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Acknowledgments vii
Prologue: A Return to the Village viii
Source (1930-1950)
One Story, Two Voices 3
Ancestral Home 6
The Butterflies of Death 9
The Clan Sisterhood 13
Go-Between Man 19
Lucky Day 32
Poy Jen Makes Eight Promises 38
Crossing Three Rivers 46
The New Land (1951-1963)
Red Egg Day 52
Mrs. Ransom's Forty-Eight Steaks 62
The Soup Du Jour is Ch'i 77
Ragtag Boy Scouts 81
The Toisan Rules for Husbands 93
Bogie's Man 102
Two Buses Daily 114
Visitors Wear Masks 116
Right Feeling 124
Initiations (1964-1972)
Speaking in Tongues 183
Benevolent and Protective 144
New Yellow Peril 151
The Troubles 170
All-American High School 173
Grandmother Smiles 180
Tremors 185
First Son Goes to University 189
Clouds 192
Chaos Under Heaven (1972-1978)
Speaking in Circles 207
Wailing Wall 210
Rub the Hard-Boiled Egg 222
Healing Rites 226
Talking About Bad Things Being's Them Back 239
The Season of Ten Thousand Sorrows 241
Mothering All the Children 256
Inside Moves 259
Dead Stop 268
Blues Spiral 270
Renewal (1979-1983)
Rage Under a Mother's Gaze 281
Angels of Light and Slam Dancers 284
Quilt 293
A Private Victory 296
Epilogue
Author: A Millennial Chinese New Year in Toisan 303
Poy Jen: Choosing America 312
Author: An American Promise 315
| Price | Condition | Delivery | Seller | Action |
| $99.99 | Digital |
| WonderClub |
David Quevedo
reviewed Eighth Promise: An American Son's Tribute to His Toisanese Mother on June 24, 2008
Eighth Promise: An American Son's Tribute to His Toisanese Mother
My family also moved into the North Ping Yuen projects when they were brand new and moved out in 1969 to live the American dream of home ownership. I also attended Nam Kue Chinese school but years later. It excited me to read these similarities growing up in Chinatown. My parents were from villages in nearby counties to Toisan.
Being younger than Lee and female, I think I led a very sheltered life and didn't pay too much attention to the violent Chinese gang crimes in Chinatown. I was aware of them and was warned by my mom that they were bad seeds that were to be avoided by all means. This part of the book was disturbing to me. While this was an important part of Lee's life, I agreed with his mother that it wasn't good to relive the sorrows from the past. I didn't realize the final third part of the book was going to be more of a tribute to his younger brother's trial and prison life instead of his Toisanese mother.
The alternating chapters with his mom's voice were the most interesting. The author's chapters were often repetitive but contained quite a deal of Chinatown history. Still I often found myself wanting to get through his chapters so I can read more of his mother's anecdotes. His mother is one fascinating and wise woman!
I didn't like that this book lacked photos, a family tree and a map of Toisan.
I would recommend this book to anyone who grew up in San Francisco's Chinatown.
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Add Eighth Promise: An American Son's Tribute to His Toisanese Mother, In the best-selling tradition of The Color of Water comes a beautifully written, evocative memoir of a relationship between a mother and son—and the Chinese-American experience In The Eighth Promise, author William Poy Lee gives us a rare, Eighth Promise: An American Son's Tribute to His Toisanese Mother to the inventory that you are selling on WonderClubX
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Add Eighth Promise: An American Son's Tribute to His Toisanese Mother, In the best-selling tradition of The Color of Water comes a beautifully written, evocative memoir of a relationship between a mother and son—and the Chinese-American experience In The Eighth Promise, author William Poy Lee gives us a rare, Eighth Promise: An American Son's Tribute to His Toisanese Mother to your collection on WonderClub |