This is not an ordinary book: it's a BookCrossing book! BookCrossing books are world travelers - they like to have adventures and make new friends...and every once in a while they even write home to say what they've been doing.

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Looks like an interesting one, so I've promised it to J4shaw as a wishlist tag.

Headed out direct from Better World Books - enjoy!

Released for DragonGoddess's Tick Tock challenge.

Here's a helpful thread in case the cover image doesn't match what you actually get: Adding covers to books you did not register. (Unfortunately I didn't know about it until recently.)

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I'm so glad you've found this book!

Please take a moment to make a journal entry and let this book's previous readers know that it's safe with you.

How and where did you find the book? What did you think of it? What are you going to do with it next?

It's now your book, for you to do with as you please: keep it, pass it to a friend, or maybe even leave it where someone else can find it!

If you've ever wondered where your books go after they leave your hands, join BookCrossing and you may find out: you'll be able to follow the further adventures of your books as new readers make journal entries - sometimes from surprisingly far-flung locations.

(Think of it like Where's George for books: a little like geocaching or a treasure hunt - you can follow a registered book's journey every time someone makes a new entry. Some BookCrossers even leave books *in* geocaches!)

BookCrossing: making the whole world a library!

Received as part of the ● US~Canada Wishlist Tag● ☆ 2017

Sending this one on it's travels to it's next reader as part of the ☆●USA & Canada Wishlist Tag Game●☆ 2018 .
Apologies for the delay in sending it to you.


MY REVIEW
I postponed reading this for many many months as I anticipated it being 'too heavy' a read whilst I was bogged down with house renos. Having now read it, in a manner which I couldn't put it down and read it over the course of a few sitting, I'm both glad I waited to read it in long uninterrupted sittings, as well as annoyed that I didn't get to devour it earlier!

The book's setting of Taiwan I found fascinating, and story circulating around the treatment of a least-favored son of a powerful man and how he overcame such adversity was very powerful indeed.
Reading the notes from the author at the end to find that fragments of stories of her parents childhoods in Taiwan had inspired her writing just made the whole book even more powerful and touching.
Overall, I am really glad that this book exists.

This arrived today, with some bonus BC supplies. Thank you!

This book deals with some dark and serious subjects, including child abuse, racism, poverty, and military occupation by a foreign nation, yet I found it a surprisingly easy and swift read. The main character rarely wallows in his misfortunes, instead picking himself up (often literally) and continuing on with his life as best he can. It makes some of the horrors seem mundane, which is, of course, a horror in and of itself. The defeated acceptance of so many people around Saburo is disconcerting, and yet the reader sometimes almost falls for that line of thinking, that certain choices would be easier. I've read some other books dealing with Japanese occupation of other countries, but I think this was my first in Taiwan, so that was a new viewpoint for me.

Left in the magazine rack in exam room 2.