Four Treasures of the Sky by Jennifer Tinghui Zhang

The history of racism against Asians runs deep in the American history and this multi-layered story demonstrates the darker side of settling the West. It is told in the voice of a well-considered memoir and is as lyrical as an epic poem. The book opens with 13-year-old Daiyu, named after a beauty who has been cursed with a tragic fate, is kidnapped. It’s the first day of spring. Her parents have already disappeared, vanished in the middle of the night from their small fishing village. Her grandmother has already shaved her head, put her in boys’ clothes, and sent her to the nearby city of Zhifu. Once there, Daiyu has a series of lucky breaks but faces inevitable hazards, which is a pattern that is repeated throughout her life. She lives life as a boy and life as a girl, and while the sexual exploitation that marks her stint of living in her real skin is both predictable and horrifying, her life as an Asian man in 19th century America is not remarkably better. There are so many layers to this book. In the many roles she must assume to survive, Daiyu somehow retains her optimism and kindness. She falls in love even though she can never express the depth of her feelings to anyone. Although you can sense the futility of her impossible dream to reunite with her parents. Daiyu uses this as her strength and meaning behind her every effort and decision in this generous, brutal, and heartbreaking novel.