I received an ARC from Goodreads.
----

I started reading this book last night. When I picked it up today, I was captivated by Stephen's story that I had to finish it in one sitting.

Wow. I found this book to be heartfelt, haunting and intense. The more I read, the more I needed to know.

Ok, I can't fault Stephen's memoir for being a little slow to start with, after all he is retelling how he came to be the person he was, and every story needs to have a beginning. As you read through the memoir, you can feel and see Stephen's growth and incredible luck throughout WWII and the Cultural Revolution in China. The power of love and family ultimately helps Stephen and his entire family conquer the horrors of war, revolution and hazards. In the midst of all the horror and destruction, there were glimmers of human kindness along the way. It is the human kindness that really makes you appreciate life and the luxuries that we take for granted in current times.

Stephen's memoir captured a small piece of the racism, political intrigues, cultural revolution and many more aspects that was prevalent during that area. I was rooting for him and his family the entire way after they had experienced one event after another. Stephen and his family are truly blessed with good friends and family, who have helped them throughout their lives. It all started with his loving and devoted mother who offers to dedicate her entire life to looking after Stephen's grandmother, in exchange for his future in the USA. And who's horrific ending (having been humiliated and eventually beaten to death in front of the villagers by a teenage soldier on a power trip) crushed me and left me in tears at the injustice and inhumane actions of Mao's army. I had briefly studied this time period, and although I admit Mao has some good ideas to help China through its time of sorrow, ultimately, I could not forgive the blatant propagandas and how his army/secret police bullied and terrorized the citizens.

This is a wonderful book to read. You definitely feel Stephen's love for his family and understand the sacrifices that he and Belle went through in order to give their children a better life. Through horrific trials and happy times, ultimately, you know the light is just waiting at the end of the tunnel. I highly recommend this book! ( )

"I want my heart to have a voice so I can love you louder"

This first words in this epistolary memoir took me by total surprise. A father who worked as a grocer in America, wanted his children as well as grandchildren to know how much he loved them and what it took to make their lives better. So he decided to write them his lifestory in the form of a letter.

This memoir was written by Stephen Jin-Nom, who was born November 27, 1902, in the Dai Waan village in Zhongshan, China. He grew up without a father in his paternal grandfather's house and was encourage by his grandfather to go to America for a proper education. He was the only child and only lived his first eight years of his life with his mother before he was sent away, accompanied by his Little Uncle, to live with Uncle Lee Tay in California. He would not see his mother again for many years.

On the way to his uncle's rented farm, they were on the ferry when it started raining. He was standing on the deck, alone, so very young and homesick at that moment, because he heard his mothers words when she told him back at home about the music in the rain.
(view spoiler)

He graduated with a degree in economics from Berkley but was unhappy that the words in the American Declaration of Independence - life, liberty and pursuit of happiness - only applied to Caucasian citizens, because discrimination towards everyone else prevented highly qualified immigrants from getting the jobs they were qualified for at American institutions of learning. It was unacceptable to him that John Locke, the English philosopher to whom those words in the Declaration were attributed to, was also a principal investor in the Royal Africa Company involved in the slave trade.

To combat racism, the Chinese immigrants believed firstly that it could be done with education, and secondly, it should be met with impeccable manners, wit and style.
(view spoiler)

He learnt the hard way that the American Dream was a myth. He tore up his American papers and returned to China.

Despite his uncle's warnings, he was determined to live in a place where doors were not constantly slapped close in his face simply because of where he was born. Although he anticipated some trouble with China being on the brink of a civil war, he never could predict the intensity of the suffering the people would have to endure. He met his wife, Belle, had four children( Amy, Huey, Rudy and Yvonne), worked as a highly respected Air Force comptroller with the rank of a colonel, a banker, as well as a professor teaching economics.

But he never foresaw what he and his nuclear family would have to endure. From the Chinese civil war, the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Second World War, to the Cultural Revolution: his country was turned upside down by warlords, politicians, corruption, fraud, vandalism, poverty, famine, and inhuman acts of violence. He and his family lived a life of constant migration, fleeing the horror of it all and barely surviving.

When he finally ended up back in the USA working as a grocer, he decided to write his children and grandchildren a letter to tell them how much he loved them and how much he cared.

He passed away on April 25, 1970. This memoir would be co-authored a few decades later by his granddaughter Julianne Lee's husband, Howard Webster, and published as a book.

I was left with many questions, like: how was it possible that this unbelievable kind, compassionate, highly intelligent man, with his family, could endure all these incredible experiences and not break down, while so many millions of people all over the world in much less challenging circumstances could simply not rise above it? What made Stephen Jin-Nom different?

"Hatred, like a bush fire, ultimately consumes those who propagate it, leaving nothing but scorched, barren earth behind in their hearts. Love, the greatest of reckless endeavors,inspires men to greatness in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds."

It is an incredible tale of hardship, but also kindness; of heartbreak as well as hope; of deep sorrow and intense joy. It is one of the most inspirational stories I have read in a very long time. I highly recommend this book to EVERYONE! In this book, horror is not a book genre for bored people seeking extreme excitement, horror was a real way of life!

I am changed. Undoubtedly. ( )