Reviews for Wuhu diary

The average rating for Wuhu diary based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-07-12 00:00:00 Joey Perez I'm only on page 20, but holy crap, this book is horrible. I'm going to try to finish it so I can write a full review, but I'm not sure I'll be able to make it through. So far, in a mere twenty pages, Emily Prager has managed to make countless, well-intentioned but ignorant comments that taken alone might be ignored or chalked up to a a somewhat naive, privileged white woman's point of view, but taken together all at once and in only the first 20 pages of her book, come across as horribly offensive. I'm not really sure where to begin, but let's just say that Prager has an Orientalist view of China, Chinese people, Chinese culture, and her Chinese daughter, which is to say, she means well but only sees what she wants to see in Chinese culture/people, exoticizes China/Chinese people/culture. Prager believes she has "a sense about things Chinese" and that "to be in the presence of Chinese people or things always soothes me." Nice sentiments, but offensive nonetheless. Soft music is soothing, tea with honey is soothing, kittens can be soothing, but an entire culture and people? She manages to reduce Chinese people and things (as if humans and things can be interchangeable or as if Chinese people are things) to, well, things. Sigh. ........................................................... I've finished the book and can now write a full review, but my first review basically says it all. It doesn't get better from page 20 onwards. The only thing left to say is that, on top of being one white woman's well-intentioned yet offensive, exoticized view of China, it's a boring book! Yes, it's a diary but do we really need to know exactly how many times Lulu went to the playground? Do we need to know every single detail of every single day they were in China? The answer to that is no. Prager's constant crying was also pretty annoying. I'm sure the fact that Prager seemed to be an emotional mess had a direct effect on Lulu's emotional state too. I mean, good grief, everything makes Prager cry. I'm almost surprised this got published at all because the writing certainly isn't anything extraordinary nor is the story all that interesting, but I suppose back in 2001 there wasn't much in the way of literature about, by, or for Chinese adoptees and adoptive parents, so the pickings were probably slim. Sigh. Can anyone suggest books about adoption that aren't offensive? Are there any books about the adoption experience written by adoptive parents that won't piss me off, bore me to death, or annoy me? =P

Review # 2 was written on 2010-05-19 00:00:00 Tyler Martin Near the beginning of the diary of her journey to Wuhu, author Emily Prager writes of her five year old daughter, Lulu, "I am so glad she is getting to look at her China, the China of 'you're from China, you're adopted from China, you came from China, I went to China to get you, I was in China when the phone rang and a voice said, 'Would you like to meet your baby?'' Her China. That China." During their month and half long stay, Prager describes Lulu's efforts to reconcile the setting and circumstances of her birth with her current life in the United States. In the context of such an intimidatingly controversial and multi-faceted topic as transracial, international adoption, Prager's observations are searchingly honest and heart-wrenching. I appreciated the fact that she did not sugarcoat the difficulty, pain, and cultural and ethnic limbo that transracial, international adoptees and their adoptive parents experience. When Prager ends the story on an affirming note, it feels hard-earned and authentic.