Donald Duk: A Novel

Customer Reviews:

interesting.......2007-01-04

pretty interesting but a kind of bad ending. the book has an interesting beginning though.

Horrible.......2006-08-07

Frank Chin uses 3rd person to go through the novel. What? Is he trying to question our competancy? It's and incredibly dull and boring book and is about a boy who dislikes being chinese. He wants to be a famous dancer-- so why doesn't he just do it. I mean it doesn't matter if you're chinese or not. Really, the book is about a kid who is so emo over his ethnicity, it just sickens me. Shut up and quit complaining. Only a few interesting dreams but that's it.

ah king!.......2006-03-27

this book was good. it was interesting to read. it has 2 messages that i found.

Definite Eye-Opener.......2005-06-16

First of all, I am surprised that not many people have read or even heard of this book. Why is it that America eats up all the stereotypical, sell-out Asian-American literature and denies something as real and tangible as Frank Chin's "Donald Duk"? Instead we are force-fed Amy Tan. And don't get me wrong, I enjoy reading Amy Tan, she is a very engaging writer, however, the average reader does not know where to draw the line between fiction and fact. They assume that because Amy Tan is Asian, every word that spills across the pages of her works is the solid truth. It is important for people to understand this distinction before reading any literature, lest they mistake fiction writing for truth and buy into the stereotypes presented by the author. Unfortunately, most people cannot make this distinction and their knowledge of Asian/Asian-American culture is limited to what they read in "The Joy Luck Club" and other such works.

Whew! That was quite a rant :) Back to the review:

Frank Chin is NOT Amy Tan. On the surface, "Donald Duk" presents itself as a light-hearted, comedic read. In fact, the entire premise of this novel seems silly, as do the characters. However, beneath the surface lie some serious questions about culture, identity, and racism. With its rich portrayal of history and culture, "Donald Duk" challenges the abundant stereotypes and misrepresented histories often present in American culture. Paired with Chin's vibrant and crisp writing style (It took me a few pages before I warmed-up to his style, but once I did I was hooked), the end result is a novel that manages to be eye-opening without being preachy. A feat that is seldom accomplished. I don't say this often, but I love this book. "Donald Duk" is an entertaining, albeit important, novel that should be introduced to more readers.

The Ultimate Dream.......2004-09-30

Growing up, there was always that one person you wanted to be. That one person you were reminded of everyday in the media that seemed so much more glamorous than your average lifestyle. For Donald Duk, being Chinese wasn't quite satisfying enough. He dreamt about being Fred Astaire, his Americanized idol. The whole novel bases its message on being happy with what you got, something I feel important growing up in a self-centered America.
Donald is a 12 year old boy living in the streets of Chinatown in San Francisco. His life experiences are similar to the stereotyped foreigner. He gets made fun of by the Chinatown bullies, leaving him with no self-respect and dignity for himself. He realizes the stereotypical aspects of American-Chinese and it drives him to unhealthily hate himself. I think the message of this book can reach out to so many people who are in similar situations with their social life.
The novel puts Donald in a period of life where self image starts to become an important thing. I could really connect to this because around the same period of my life, this was also important. He wants to just be American so bad that he has negativity for all things Chinese. Hatred is found in several ways including food, culture, and way of life. He hates the weird foods; he hates the embarrassing, easy to baffle names including his. Donald is constantly being made fun of by his ridiculous link to the Walt Disney Donald Duck. Even his mother's name is Daisy. He even hates his uncle who performs Chinese opera seldom at him school; imagine that. Even his best friend appreciates the culture more than he does. Basically he would do anything to be anything but Chinese. I know I've been so ungrateful at times. After reading this novel, you feel much more self-assured. You don't get that much in literature.
This book contains good balance to imply the message with the introduction of Donald's father, King Duk. He is the wise, old man carrying mentoring features for Donald. If it weren't for his father, Donald would be lost in American culture. He shows him how to adapt instead of completely transform. He makes it important that instead of being laughed at, laugh with. You don't gain much knowledge with out experience.
If you're not familiar with Chinese culture, some parts of the book can be a little cloudy. There were some parts that I could get completely lost in, but the ultimate message shined through. The dreams that he endures about being an underground rail-road builder in the 1800's is what turns him around. The dream sequences were my favorite, switching the story up with eccentric details. He finds out that the Chinese are just as creditable as anyone else and have received no recognition for it. He starts to appreciate where he has come from, becoming a happier person. The adaptation process starts to come easy to him, making him proud of his individualism.
Sometimes you just need the help of others to see more clearly. For Donald, his dreams opened up the passageway for him. Also, through the help of his family and friends, he could actually start to enjoy himself. Chinese culture is one that holds a lot of values. Back in China, death could even result from breaking this. Throughout the book, the main values presented were family, respect, and righteousness. Frank Chin did a very good job of combining freedom of choice by America with the traditional values of Chinese. This is a book we could all learn a little from.

Average customer rating:

Great thriller
Frustrated that I solved mystery before detectives
A "work of art" from the cover to the end
Good research, so-so plotting
Not as good as Thompson's other books in this series

Murder In Chinatown
Victoria Thompson
Manufacturer: Berkley Hardcover
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0425215318

Book Description

The ninth in the Edgar(r) Award-nominated series featuring midwife Sarah Brandt and Detective Sergeant Malloy in turn-of-the-century New York City.

Sarah Brandt has made her uneasy way to Chinatown to deliver a baby. There she meets a group of Irish women who, completely alone at Ellis Island, married Chinese men in the same predicament. But even as a new century dawns, New Yorkers still cling to their own kind, scorning children of mixed races.

When the new mother's half-Chinese, half-Irish niece goes missing, Sarah knows that alerting the police will accomplish nothing, and seeks the one person she can turn to-Detective Sergeant Malloy.

And when the missing girl is found dead in a Chinatown alley, Sarah and Malloy have ample suspects in her murder-from both sides of Canal Street.

Customer Reviews:

Great thriller.......2007-07-27

Victoria Thompson has done it again with the new Murder in Chinatown. This thriller has great character development and is a well written book you'll love from the beginning. Good subplots that make it a fun summer read. I highly recommend.

Frustrated that I solved mystery before detectives.......2007-07-22

I love historical mysteries and Victoria Thompson did a great job writing about the time period. However, I solved the mystery less than halfway through the book and it became frustrating for me to get through the rest of the book as Detective Malloy and Sarah seemed to miss some very obvious clues. I'm usually not good at solving mysteries and part of my enjoyment is being surprised by the ending. All in all, for me, the book was enjoyable as a period study but disappointing as a mystery.

A "work of art" from the cover to the end.......2007-07-20

Victoria Thompson is the author of numerous historical novels. Murder in Chinatown is part of her Gaslight Mystery series.

Sarah Brandt is a widow, an adoptive mother, a nurse/midwife and a part-time sleuth--much to Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy's dismay. That dismay makes for a nice, yet uneasy alliance between him and Brandt.

Brandt travels to Chinatown to deliver a baby. The neighborhood abounds with Irish women who entered the United States through Ellis Island, are alone and have married Chinese men.

While in Chinatown, 15-year-old Angel goes missing. She's half-Chinese and half-Irish. It appears she's wasn't willing to participate in an arranged marriage with a much older Chinese man and ran away. Brandt begins to help the family in their search for Angel and when Angel is found murdered, she brings Malloy into the case.

It's up to Malloy and Brandt to penetrate the private world of Chinatown to solve the murder and bring the murderer to justice. It's a delicate job that just might get Brandt or the people she cares about murdered.

This is my first mystery by Victoria Thompson and it won't be the last. While I'm not always fond of historical mysteries, I found fascinating the historical perspective of the police taking reward money from victim's families. I had no idea there was a population of New York Irish women who married Chinese men and had no idea of the issues they and their children faced.

The characters are believable, interesting and unique and the plot is compelling. I don't think I've ever mentioned a book cover in a review before, but Murder in Chinatown's cover is a work of art. People will pick up the book just because of the cover, and I suspect it will add to the author's sales.

Armchair Interviews says: Highly recommended.

Good research, so-so plotting.......2007-06-13

I guessed the business of the pigtails early on, so the plotting has to be average (I usually miss all the clues).

Not as good as Thompson's other books in this series.......2007-06-10

I loved the first three quarters of the book, it was well written, interesting & concise. After that though, I thought the dialog briefly turned into muddled script for an Abbott & Costello movie (think "Who's on First"). Thompson spends a lot of time developing her wonderful characters, historic details & setting the perfect atmosphere, yet somehow I think she could do a better job of obscuring the villain. I'm no Sherlock Holmes, but I've yet to be surprised by any of her resolutions.

Martin Yan's Chinatown Cooking: 200 Traditional Recipes from 11 Chinatowns Around the World

Average customer rating:

YAN CAN COOK!...AND HE CAN WRITE TOO!
Great Food, even 4Chinese
Yan's Chinatown Cooking
CHINATOWN FOOD AT HOME! GREAT IDEA!
One lousy cookbook

Martin Yan's Chinatown Cooking: 200 Traditional Recipes from 11 Chinatowns Around the World
Martin Yan
Manufacturer: William Morrow Cookbooks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0060084758
Release Date: 2002-10-22

Amazon.com

"The Chinatowns around the world are amazing communities," writes Martin Yan in his Chinatown Cooking, "filled with history, culture, friendship, and of course food." Naturally, in this companion book to his public television series, Yan focuses on the food--a rich stew from the world's Chinatowns, including, exotically, those in Singapore, Sydney, and Macao. The 200 recipes included reflect a profoundly rich food culture (or cultures, as Chinese cuisine is regionally diverse). Some dishes, like Steamed Whole Fish with Ginger and Green Onions and Sweet-and-Spicy Garlic Shrimp, are beloved classics; others, including Hawaiian Lu'Au Stew, mirror adjustments to local ingredients or tastes; while still others, such as Crispy Seafood and Mango Packets and Steamed King Prawns with Chinese Pesto, are the innovations of modern chefs. But old or new, the dishes are endlessly tempting, and, because of Yan's knowledgeable yet relaxed approach and the clarity of his recipes, completely manageable.

Covering dishes from dim sum, appetizers, and soups, to meat and seafood specialties, rice, noodles, and even desserts like Lucky Treasure Rice Pudding, the book also profiles the Chinatowns, noting their unique qualities (Yokohama's is host to 18 million tourists a year!) while also offering restaurant and dish recommendations (at Macau's Restaurante Chan Chi Mei, order the hanging fish hot pot). Yan also provides illuminating cultural asides such as those about Hakka cuisine or Singapore's Sam Sui women, who were pivotal in the construction of that country's Chinatown. But it's the dishes that make the book a treasure. The book also contains comprehensive food and technique glossaries and color photos throughout. --Arthur Boehm

Book Description

When it comes to Chinese cooking, no one has as much culinary talent and encyclopedic knowledge as Martin Yan. That talent and knowledge are presented here in Martin Yan's Chinatown Cooking, a companion volume to his new public television series.

Martin takes you on an unforgettable culinary journey through the gates of eleven Chinatowns around the world. Visit the streets, shops, homes, and restaurants you would never experience without Martin as your guide. From London to San Francisco to Yokohama, Martin introduces shopkeepers, chefs, and home cooks who, for the first time, share their cooking secrets. And as you travel the globe with Martin, you'll discover how Chinese food is different in Macau, Singapore, and Sydney.

Each of the eleven cities is featured along with a list of Martin's favorite restaurants and his favorite dishes and house specialties. Learn Martin's tips for ordering in Chinese restaurants and dim sum parlors. Discover how Chinese food and culture are inextricably linked, as Martin explains the significance of traditional festivals and their accompanying symbolic foods.

Martin Yan's Chinatown Cooking has stunning full-color photography throughout and recipes that make it easy for cooks to create more than two hundred dishes at home, from takeout favorites such as Kung Pao Chicken to restaurant classics such as Steamed Whole Fish with Ginger and Green Onions. Exotic-sounding recipes like Good Fortune Fish Chowder, Flower Drum Crab Baked in the Shell, and Double Harmony Meatballs in Sweet and Sour Sauce are made easy. Don't live near a Chinatown? Try your hand at making your own Roast Duck, Char Siu (barbecued pork), and Gin Doi (sweet sesame balls with duck). Martin makes the exotic familiar by offering tips on unfamiliar ingredients and specific techniques in combination with Chinatown history and culture.

Whether you end up cooking a dish at home or enjoying it in your nearest Chinatown neighborhood, Martin teaches you all you need to know about Chinese cuisine and culture. Travel with Martin Yan through a world of Chinatowns and satisfy your taste for adventure with Martin Yan's Chinatown Cooking.

Customer Reviews:

YAN CAN COOK!...AND HE CAN WRITE TOO!.......2005-02-01

I've been a fan of Martin yan's ever since seeing him on PBS some 15 years ago or so. Before Emeril came along Yan was one of the few TV cooks who tried to entertain as well as educate on cooking. I'm quite disappointed he's no long on the Food Network anymore as I just don't see him pop up on PBS that often but maybe I am just missing him.

I was able to pickup this book on the bargain Rack at the local Mediaplay for just a few bucks so it was well worth the price. Different than his other books, Martin takes on a guided world tour to various Chinatowns around the world including San Francisco, Sydney and Yokohama, complete with brief histories and Yan's recommendations on restaurants to visit in each chinatown.

The Recipes are grouped by course. Some of the recipes are pictured; all included a brief introduction, telling a bit about the recipe or hints to making the dish. The directions are easy to follow once you became acquainted with the ingredients. Any questions are easily solved by a trip to the Asian Market or a quick look at the Chinese Pantry section. The Chinese ingredients and many other less common ingredients in the recipes were covered in this Section.

The index, an important area of any cookbook, is great! If you want a duck recipe, look up duck. If you want an appetizer, you got it. Recipes can also be found under their name as well as various main ingredients. You would be able to find "Roast Duck Nachos", under any of these headings.

All in all, not only is this a good cookbook, but a good history into some of the world's finest chinatowns.

Great Food, even 4Chinese.......2004-05-04

I think Yan's book is great, the food is delicious. My granparents are from mainland China, my family & relatives are liig scattered around Asia, Australia and United States. I've been eating out since toddler (my parents are traders, no time to cook) in Indonesia, then 5 years in Australia (mainly eating Schezuan & Cantonese food in Chinatown), few months in Singapore; and I'm sure the taste of Yan's cooking is very close to the one I used to eat at restaurants. Yeah, boiled & steam fish are hard to cook (most untrained cook will end up with cooked but smelly fish, or plain taste). But, in restaurants, steamed fish are great tasted! I admit some recipes are hard to make due to extensive ingredients and difficult if u never taste/see the cooking method before. But, they are really rare & prestigius recipes (not many restos have them on the menu list)-- when they r cooked by professional chef, taste like heaven! So we can't judge it by the result of our cooking, better go to the restaurants first and eat it and then u try the recipe: is the taste similar or not.
IF ANYONE WISH TO THROW ANY COOKBOOKS, OR HAVE TOO MANY COOKBOOKS, JUST DONATE THEM 4 CHARITY IN INDONESIA. MY FRIENDS & I ORGANISE TO DONATE FOODSTUFFS TO ORPHANAGES/ELDERLY SHELTERS IN SOUTH KALIMANTAN. IF U R WILLING TO DONATE COOKBOOKS, PLS KINDLY DUMP THEM TO US: Mariane, PO Box 356, BJM 70000, SOUTH KALIMANTAN INDONESIA. Thanks 4 your generousity!

Yan's Chinatown Cooking.......2003-12-24

Martin Yan is a true pioneer in bringing Chinese cuisine to our living rooms via his TV shows, with his sense of humor, blazing knife skills, and a teaching style that makes him a real pleasure to watch. But Yan also is a prolific writer who has written 10 best selling cookbooks. With an easy-to-follow style, the books is a real treasure for anyone wanting to learn more about Chinese cuisine. And even if you're never been to a Chinatown, this book will help educate you into the many variations of this wonderfuol cuisine.

This cookbook contains 200 recipes from 11 Chinatown's throughout the world. Recipes are clearly written, and each step is numbered to make it easy to follow. Yan also clearly describes the size of each ingedient. As an example, "large eggs", "unsalted butter". As a result, the recipes produce the intended results with such clear instruction.

The beginning of each recipe includes a short paragraph that provides useful informaiton about the dish preperation, serving suggestions, or recipe variations. Although some recipes contain a large list of ingfredients, that shouldn;t deter you. Yan has done an excellent job of making each dish seem simple to make. And for those of you who are pressed for time, some can be made with just a few ingredients. The book also includes a unique recipe called Char Siu Quesidillas, that combines a Mexican recipe with a Chinese twist. And some recipes have been adapted by Yan for those readers like myself who may not live close to a Chinatown.

I also found the index to be quite helpful, with some dishes listed in multiple locations depending upon it's ingredients. As an example, a fish custard is listed both under eggs, as well as fish. The recipe names also are straightforward - I dislike recipes with names that tend to obscure the recipe's ingredients.

Who should buy this book? Anyone who wants to expand their culinary repjitoire and enhance their knowledge of Chinese cuisine. Yan has done a superb job of covering the many different stlyes of Chinese cooking that can be found in Chibatown. For novice cooks, a 10-page section covering equipment and techniques provide manyn helpful hints, But even more seasonedf cooks like myself found this secion useful. As a case in point, Yan talks about what to do when buying a clay pot. Now, I finally know how I am supposed to prepare the pot before using it - something the manufacturer and store never told me.

The book also includes related informaiton on Chinese culture and celebrations such as celebrating Chinese New Year. Yan talks about his personal memories as well as typical traditions, and how the food is a huge part of the celebration.

I also liked the section on "How to Order in a Chinese Restaurant," that include 11 helpful tips on making your next visit to a Chinese restaurant more enjoyable.

The book is richly illustrated with color photos that make me hungry just looking at it.

Still, I was disappointed that I didn't find some traditional American-Chinese favorites suchs as egg foo yung, and chicken chow mein, that while aren't considered authentic Chinese cooking, nevertheless are probaly some dishes that many of us are most familiar with. Nevertheless, the book is well worth it, and certainly expands one's culinary palette.

CHINATOWN FOOD AT HOME! GREAT IDEA!.......2003-06-04

This is a great cookbook. The recipes are simple, the execution is easy, and the food is yummy. Every recipe we tried did not disappoint. We have cooked clams, eggplant, and fish using recipes in this book, and they all turned out great. We have been to a couple of the Chinatowns from which Mr. Yan harvested these recipes, and when we cook this food, it is like a trip back...without having to buy a plane ticket. We have now stocked our kitchen with hoisin sauce, fish sauce, five spice chinese powder, and other tools and ingredients so we can be ready to cook Chinatown style! If you want fancy Chinese food for a big Chinese wedding, look elsewhere. If you want great tasting Chinese food that comes close to what you would get on Mott Street in NY, then give this book a try!

One lousy cookbook.......2003-03-20

What a disappointment. But I should have known. I have two other Martin Yan cookbooks and only the first one did I get something useful out of. This one I was hoping to be able to get some great recipes from because we love going to Chinatown in Boston and eating up a storm. Alas, the food we savor aren't anywhere in this cookbook. What's up with that? It's like the Chinese culture, the kinds of food often ordered by a host we're visiting are usually show dishes that have very little taste or substance but was ordered to show gratitude for the visit or to show off. Granted, we may be a simple Chinese family but I can't help but wonder why there are so many recipes in this cookbook that we would never order because it just doesn't taste very good. One example would be for fish. Either boil or deep fry it. Yuck! Where are the stir-fry recipes for fish, squid, lobster, shrimp? We have created stir-fry dishes for these and my Irish brother-in-law loves them all. There's one thing I learned: Yan can't cook, but he can sure entertain with his knives. My book went into the recycle bin by the curbside along with one other. The first one isn't far behind them. Bad Chinese food is NOT a tradition. I'll never buy another Yan cookbook.

Neon Dragon (Hardscrabble Books : Fiction of New England)

Average customer rating:

A wonderful debut
NEON DRAGON - picture cover
SHORT TO LONG
A fine legal thriller

Neon Dragon (Hardscrabble Books : Fiction of New England)
John Dobbyn
Manufacturer: University Press of New England
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Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 158465614X

Book Description

This explosive first novel by veteran short story mystery writer Dobbyn brings to life the legal detective team of Michael Knight and Lex Devlin, who have been featured in a dozen short stories in such magazines as Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine and Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. Amid the flash and din of Boston's raucous Chinese New Year's celebration an elderly man named Chen An-Yong is shot while watching the parade from his Tyler Street window. Anthony Bradley, the young son of an African-American judge is standing across the street at the time and is immediately arrested for the crime.

Michael Knight is a young lawyer who's going places, but even he is surprised when Judge Bradley asks him to defend his son in such a high profile and politically delicate case. Luckily, Knight finds he has powerful support when a senior partner at his firm, the legendary Lex Devlin, gets involved. Once the foremost criminal defense attorney in Boston, Devlin has mysteriously withdrawn from defense work in recent years. As Knight and Devlin investigate the incident and prepare their client's defense, the older lawyer's passion and ability come to the fore, forcing Knight to wonder about and delve into the murky allegations that eclipsed his mentor's career.

But before he can defend the young Bradley, Knight is forced to enter into the shadow world of gangland Chinatown, where Triads and Tongs rule through fear and intimidation. From the halls of Harvard to the streets of Chinatowns in Boston and Toronto, Knight doggedly pursues an investigation that involves drugs, prostitution, human trafficking and, ultimately, a corruption scandal that could bring down the most powerful people in Boston.

Customer Reviews:

A wonderful debut.......2007-07-09

First Sentence: Suppose you were to wake up one Monday morning to a promising, amber sun rising out of Boston Harbor.

Michael Knight is a young attorney in a very prestigious Boston law firm. Lex Devlin is a legendary attorney whose career was nearly ruined by rumor that he bought a juror. Now the two are working together to defend, and prove innocent, the son of an important Judge. The young man is accused of shooting a revered elderly man in Chinatown. In the investigation, Michael, with his college friend Harry, sees sides of Chinatown he didn't know existed and he may not survive the experience.

Gripping, exciting, suspenseful--over the top at times but boy, did it keep me turning the pages. There was good development of the main characters, wonderful wry humor and a chance to visit my favorite city of Boston and the drive to Canada. I can't ensure the accuracy of the legal scenes, but considering Dobbyn was a practicing lawyer and now a professor of law, I have to assume they are correct. They certainly aren't dull, as is nothing in this book. If you are looking for an exciting weekend read, this is it. I'll also admit I also loved that his inside cover picture is him, his wife and their dog.

NEON DRAGON - picture cover.......2007-03-22

My awesome sister-in-law TOOK the picture that is now the cover of this book! Also, she named her picture "neon dragon" BEFORE the book was ever written....HOW COOL IS THAT!!!!
Yes - she's very talented!!!!! Just thought I would share! Thought some of you might find this info interesting!

SHORT TO LONG.......2007-03-03

As a long time fan of Dobbyn's short stories in Ellery Queen, Hitchcock, et al,I read his first full length novel with eager anticipation.Neon Dragon did not disapppoint & in fact was a great read!
Fast paced with well placed sarcasm & wry humor, the story & characters pull one in & make it difficult to put down ala Patterson & Grisham.However, Dobbyn has a style uniquely his own. His scenes in & about Boston bring back images that I as a former Bostonian can really appreciate.
I look forward to his next novel.

C.F.DiSilva

A fine legal thriller .......2007-03-02

In Boston Michael Knight works as a third year associate attorney at Bilson, Dawes, Leftbridge & Sykes law firm. Thus he is shocked when African-American judge Amos Bradley, expected to be named to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court soon, asks him to represent his son Anthony, who is accused of killing sexagenarian Mr. Chen An-Young during a New Year's parade. The shooting has angered the Chinese-American community as Mr. Chen was a well respected grandfather.

Knight visits the incarcerated Anthony at the Suffolk County prison where he finds his client articulate and grateful. Anthony insists he is guilty of only agreeing to go with his friend Terry Blocher to attend the Chinese New Year gala. At the office, attorney Alexis "Lex" Devlin offers to help Michael with the case; Alexis was the top gun until a decade ago when a jury-tampering charge forced Lex into "hiding". The case looks hopeless on the surface, but with Knight following clues that take him into nasty neighborhoods, he believes he can prove his client's innocence that is if he stays alive long enough.

The protagonist knew nothing about government corruption or Chinese organized gangs in spite of being in the prosecutor's office for four years before he joined his current firm and grew up in the city. Knight is a terrific protagonist who, with his mentor, makes for a delightful Bostonian joy ride. The story line is fast-paced and includes some fun references to Beantown literary sleuths. However, it is the courtroom that makes this a fine legal thriller as fans of the sub-genre will enjoy the teaming of Michael and Lex.

Harriet Klausner

The Global Ethnopolis: Chinatown, Japantown and Manilatown in American Society

Average customer rating:

The Global Ethnopolis: Chinatown, Japantown and Manilatown in American Society
Michel S. Laguerre
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0312226128

Book Description

This book focuses on three ethnic neighborhoods in San Francisco--commoditized Chinatown, gentrified Japantown, and defunct Manilatown--and argues that the city is global because it comprises a multiplicity of global niches in its midst that interface with and sustain each other at the local level. According to Michel Laguerre, these enclaves are not simply transnational communities, but global ethnopoles. They must be seen within the logic of globalization and not simply that of transnationality.

Chinatown and the Last Detail: Two Screenplays

Average customer rating:

Credit Where It's Due
Robert Towne: Super Genius
THE modern screenplay
Pure genius
Pure genius

Chinatown and the Last Detail: Two Screenplays
Robert Towne
Manufacturer: Grove Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0802134017

Customer Reviews:

Credit Where It's Due.......2002-05-23

I haven't seen this book, but I assume that the script it contains for "Chinatown" conforms to the final cut of the film as released. If so, just be aware that the film wasn't really written by Robert Towne. Towne's screenplay was COMPLETELY redone by Roman Polanski, over Towne's very strong objections. Polanski, to his credit, has been pretty quiet about the subject. Towne, to his shame, has also. He continues to receive and accept credit for a script he never wrote. It's much more Polanski's movie than Towne's.

I'd love to see someone do an article on what went on between these two guys between the time Towne turned in his final draft and Polanski finished cutting the film. That would be much more instructive.

Robert Towne: Super Genius.......2002-03-19

I've long admired the films based on Robert Towne's scripts during the 1970s. These two lead the pack of the dark, cynical films produced during that period. Movies of a type I miss greatly now. But until reading this book I was never able to fully appreciate Towne's talent. From his revelatory introduction to the screenplays themselves, Robert Towne proves himself to be a talent of the highest order. My only regret is that I didn't learn of this book sooner so its influence on my own work would have already much sooner. If you have any appreciation for these films, you NEED to get this book.

THE modern screenplay.......2000-03-31

Robert Towne's CHINATOWN is the finest example of screenwriting in the last thirty years. Towne could have written this story as a novel about how modern Los Angeles was formed, but chose to do so in the medium of film. The result has the richness and depth of a great novel. Students everywhere study CHINATOWN to learn the craft of screenwriting and for inspiration. Towne's brilliantly funny, disturbing script of THE LAST DETAIL, based on the novel by Darryl Ponicsan, is a worthy companion piece.

Pure genius.......2000-03-30

Robert Towne is easily one of the best screenwriters whose words have ever graced the silver screen. In these two screenplays, Towne displays his mesmerizing talent by fusing all of the integral elements that make a film not only brilliant but fun as well. With his mixture of memorable and unique characters, cutting-edge dialogue and nuanced styles, Towne is able to craft films that play out in the mind as well as they do on the screen. In the mystery thriller "Chinatown" that starred Jack Nicholson, Towne takes us on a nostalgia trip to a thinly disguised water war in 1930s-era Los Angeles. The characters leap off the page as well as they did off the screen in the film. Towne's words build momentum, snowballing through the heavily stylized locales and situations to a climactic sequence. Even without the support of Nicholson, Faye Dunaway and John Huston the screenplay is extremely readable and enjoyable. "The Last Detail", also starring Nicholson in the film, tells the story of two Navy lifers who are assigned to transport a buffoonish young recruit cross-country where he will spend the next eight years imprisoned - and the wild "Odyssey"-inspired events that unfold when the two lifers attempt to show the young prisoner a good time before he goes under. Not as intricate as "Chinatown" but the dialogue here is way before it's time and would fit right in with even the more unconventional of 90s movies. The heartfelt emotion needs no musical score or fancy camera movements to show up, and Towne invokes all the feelings by simply putting words into a character's mouth. These films were released in the mid-70s and he won Oscars for both of them, and they have definately stood the test of time. Reading this volume is almost as fun as watching the films, and in these days of reckless abandonment when it comes to screenwriting and throwing formula and paradigm out the window - Towne makes it look all to easy, but his scripts are perfectly layered and unravel before our eyes both in the viewing of the films and in the reading of the scripts. This is a true testament to the fact that screenwriting, while often scoffed as the lowest form of writing, second only to television, is transcending itself as a true and beautiful art form.

Pure genius.......2000-03-30

Chinatown Family (Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the Americas)

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Chinatown Family (Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the Americas)
Yutang Lin , and Cheng Lok Chua
Manufacturer: Rutgers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0813539145

Book Description

Lin Yutang(1895-1976), author of more than thirty-five books, was arguably the most distinguished Chinese American writer of the twentieth century. In Chinatown Family, he brings humor and wisdom to issues of culture, race, and religion as he tells the engrossing and heart-warming story of an immigrant, working-class Chinese American family that settled in New York City during the 1930s and 1940s. Tracing their sometimes troubled and sometimes rewarding journey, Lin paints a vivid portrait of the wonder and the woe of settling into a new land. In an era when interracial marriages were frowned upon and it was forbidden for working-class Chinese men to bring their families to America, this story shows how one family struggled to become new Americans by applying their Taoist philosophy to peacefully resist discriminatory laws and the racism that they encountered.

Book Description

Contagious Divides charts the dynamic transformation of representations of Chinese immigrants from medical menace in the nineteenth century to model citizen in the mid-twentieth century. Examining the cultural politics of public health and Chinese immigration in San Francisco, this book looks at the history of racial formation in the U.S. by focusing on the development of public health bureaucracies.
Nayan Shah notes how the production of Chinese difference and white, heterosexual norms in public health policy affected social lives, politics, and cultural expression. Public health authorities depicted Chinese immigrants as filthy and diseased, as the carriers of such incurable afflictions as smallpox, syphilis, and bubonic plague. This resulted in the vociferous enforcement of sanitary regulations on the Chinese community. But the authorities did more than demon-ize the Chinese; they also marshaled civic resources that promoted sewer construction, vaccination programs, and public health management.
Shah shows how Chinese Americans responded to health regulations and allegations with persuasive political speeches, lawsuits, boycotts, violent protests, and poems. Chinese American activists drew upon public health strategies in their advocacy for health services and public housing. Adroitly employing discourses of race and health, these activists argued that Chinese Americans were worthy and deserving of sharing in the resources of American society.

Customer Reviews:

an intriguing blend of many diverse source texts.......2005-04-10

Even though the United States was still a young country during the nineteenth century - where Shah begins his interweaving of public health, race, and citizenship - a strong enough sense of identity had been established to create a milieu of xenophobia with regard to non-Western cultures. In setting up the perspective of the alien as Other and tracing its influences throughout the health crises of San Francisco into the twentieth century, Shah establishes viral contamination as metaphor for cultural contamination. The threat from invaders comes not merely from their different cultural practices but also from their very biology, conflating a social threat with a physical one. White culture became the normative body by which Chinese difference was articulated.

As viruses and other contagious diseases were just beginning to be studied scientifically, some of the advancements were applied for the improvement of individuals while other advancements were used for the improvement of the society around those individuals through suppression or quarantine. A study of the maps of San Francisco that Shah provides read almost like an anatomy diagram, showing the growing cell of the foreign invader in the body politic. Maintenance of a spatial boundary, in order to control disease, transformed into maintenance of a racial boundary.

Throughout the text, Shah presents a considerable amount of evidence from many disparate sources, showing the collusion - often conscious, but sometimes not - of scientific, economic, legal, and other forces. Initially, one of the most important of the media shaped the city's perception of its Chinese foreign nationals through its articles, particularly through its use of pseudo-scientific jargon and its likening of the Chinese to vermin, another icon of plague; this also dehumanized the Chinese population by relegating them to the border spaces of civilized (white, Western) society.

Shah engages in critical debate about dominant versus subordinate social class, using his sources to illuminate developments within both Chinatown and the rest of San Francisco. By the end of Shah's text, the processes of governance transform the alien into the citizen much like the medication that can control and cure a disease, and he wonders if the ways of cultural assimilation are so strong that, in many ways, they eradicate something essential in the original individual. The patient has been saved, but at what cost?

The First Suburban Chinatown: The Remaking of Monterey Park, California (Asian American History and Culture Series)

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The First Suburban Chinatown: The Remaking of Monterey Park, California (Asian American History and Culture Series)
Timothy P. Fong
Manufacturer: Temple University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1566392624

Book Description

Monterey Park, California, only eight miles east of downtown Los Angeles, was dubbed by the media as the "First Suburban Chinatown." The city was a predominantly white middle-class bedroom community in the 1970s when large numbers of Chinese immigrants transformed it into a bustling international boomtown. It is now the only city in the United States with a majority Asian American population. Timothy P. Fong examines the demographic, economic, social, and cultural changes taking place there, and the political reactions to the change.

Fong, a former journalist, reports on how pervasive anti-Asian sentiment fueled a series of initiatives intended to strengthen "community control," including a movement to make English the official language. Recounting the internal strife and the beginnings of recovery, Fong explores how race and ethnicity issues are used as political organizing tools and weapons.

The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril: A Novel
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Super Reader

Good, dirty fun

Too Jokey

Excellent

Nothing here to read

The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril: A Novel
Paul Malmont
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0743287851

Book Description

The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril is a thrilling debut novel that casts the rivalry between two of pulp fiction's most revered writers into its own saga, which bursts from the pages with blood, cruelty, fear, mystery, vengeance, courageous heroes, evil villains, dames in distress, secret identities, disguises, global schemes, hideous deaths, beautiful psychics, superweapons, cliff-hanging escapes, and other outrageous pulp lies that are all completely true.

Return to 1937, when America is turning to the pulps for relief from the Depression, and meet Walter Gibson, the mind behind The Shadow, and his rival for the top-selling spot on the nation's newsstands, Lester Dent, creator of Doc Savage. The murder of Gibson's friend H. P. Lovecraft -- victim of a mysterious death that literally makes the skin crawl -- is about to bring these two writers face to face with a peril sprung from the pulps.

The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril is at once a valentine to an old-fashioned genre as well as a modern, meta-literary examination of the classic hero pulp. From the palaces and battlefields of warlord-plagued China to the seedy waterfronts of Providence, Rhode Island; from frozen seas and cursed islands to the dizzying and labyrinthine alleys and tunnels of lower Manhattan, Dent and Gibson, joined by the young pulp writer L. Ron Hubbard and a host of colorful characters, finally step out from behind the shadows of their creations to take part in a heroic journey far greater than any story they have imagined as they race to stop a madman destined to create a new empire born of, and based in, pure, gaseous evil.

The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril is a swashbuckling romantic tale of writers and writing, magic and love, marriage and fatherhood, and ambition and loss that weaves the true lives of its real-life characters into a fictional epic.

Customer Reviews:

Super Reader.......2007-08-30

The death and funeral and reappearance of H. P. Lovecraft heralds an adventure for Walter Gibson, Lester Dent, and L. Ron Hubbard.

A Chinese warlord is involved, reminding Gibson of the Shadow, and plenty of cameos, most significantly by Doc Smith and Robert Heinlein, among others.

A decent book, although the Chinese political interludes certainly drag, at times. Certainly worth a look if you like hero pulp.

Good, dirty fun.......2007-07-31

I can't believe I waited so long to read the book... by now I could have read it twice! Curses! This book is highly entertaining. I admire Malmont's ability to craft a complex plot and switch among character viewpoints in a way that strengthens the moody atmosphere. And what characters--from the flick of cigarette to yearning for fatherhood, I found them rich in their thought and actions; resonant with just the right amount of glamour.

I was particularly drawn in by the movement of the plot from New York to Providence and back, as I happen to split my time between the two cities (for now). Anyone who loves New York City's history will find the descriptions in the work fascinating.

Too Jokey.......2007-05-21

An art-less Kavalier & Klay-style take on the masters of Pulp. Good detail, but too many wisecracks that fall flat. The best part of the book is the villian's backstory which is played straight. And it's hard to root for the character of Kenneth Robeson as the Doc Savage books I recall reading had dreadful racial problems.

Excellent.......2007-05-17

Picked this up on the recommendation from [..] as their best book of 2006. It's easy to see why they liked it so much. There's a lot to enjoy here. Very entertaining pulp homage that reads like a page-turner. Will look forward to more by this author. Recommended.

Nothing here to read.......2007-04-22

I bought this book for two reasons: I wanted to get more familiar with the whole pulp culture and the reviews here gave the idea that the plot was experimental in a kind of fun way.

What I found was no true characters at all, no memorable situations, no exciting action, no beautiful or unique places, nothing funny, very little of the stylish 30s/40s things I expected from it, very little anything.

Of course there were the recurrent pulp references, but the pulp never got a proper foothold either. Almost as if the writer was in a limbo between making it a slice-of life piece for pulp author fanboys/girls, a homage to pulp, Zhang Mei's life story and actual pulp action. Neither really worked in my opinion.

A few pieces I liked were in the start when he described a smokey bar where the mysterious pulp authors gathered and where Walter Gibson told the story of the Sweet Flower Wars in the Chinatown, his description of H.P. Lovecraft's personal life and when they were making plans of what a The Shadow movie should look like... But moments like that were seriously really rare.

I may have missed the point somehow but I seriously couldn't read it for more than 20 pages at a time without putting it down. If you absolutely have to get it, at least get the paperback.

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