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Summary and Reviews of Daughters of Shandong by Eve Chung

Daughters of Shandong by Eve J. Chung

Daughters of Shandong

by Eve J. Chung
  • BookBrowse Review:
  • Critics' Consensus (3):
  • Readers' Rating (41):
  • First Published:
  • May 7, 2024, 400 pages
  • Paperback:
  • May 2025, 400 pages
  • Rate this book

About This Book

Book Summary

A propulsive, extraordinary novel about a mother and her daughters' harrowing escape to Taiwan as the Communist revolution sweeps through China, by debut author Eve J. Chung, based on her family story.

Daughters are the Ang family's curse.

In 1948, civil war ravages the Chinese countryside, but in rural Shandong, the wealthy, landowning Angs are more concerned with their lack of an heir. Hai is the eldest of four girls and spends her days looking after her sisters. Headstrong Di, who is just a year younger, learns to hide in plain sight, and their mother—abused by the family for failing to birth a boy—finds her own small acts of rebellion in the kitchen. As the Communist army closes in on their town, the rest of the prosperous household flees, leaving behind the girls and their mother because they view them as useless mouths to feed.

Without an Ang male to punish, the land-seizing cadres choose Hai, as the eldest child, to stand trial for her family's crimes. She barely survives their brutality. Realizing the worst is yet to come, the women plan their escape. Starving and penniless but resourceful, they forge travel permits and embark on a thousand-mile journey to confront the family that abandoned them.

From the countryside to the bustling city of Qingdao, and onward to British Hong Kong and eventually Taiwan, they witness the changing tide of a nation and the plight of multitudes caught in the wake of revolution. But with the loss of their home and the life they've known also comes new freedom—to take hold of their fate, to shake free of the bonds of their gender, and to claim their own story.

Told in assured, evocative prose, with impeccably drawn characters, Daughters of Shandong is a hopeful, powerful story about the resilience of women in war; the enduring love between mothers, daughters, and sisters; and the sacrifices made to lift up future generations.

1

Heirless

Nai Nai said whores weren't allowed in the house, so she kicked Mom out, slamming the wooden door shut with a clatter that startled the birds. We didn't know where my sister Di was, but Three and I sat beside Mom as she leaned against the courtyard wall of our shiheyuan, hands red and chapped from washing dishes. "Don't worry," she said to us. "She'll calm down when your father comes home." Nai Nai was a small, thin lady with ebony hair, birdlike hands, and dainty bound feet. Yet, even as she tottered in her small silk slippers, she had the presence of a warlord and a tongue like a whip. I was eleven, and old enough to know that no one could calm her after such a rage, not even her first and favorite son.It was fall, and dried leaves swirled in the chilly wind, skimming yellow grass that swayed gently. Luckily, the harvest was finished and most of the workers had gone home. Mom didn't want reports of this shameful spectacle to make the rounds-the peasants hated Nai Nai as much...

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!
  1. Hai and Di each have dreams for themselves. Do they achieve them? If not, was there anything different that they could have or should have done?
  2. Di often calls Hai a coward. What kinds of bravery does each character exhibit? How does each character's bravery (or lack thereof) shape the family's story?
  3. Familial relationships are important to all the characters. How do Hai's and Di's relationship with their mom evolve throughout the book? What about Hai and Di's relationship with each other?
  4. Is there an antagonist in Daughters of Shandong? If so, who or what do you think it is, and why?
  5. If you were either Hai or Di, could you forgive your father? What about your grandmother and grandfather?
  6. Hai's mom makes many difficult decisions. Do you think ...
Please be aware that this discussion may contain spoilers!

See what our members are saying about this book in our Community Forum.

Did knowing the book is based on Eve Chung’s grandmother’s experiences change the way you approached the novel, and if so, how?
I was aware that it was a fictionalized account of her grandmother's life prior to reading the novel. The cruelty of people is caught so vividly in the book; it's jarring.
-Michele_P


Overall, what did you think of Daughters of Shandong? (no spoilers, please!)
Eve J. Chung's book made me much more aware of Chinese History and the traditional treatment of women. I didn't want to stop reading the book. In support of the main characters especially the mom and her daughters, I wanted to know they survived and ended up having a better life. I hope today Chi...
-Ann_H


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    2024

Reviews

BookBrowse Review

BookBrowse

A mother and three daughters are left behind when the more powerful members of their Nationalist family flee to escape Communists during the revolution. The story is told from the perspective of the oldest daughter, Li Hai, and the author does an astonishing job of capturing the thoughts of an adolescent girl dealing with both inconceivable trauma and everyday concerns (Kathleen L). If a book taking place during a war can be called enjoyable, this is it. I say enjoyable based on the mother/daughter relationships, the three-dimensional characters and the rising above the circumstances, which almost makes the reader forget the horrors in favor of the power of the storyline (Marie M). Chung's writing is descriptive without being overly expansive. Daughters of Shandong was a real pleasure to read and I hope Chung continues to write (Laurie B)...continued

Full Review Members Only (632 words)

(Reviewed by First Impressions Reviewers).

Media Reviews

People
Throw open the doors of your heart for the lionhearted girls of Chung's gripping debut…they are heroines for the ages.

Publishers Weekly
Readers will be moved by this humanizing account of a turbulent period in China's history.

Author Blurb Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author of The Many Daughters of Afong Moy
One of those rare works of fiction that entertains, educates, and inspires. Harrowing, heartbreaking, and brilliantly paced, Daughters of Shandong is impossible to put down. I'll definitely be recommending this one to my book club.

Author Blurb Karin Tanabe, author of The Sunset Crowd
If you like your historical fiction to read like a thriller, Daughters of Shandong delivers. A story of never giving up on yourself, Chung's debut is a propulsive journey through Chinese history that shows not the women who walked so their daughters could run, but the women who fought so their daughters could fly.

Author Blurb Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Diamond Eye
Human rights attorney and debut author Eve J. Chung takes personal family history and spins it into pure gold in her haunting first novel...Daughters of Shandong is a powerhouse debut from a major new talent!

Author Blurb Thao Thai, author of Banyan Moon
In Eve J. Chung's skillful debut, she creates a winding, breathtaking tale through the many political upheavals of mid-century China. ...Spellbindingly transportive, Daughters of Shandong is one of those rare books that stays with readers long after the last pages and promises to illuminate all the corners of humanity.

Author Blurb Weina Dai Randel, Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Last Rose of Shanghai
From the snowy land, to the golden wheat field, to the crowded colony of tents, to the island across a glittering sea, Daughters of Shandong tells an epic journey of a mother and her three children seeking to unite with the family that abandons them. ...Intimate, immersive, and utterly enthralling, Daughters of Shandong is a brilliant debut by an astonishingly gifted writer!

Reader Reviews

Jill

An Impressive Debut
Daughters of Shandong By Eve J. Chung A work of historical fiction inspired by Chung’s family who was displaced during the Communist Revolution in China. The Daughters of Shandong is told through the eyes of Hai, the eldest daughter of the Ang ...   Read More
Marty Simmons

Compassionate empathy for humans caught in unfathomable chaos
I have often wondered how it is that people know to leave. Where would a story teller be without a journey? Hai tells this story, with the help of her grandmother. A stranger's gift is part of a chain of cultural transmissions through the Chinese ...   Read More
Anthony Conty

Generational, In More Ways Than One
"Daughters of Shandong" by Eve J. Chung is an intense study of the Communists vs. Nationalists in China and how a family of no male heirs suffered through it all. The conflict does not come up much in American history books, so hearing about the ...   Read More
Carolea

Tiawan - Historical Fiction Highly Recommended
Daughters of Shandong by Eve J. Chung is a captivating historical fiction novel that transports readers to the tumultuous backdrop of the Chinese Revolution in 1948. Through the lens of its richly-drawn fictional characters, the story offers a ...   Read More

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Beyond the Book



Real-Life Inspirations for Daughters of Shandong

Color photo portrait of Eve J. Chung Eve J. Chung's debut novel Daughters of Shandong focuses on the mother and daughters of a landowning family who flee China for Taiwan as a result of the Communist revolution in the late 1940s. Chung has spoken about how she was motivated to write the book by her maternal grandmother's experiences of that period of history.

However, what became a work of fiction started as a simple attempt to record her family's past. In a note to readers, Chung portrays the special relationship she formed with her grandmother from having lived with her in Taiwan as a child. While they were close, bonding over competitive billiards and period dramas, Chung knew little of her grandmother's history as a refugee. After her grandmother passed away in ...

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