Book of The Month discussion
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The Many Daughters of Afong Moy
AUGUST 2022
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The Many Daughters of Afong Moy, by Jamie Ford : Discussion Thread
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I started this book yesterday and have really enjoyed it so far! Is anyone else currently reading it or has finished it?
I'm still regretting not grabbing this one in one of my boxes!! I can't wait to see what you think!
It's been great so far and would highly recommend it. There are a few characters to keep up with and it switches between them a lot, but I've enjoyed getting to know all of the "daughters" and Afong herself. Inherited trauma is something we're starting to look at in early childhood education, so it's been interesting seeing it from this perspective. I actually keep reading when I'm supposed to be working, lol.
As Washington’s former poet laureate, that’s how she describes channeling her dissociative episodes and mental health struggles into her art. But when her five-year-old daughter exhibits similar behavior and begins remembering things from the lives of their ancestors, Dorothy believes the past has truly come to haunt her. Fearing that her child is predestined to endure the same debilitating depression that has marked her own life, Dorothy seeks radical help.
Through an experimental treatment designed to mitigate inherited trauma, Dorothy intimately connects with past generations of women in her family: Faye Moy, a nurse in China serving with the Flying Tigers; Zoe Moy, a student in England at a famous school with no rules; Lai King Moy, a girl quarantined in San Francisco during a plague epidemic; Greta Moy, a tech executive with a unique dating app; and Afong Moy, the first Chinese woman to set foot in America.
As painful recollections affect her present life, Dorothy discovers that trauma isn’t the only thing she’s inherited. A stranger is searching for her in each time period. A stranger who’s loved her through all of her genetic memories. Dorothy endeavors to break the cycle of pain and abandonment, to finally find peace for her daughter, and gain the love that has long been waiting, knowing she may pay the ultimate price.