This is a biography that reads like an action novel. I loved learning about an Asian pioneer woman's experiences because they are so different than the ones my European pioneer ancestors went through. ( )

This is a fascinating story - a novelization of a real-life Chinese immigrant in the late 1800s in the American West. Broken by famine in Northern China, Lalu's family sells her to a brothel, who then passes her to a slave merchant bound for America. There she is transported to the mostly male West Coast where gold is being panned and trains are being built. Auctioned off to a saloonkeeper, she learns English and interacts with the kind of rough people who make their lives in a saloon. Later offered as a prize in a poker game and finally becoming a wife, she manages to earn back some of the dignity taken from her after being property for most of her life. In fact, all women were property of one sort or another in those days. Much of the quality of their life was highly dependent on whose care they were in and how much they were valued.

Not the strongest historical fiction, but still interesting. ( )

I won this book from Librarything in exchange for an honest review.

This is the story of Polly Bemis aka Lalu Nathoy who was sold into slavery by her father in 1871 China. The biography is written in a fictional style making it an easy and quick read.

Perhaps due to the author's writing style, the story of Polly does come off as rushed and incomplete almost as it the author was trying to cram so many instances of Polly's life into 216 pages. I would have liked more detail of her life prior to coming to America and was underwhelmed by her life once married to Charlie Bemis. She appeared to live a life no different that any other married couple. She and Charlie loved each other, they fought, they made a home together and they were a pillar of their community. As such, I didn't find her story that interesting.

It was overall a decent book to read, just could have had more depth. ( )

A strange book that is well worth a read. McCunn based this novel on research of a real woman who emigrated from China. Because the documentation (citizenship papers, land deeds, etc) is spotty, her book is episodic, each section focusing around the few events we know happened. The first section, which takes place in China, is enthralling, as is the second, which takes place in a Gold Rush town. After that, though, the episodes hang together less firmly and I had a hard time seeing how the character became who she did.

Nevertheless, even the parts of the book that were least successful for me were vividly interesting. I ordered another of her books as soon as I finished this one. ( )

I read this early last month (completely forgetting to write the review. oops!) and found it to be a quicker read than I initially thought it would be.
It was a good story. The font was large and plain enough that I thought this would have been targeted towards a high school level history class. I got through it in less than a week. The chapters flowed together nicely made you loose track of how much you'd actually read.
The narrative reminded me a lot of Chinese Cinderella (another non-fiction story of Chinese history). The defining difference being this was set at in the early 1900's, and Chinese Cinderella was set during World War II. There are other differences too, but this is the main point that gets my opinion across.
I'd recommend it for anyone looking for a good history read. ( )