Journal Entry 1 by Meg72 from Ílhavo, Aveiro Portugal on Thursday, June 24, 2010

Two sisters grow together and apart into their emerging selves. Frankie pulses with curiosity and risk; Kate is watchful, all eyes and ears. Immersed in the heat and colours of Hong Kong in the 1960´s, theirs is a world of fishermen and insurgents, temple gods and ghosts, of blinding light and dark, dark waters. As Frankie´s behaviour becomes more and more outrageous, in her defiant attempt to win her parent´s attention, Kate retreats into a quiet desperation, unable to act to save the one soul for whom she would sacrifice everything - Frankie. 

Journal Entry 2 by Meg72 at Aveiro, Aveiro Portugal on Thursday, June 24, 2010

Released 1 yr ago (6/24/2010 UTC) at Aveiro, Aveiro Portugal

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

I saw this book on your wishlist and thought it would be a nice gift for the "City and Country Exchange". I hope you enjoy reading it :-) 

Journal Entry 3 by ApoloniaX at Bremen, Bremen Germany on Monday, June 28, 2010

Journal Entry 4 by ApoloniaX at Bremen, Bremen Germany on Thursday, July 01, 2010

This is a beautiful haunting story set in Hong Kong in ’67, the story of two US-American teenage sisters living in a fragile paradise. Then both the Vietnam War and China’s Cultural Revolution break into their world with deep impact. Alice Greenway manages not to overload the novel with facts and descriptions, she lets the reader’s imagination kick in and evokes a rich picture of Hong Kong with her beautiful poetic style. It’s a short book, just 168 pages, but intense and deep. Recommendable!
Reserved for a VBB. 

Journal Entry 5 by ApoloniaX at East Asian VBB, Virtual Bookbox -- Controlled Releases on Thursday, July 15, 2010

Released 1 yr ago (7/16/2010 UTC) at East Asian VBB, Virtual Bookbox -- Controlled Releases

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Journal Entry 6 by sing-on-a-star at Manchester, Greater Manchester United Kingdom on Thursday, July 22, 2010

Thanks ApoloniaX! Looks just the book to kick my lazy holiday off with! 

Journal Entry 7 by sing-on-a-star at Manchester, Greater Manchester United Kingdom on Tuesday, July 27, 2010

The beautiful and vivid descriptions in this book made it very readable. Told from the view point of Kate, her changing relationship (and tearing of loyalties) with her sister drives the story. As I read I was often anticipating the main event, wondering where the climax of the story would take me, and could not predict the events until they were upon me. A beautiful, lingering story and highly recomendable.

I will offer this book as a ray as it would be great for it to travel. 

Journal Entry 8 by sing-on-a-star at Manchester, Greater Manchester United Kingdom on Monday, August 23, 2010

Book ray

The usual ray rules apply (courtesy of ApoloniaX)
•Someone will PM you for your address, PM them back and provide your address
•When you receive the book, please make a journal entry letting everyone know that you received it
•Please try to finish it within six weeks
•When the end is in sight, check the book's journal and PM the next person to get their address
•Make another journal entry and let everyone know what you thought of the book
•Make release notes to let everyone know that it's in the mail (surface mail is fine but please write this in release notes)
•Last person: Would you ray it forward?
•If delayed make sure to let us know so that the ray will not stop

Order of participants:
Guinaveve - US (ship US only)
seamonkeyofTVCH - US (will ship int’l)
salvami – Ireland (will ship int’l)
Okyrhoe – Greece (will ship int’l, requested near the end of the ray)
Esme-Weatherwax – Ireland (ship UK / Ireland only, requested end of ray)
Anyone else? 

Journal Entry 9 by sing-on-a-star at First person in BookRay., -- By post or by hand/ in person -- United Kingdom on Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Released 1 yr ago (8/25/2010 UTC) at First person in BookRay., -- By post or by hand/ in person -- United Kingdom

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Sending to guinaveve, the first person in the ray...enjoy! 

Journal Entry 10 by guinaveve at Mason, Ohio USA on Monday, September 06, 2010

Thank you. I received this last week and thought I had made a journal entry. I just checked and hadn't. Sorry. I am PMing the next participant to get an address now.  

Journal Entry 11 by guinaveve at Mason, Ohio USA on Thursday, September 09, 2010

This book is intriguing, suspenseful, and visually exciting. I didn't want it to end, but wanted to know how it would turn out. The ending does not disappoint.
I have the address of the next participant and will get this out tomorrow or the next day. Thanks for sharing. 

Journal Entry 12 by guinaveve at Post Office in Sent by mail, a fellow bookcrosser -- Controlled Releases on Thursday, September 09, 2010

Released 1 yr ago (9/9/2010 UTC) at Post Office in Sent by mail, a fellow bookcrosser -- Controlled Releases

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

Enjoy! 

Journal Entry 13 by AnonymousFinder at Fountain Valley, California USA on Friday, September 24, 2010

Just arrived in the mail today. I've started and should finish over the weekend if not sooner. Will PM next person for address. 

Journal Entry 14 by SeamonkeyofTVCH at Fountain Valley, California USA on Friday, September 24, 2010

Sorry, thought I was logged in!! Also attempting to enter with cat on lap :) This looks like it will be quite good. Again, will PM the next person on the list and hope to mail this off on Monday.

Thanks for starting the Ray!  

Journal Entry 15 by SeamonkeyofTVCH at Fountain Valley, California USA on Monday, September 27, 2010

Alice Greenway's words paint such vivid pictures that the reader almost hold her breath while "watching" the story unfold. It is what the characters don't say, or don't see or don't do.. or is it won't.. that builds to the tragic end. An accident? Probably, but it seems that the eventual outcome was to be, no matter what.

Beautifully written, sparing, as others have said.. no unnecessary scene setting.

I've released this book, via mail, to salvami, who is next on the list.  

Journal Entry 16 by SeamonkeyofTVCH at Broadway, Co. Wexford Ireland on Monday, September 27, 2010

Released 1 yr ago (9/27/2010 UTC) at Broadway, Co. Wexford Ireland

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Hope you receive the book soon. Enjoy! 

Journal Entry 17 by salvami at Wexford, Co. Wexford Ireland on Monday, October 04, 2010

Thank you so much for the book! This book has good reviews, so I am looking forward to starting it soon :)

....ohh cute cat postcard....! 

Journal Entry 18 by salvami at Wexford, Co. Wexford Ireland on Saturday, October 23, 2010

hmm..maybe it wasn't my cup of tea. I found it very hard to focus on the storyline + the main characters (Kate and Frankie).
I finally began to enjoy the story when I was about last 30 pages..so I felt sad to finish it.

Thank you very much for sharing! I contacted next reader for address :)

 

Journal Entry 19 by salvami at Wexford, Co. Wexford Ireland on Wednesday, November 03, 2010

Released 1 yr ago (11/3/2010 UTC) at Wexford, Co. Wexford Ireland

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

sorry for holding this book for long, finally it started travelling again!
Enjoy :) 

Journal Entry 20 by okyrhoe at Athens, Attica Greece on Monday, November 08, 2010

Journal Entry 21 by okyrhoe at Athens, Attica Greece on Tuesday, January 04, 2011

The writing creeps up on the reader gradually, bit by bit.
At first I was somewhat annoyed by the mature tone of Kate the child narrator; there was a faint imbalance between narrative complexity and the naive understanding of the little girl.
Midway I began to see how the novel resembles a poem, where images and emotions have dual meaning; one can interpret them from the child's or the adult (narrator) point of view.
There are several repeated phrases, and if I am not mistaken also a short passage at the end that echoes the opening paragraph of the book, giving the whole a poetic structure.
The push & pull tension between the two sisters I don't think is conveyed successfully, as we only get one side of the story.
Interestingly enough I identified with the way the Vietnam war affected Kate's character and outlook; that is, how it inspired her constant daydreaming (escapism). I found many parallels and shared emotions from the years of my childhood spent in the Middle East. My father, too, was stationed in conflict zones. His lengthy absences were interspersed by short stays filled with fascinating war stories - all this made the young Kate's concept of "Vietcong sisters" particularly poignant as well as "logical."
Thanks for sharing this wonderful book! 

Journal Entry 22 by okyrhoe at bookray, By Post -- Controlled Releases on Wednesday, January 05, 2011

Released 1 yr ago (1/5/2011 UTC) at bookray, By Post -- Controlled Releases

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

On its way by post to esme-weatherwax. Enjoy! 

Journal Entry 23 by Esme-Weatherwax at Limerick, Co. Limerick Ireland on Saturday, January 29, 2011

thanks for the book will of course pass it on when I am done.