Bibliograph

Useful phrases for immigrants, stories, May-lee Chai

Type

Label

Useful phrases for immigrants, stories, May-lee Chai

Language

eng

Index

no index present

Literary Form

fiction

Main title

Useful phrases for immigrants

Oclc number

1028524098

Responsibility statement

May-lee Chai

Sub title

stories

Summary

In the title story of this timely and innovative collection, a young woman wearing a Prada coat attempts to redeem a coupon for plastic storage bins while her in-laws are at home watching the Chinese news and taking her private phone calls. It is the lively and wise juxtaposition of cultures, generations, and emotions that characterize May-lee Chai's amazing stories. Within them, readers will find a complex blend of cultures spanning China, the Chinese diaspora in America, and finally, the world at large. With luminous prose and sharp-eyed observations, Chai reveals her characters' hopes and fears, and our own: a grieving historian seeking solace from an old lover in Beijing, a young girl discovering her immigrant mother's infidelity, workers constructing a shopping mall in central China who make a shocking discovery. Families struggle with long-held grudges, reinvent traditions, and make mysterious visits to shadowy strangers from their past--all rendered with economy and beauty. With hearts that break and sometimes mend, with families who fight and sometimes forgive, the timely stories in Useful Phrases for Immigrants illuminate complicated lives with empathy and passion

Table Of Contents

Useful phrases for immigrants -- Fish boy -- Ghost festivals -- The body -- Canada -- The lucky day -- First Carvel in Beijing -- Shouting means I love you

Classification