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. From the author of "Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet".
Optimistically overstuffed ... Like memory itself, the novel is freighted with imagery and desire. Hopeful themes temper the anguish, but the author’s enthusiasm for instructing us detracts from the characters’ yearning for belonging and love ... We can’t begrudge him for wanting to do something different with this book, and bravo for extending Afong Moy’s story beyond the immigrant’s plight. But like the typhoon that threatens to overwhelm a changed world, the author’s many interests, however earnestly held, risk swamping his story.
Ford deftly reveals seven women’s lives ... The name and epithet are actual history, which Ford embellishes with a poignant past and intriguing descendants ... While loneliness, suffering, and violence haunt throughout, Ford’s revisionist penultimate chapter, 'Echoes,' feels less empowering than uncomfortably forced. That said, Ford fans are unlikely to be disappointed, his writing remains reliably immersive and enlightening.
Another spellbinding tale of memory's power to bind us together. At once heartbreaking and uplifting, The Many Daughters of Afong Moy connects women who are generations and worlds apart ... Ford's writing is seductive as he intertwines the lives of Dorothy, Annabel and their ancestors within a rich swirl of history and imagination ... As Ford unravels the intriguing stories behind Dorothy's recollections, he leads readers through her process of reconciling inherited memory with her present reality. The unfurling of ancestry and the passage of time are masterfully controlled and poetic, sumptuous and stark. Each time period is as expansive as the next, and within these eras, Ford plumbs the different sociocultural views and the changing roles and expectations of women, all while highlighting his strong characterization ... Exploring the bonds that transcend physical space, The Many Daughters of Afong Moy is an enthralling, centuries-spanning tale.
