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The Many Daughters of Afong Moy
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Buddy Read for The Many Daughters of Afong Moy
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Jen K
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rated it 4 stars
Jun 01, 2023 12:26PM

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I love the concept of this book with characters from the past AND the future.
Also, this author really knows how to end a chapter. Each chapter ends in an intriguing way that makes me want to read more.
It is a little hard to keep track of the various timelines and characters, but that's mostly my fault for reading another book at the same time. I think going straight through would work better.

Anita, my experience with the Buddy Reads is that every group operates a little differently. Sometimes people have thoughts as questions as they go, but I think the only "suggestion" is not to talk about things that are spoilers until we have all read it, so we can have that discussion together without spoiling anyone's experience of it. I do think that the more people who join in, the richer the discussion as always. So just be careful of spoilers. Sometimes a person might pose a particular question for us to consider.....


Anita, my experience with the Buddy Reads is that every group operates a little differently. Sometimes people have thoughts as questions as they go, but I think the only ..."
I hope you enjoy it, Amy. I love knowing that you got my book.

However, as many of you know, I'm known for being a caboose read often in buddy reads and I will post here when I finally do read it.

I am surprised how much I am enjoying this book given I though Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet was merely okay.
It's definitely a bit heart wrenching though.
The structure is not usually one I enjoy . . .moving back and forth through time, except with multiple characters. But this novel does have more of the feeling of a series of short stories (which I love), and each chapter has a poignancy to it. It's working for me . . .

First let me say, that I know a lot about Intergenerational Transmission of Trauma I have even written and presented a paper on it. For any psychoanalytic psychologist, this is not unfamiliar ground. Many analytic themes are presented here. Compulsion to repeat/Repetition Compulsion. The idea is that with insight and reflectivity, making the unconscious more conscious, we can recognize the patterns, be they thrust upon us or created, and choose to act differently. To not be ruled by habitual unthought action. Our insight is our keys and tools and techniques. How we come to change ourselves for the better.
I have always thought that cultures and families, secrets and trauma, is passed down through the genes. But also so is the good stuff. Recipes, stories, resilience.... Fear, hope, attachment styles. There is a lot more spirituality and woo woo in the field of psychology and that underlies our concepts than we would like to admit. Our attempt to be a hard science, which neurology and neurobiology and epigenesis helps of course, but there is also a good deal of the mystical. I have written a paper on that as well.
There are people who use past life regression as a therapeutic modality, but its quite rare to see. But it is the same concept. I do think the psychoanalytic folks come closest, with our deep peering into the past and into the history of internal and external dynamics in relationship. But then there is the odd thing. My 13 year old son is talking about organ donor recipients taking on the characteristics of the previous heart owner. Loving things they do not remember, nor never cared for. Having new likes and dislikes, proclivities, and even mannerisms. This is more evidence of the body carrying pieces of the soul. As is, they way bodies hold on for right timing for birth and death, wait for loved ones, etc.... With all our science and technology, one thing we cannot predict is the timing of these two phenomena.
I enjoyed the book. I never say this, but it might have even been okay to be a bit longer. By the time you hear the stories of the five women, its almost over. I thought the end was clever and worth discussing when others have read it through to the end. I wish I could speak of that in my review. But alas, that will have to wait.
Very much enjoyed, I hope you did as well.
