The Distant Land of My Father

The Distant Land of My Father
by Bo Caldwell

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Book Summary Information

Author: Bo Caldwell
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2002-09-09
ISBN: 0156027135
Number of pages: 400
Publisher: Mariner Books

Book Reviews of The Distant Land of My Father

Book Review: Good Enough
Summary: 3 Stars

This book was good. (Personal note: it actually struck a cord in me at one point and I had to put the book down and have a good cry!... I don't know if that was about the book or about me - HAHA.)

Anyhow, the story WAS good. IT WAS DEFINITELY WORTH READING. It was interesting and I cared ENOUGH about the characters to keep reading. And it certainly DID become a more engaging story (from the personal and "story" perspective) later in the book.

But since SO many of the reviews are 5 stars and mostly complimentary, I thought I would put some of my reasons for making it only 3 stars.
The author's writing style felt detached and impersonal to me... I was glad to read other reviewers felt that way too (I thought it was just me).
Also a little too detailed (boring) in a few places.
The story was a little slow and meandering in the first half.
All the characters - except Anna - were not well developed... you didn't get to know or care about them at all. They were just figures in Anna's life.

Hope this helps!!!

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Summary of The Distant Land of My Father

Anna, the narrator of this riveting first novel, lives in a storybook world: exotic pre- World War II Shanghai, with handsome young parents, wealth, and comfort. Her father, the son of missionaries, leads a charmed and secretive life, though his greatest joy is sharing his beloved city with his only daughter. Yet when Anna and her mother flee Japanese-occupied Shanghai to return to California, he stays behind, believing his connections and a little bit of luck will keep him safe.
Through Anna's memories and her father's journals we learn of his fall from charismatic millionaire to tortured prisoner, in a story of betrayal and reconciliation that spans two continents. The Distant Land of My Father, a breathtaking and richly lyrical debut, unfolds to reveal an enduring family love through tragic circumstances.

National Bestseller

The Distant Land of My Father begins like a fairy tale: "My father was a millionaire in Shanghai in the 1930s.... On the day he was born, in the province of Shantung, neighbors presented my missionary grandparents, the only Americans for miles, with noodles in great abundance and one hundred chicken eggs, in honor of their son's birth." To the young Anna Schoene, life in Shanghai is indeed magical. There are servants, a luxurious villa, a beautiful mother who smells like Chanel No. 5, and a young, handsome, polo-playing father. Unfortunately, her father is also a smuggler and speculator who loves his freewheeling life more than anything (or anyone) else. Despite warnings, Schoene refuses to leave Shanghai even after the Japanese invade, and his wife and child retreat to Los Angeles; later, he survives imprisonment and torture only to once again choose Shanghai over his family--this time with the Communists moving in.

Bo Caldwell's sepia-toned evocation of 1930s Shanghai is lovely and physical, and given the built-in drama of its setting, this first novel ought to have the vividness of a classic movie. Yet the characters remain oddly flat while world events swirl around them. Great chunks of historical exposition seem largely undigested, while Schoene's final change of heart fails to ring true. In a sense, however, these shortcomings are beside the point. The Distant Land of My Father is above all a tragic romance, albeit one with an unusual love interest. Schoene is so besotted with Shanghai that his wife and daughter are scarcely as real to him as the city itself. --Mary Park

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