December's CanLit pick

The exam is written, the semester over, I can finally read all I want for pure enjoyment.  Woohoo!!!!  I celebrated the end of a not so fun class with Midnight at the Dragon Cafe, my December CanLit pick. 

I have heard Judy Fong Bates described as the Chinese Alice Munro, though I have not read her collection of short stories: China Dog and Other Stories.  Her debut novel, Midnight at the Dragon Cafe is the story of a young Chinese girl, Su-Jen Chou, who immigrates to Canada with her mother when she is but 5 or 6 years old.  Her father has a restaurant in the small town of Irvine, Ontario, just outside Toronto, and she and her mother join him in the family business.  Having come over so young, Su-Jen is able to quickly learn English, to go to school and get an education that will see her prosper, not slave away in a small-town family business.  It is 1957 and the Chou’s are the only Chinese family in Irvine.  Su-Jen’s mother who speaks no English soon becomes embittered with her lot, resentful of her much older husband and the poor life he offers her in a backwoods town where they are cut off from other Chinese people and their culture. 

The story is told from Su-Jen’s perspective from the time she comes to Canada until she’s around 12 years of age.  It is her assimilation into a new culture we follow, but we also glimpse the emergence of family secrets through her eyes.  Not all is readily revealed as it is filtered through the eyes and mind of a child.  Su-Jen is also torn between the modern English-speaking world she’s growing up in and the ancient Chinese culture and superstition her parents live and believe.  She is caught between both worlds, trying to make sense of each, and this dilemma adds a richness and depth to the novel.

I had not realized, though I suspected, I may have read this book before.  Some 100+ pages into the novel it dawned on me I knew this story ... at least parts of it.  But as the novel is so dense, there was much I didn’t remember, making a second reading very enjoyable.  It’s not often I happily re-read books, but Fong Bates is such an amazing storyteller, I couldn’t help but be sucked back into the world she creates, caring for her characters all over again and seeing nuances I’d missed before.

A great story that’s well worth your time.  Midnight at the Dragon Cafe by Judy Fong Bates, published by McClelland & Stewart 2004.

Till next time, happy reading

L :)