulcrum around which this book is organised, as Chin delves into both four generations of her own family's history and the history of Chinese migration to the U.S. There are many vibrant figures on Chin's family tree, whether related to her by birth or by marriage—one grandfather ran the first coffee shop in Chinatown; one great-great-uncle found an enduring love match with a Swedish-American intersex woman—who lived through many momentous events in modern history.

This is a wide-ranging book on a topic that Chin is clearly passionate about, and it's well worth the read if you have a curiosity about this time and place. However, I thought that Mott Street wasn't structured in the most effective manner, and the imagined dialogue that Chin sometimes places in her ancestors' mouths (although thankfully set off in italics from the rest of the text) often displayed some of the worst tendencies of historical fiction.… (meer)

nonfiction - stories of a Chinese American woman's ancestors, collected over a lifetime and compiled into a captivating look at generations of history (from the 1800s through the 1940s and the post war period), and the impact of xenophobia and Exclusion on the Chinese American experiences, with enough artistic license to bring her grandparents and greats and great greats to life.

Ms. Chin is skilled at recreating these histories, calling up the thoughts and questions and feelings that her ancestors may have felt (and that many others in similar situations undoubtedly felt). She also possesses the journalistic tenacity to keep digging for all the truths that lay buried underneath decades and centuries of dust. The result is this extremely readable volume that spans generations of individuals enduring anti-Asian policy that continues to affect us to this day. If you have any Chinese ancestors, more than likely one of these stories (or several of these stories) -- being held for weeks/months at Angel Island, being interrogated/dehumanized by immigration officials, sneaking across the Canadian border, being relegated to jobs that no one else wanted before being run out of town by an angry mob whenever the economy took a downturn, enlisting to fight in a war in order to prove loyalty to America, being undocumented and fearing the next anti-Asian raid of immigration officials/police -- rings true to your family.

A fascinating and illuminating look at American history.… (meer)

I received an advance copy of this book. thank you

I was interested in reading this book, since I've been to Chinatown often, and have wondered about its history.
Ava Chin has done a remarkable job in tracing her family back. She opened my eyes to parts of American history that I wasn't aware of. I find it hard to imagine the toll of leaving one's country, traveling for weeks, and finding back breaking work, settling in and eventually calling this new place home. Ms. Chin discovers and explores her relatives journeys, like so many others, and it is amazing.
In this book, you'll learn not only of her family, but of the history and paths many others took to get to the United States.… (meer)