The End of East

by Jen Sookfong Lee

Book Overview

A moving portrait of three generations of the Chan family living in Vancouver's Chinatown Sammy Chan was sure she'd escaped her family obligations when she fled Vancouver six years ago, but with her sister's upcoming marriage, her turn has come to care for their aging mother. Abandoned by all four of her older sisters, jobless and stuck in a city she resents, Sammy finds herself cobbling together a makeshift family history and delving into stories that began in 1913, when her grandfather, Seid Quan, then eighteen years old, first stepped on Canadian soil. The End of East weaves in and out of the past and the present, picking up the threads of the Chan family's stories: Seid Quan, whose loneliness in this foreign country is profound even as he joins the Chinatown community; Shew Lin, whose hopes for her family are threatened by her own misguided actions; Pon Man, who struggles with obligation and desire; and Siu Sang, who tries to be the caregiver everyone expects, even as she feels herself unravelling. And in the background, five little girls grow up under the weight of family expectations. As the past unfolds around her, Sammy finds herself embroiled in a volatile mixture of a dangerous love affair, a difficult and duty-filled relationship with her mother, and the still-fresh memories of her father's long illness. An exquisite and evocative debut from one of Canada's bright new literary stars, The End of East sets family conflicts against the backdrop of Vancouver's Chinatown - a city within acity where dreams are shattered as quickly as they're built, and where history repeats itself through the generations. From the Hardcover edition.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312379854
• ISBN13: 9780312379858
• Release Date: April 2008
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
• Length: 245 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.1" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Sentimental, Thoughtful, & Very Emotional

The 256 pages of this novel provide such depths and insight into each character, the lives and toils of a family, and the conflicts that we all face, more or less, at some point within our lives. It's rare for a novel to provoke such contemplation and emotions within the reader, but The End of East manages to do so effortlessly and throughout its entirety. Get the tissues ready, and be prepared to look at your own existence -- I know I did.

Bittersweet- but slightly more sweet than bitter.

I was unsure of this novel at first, but I enjoyed it more and more as I continued to read. By the end, I found that I was satisfied, and that I had enjoyed the time I spent reading. The relationships between the characters are bittersweet, shaded with self-sacrifice, family responsibility, cultural divides, misunderstandings, prejudice and ultimately, love. As is life. It was a quick read- it would be a good book to take along on a trip.