Fiction
In reply to the discussion: What Fiction are you reading this week, August 2, 2020? [View all]murielm99
(32,134 posts)How Much of These Hills is Gold, by Z. Pam Zhang. It is a first novel, and stunning. The use of language alone is beautiful.
Two Chinese American girls, eleven and twelve, are orphaned in the gold fields. They run away. They steal. They gamble. They cheat.
Lucy, the elder, is the narrator. Her little sister, Sam (Samantha), does not want to be a girl.
The girls must bury their father, and find a place to belong. The story contains themes about racism, feminism, sexual identity and greed. Lots of greed. It is about the land, and belonging to the land.
Critics have hated the ending. I believe that if you get to the end of this book and do not know what the narrator wants, you were not paying attention. I recommend this highly.
I just started The Mercies, by Kiran Millwood Hargrave. She is an established children's author, but this is a book for adults. It is set in Finnmark, Norway, in 1617. Forty fishermen, all the men of the village, have perished in a storm. The women must learn to live on their own.
A new pastor comes to town, a stern Lutheran. Since I was raised Missouri Synod Lutheran, I get it. The people of the town are Norweigan and Sami. The king of Norway wishes to drive out the influence of the Sami religion. The witch burnings commence.
This story is based on true incidents. I am not that far along in the book yet, but it promises to be another good one.
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