Xu Xi

Evanescent isles. From my city-village is a somewhat disparate collection of essays about the author's hometown, Hong Kong. It starts off with an autobiographical description of the author, Xu Xi growing up in Hong Kong, and is followed by various essays focusing on various aspects of Hong Kong, its history, and relation to mainland China, before and after the return to China's jurisdiction in 1997.

Xu Xi, born out of Indonesian and Chinese parents, now holding US American citizenship, grew up in Hong Kong. The essays in Evanescent isles. From my city-village represent an exploration of her multiple national identity, and the search for what constructs the identity of the people in Hong Kong.

As the author contends, most likely correctly, Hong Kong, as we know it now, would not have come into existence had the original fisherman's village of the southernmost coastal area of China's Guangdong Province, been captured as a spoil of war by the British. Like other overseas colonial-British communities, Hong Kong fosters a frail, and threatened cultural heritage of authors who write in English. Xu Xi has repeatedly shown interest in foregrounding this cultural heritage, by co-editing collections of poetry and prose written by native Hong Kong authors. One of the essays in Evanescent isles. From my city-village discusses the anthology City Voices: Hong Kong Writing in English Prose & Poetry from 1945 to the present.

Evanescent isles. From my city-village itself is part of this body of writing and pondering on the identity of writers from Hong Kong. It is an interesting read, but does not come across as a particularly strong collection.… (meer)

Hi, this is my first review on Library Thing. :)

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There are four short stories in Daughters of Hui, all of which center on four women from Hong Kong who bore the last name Hui.
(1) Danny's Snake
(2) Loving Graham
(3) The Stone Window
(4) Valediction

I thought the third story, "Loving Graham," was very good, definitely the best among all four. I won't spoil the story for you, but I will say it's very poignant and very powerful. "Valediction," the final story, was also exceptional. The plot centered around two sisters, the younger of whom narrated the impact of her eccentric ways on ties with her family and older sister.

Both "Loving Graham" and "Valediction" were told retrospectively by female first-person narrators.

I felt like the worst story was the third, "The Stone Window." The characters were difficult to make sense of and sympathize with. I was particularly dissatisfied with Philomena, who felt like the hollow invention of some dreamy teenager. The story itself was very incoherently organized in four sections that fragmented the plot and made it hard to follow.

The story that began the anthology, "Danny's Snake," was passable. I felt it was a tad pretentious and the main character, Rosemary, didn't ring true for me, though I did love a line from page 43:

"And what would you want in return?" She said this playfully, trying to be lighthearted. But she felt him encircling her with his persistence. It stimulated her in a new and unknown way.

These stories, taken together, deserve a 3/5.… (meer)