Publisher: Algonquin Books
Publication Date: April 2013
Categories: Literary, Historical, Taiwan
Description:
In the middle of a terrifying air raid in Japanese-occupied Taiwan, Saburo, the least-favored son of a Taiwanese politician, runs through a peach forest for cover. It’s there that he stumbles upon Yoshiko, whose descriptions of her loving family are to Saburo like a glimpse of paradise. Meeting her is a moment he will remember forever, and for years he will try to find her again. When he finally does, she is by the side of his oldest brother and greatest rival.
Set in a tumultuous and violent period of Taiwanese history—as the Chinese Nationalist Army lays claim to the island and one autocracy replaces another—and the fast-changing American West of the late 1950s and early 1960s, The Third Son is a richly textured story of lives governed by the inheritance of family and the legacy of culture, and of a young man determined to free himself from both.
In Saburo, debut author Julie Wu has created an extraordinary character who is determined to fight for everything he needs and wants, from food to education to his first love. A sparkling and moving story, it will have readers cheering for a young boy with his head in the clouds who, against all odds, finds himself on the frontier of America’s space program.
My Thoughts:
Once I started reading
The Third Son I couldn’t stop. When I absolutely
had to get up I found myself walking and reading at the same time.
This book contained some of my favorite things to read about; a bit of politics, a lot of Asian culture, and a historical setting. Win, win, win! It was also a quick read, which is surprising when you consider the heavy subject matter.
Saburo is a wonderful protagonist with a convincing voice. There are few people that treat him well. He is constantly hungry as the best rations go to his older brothers. He is often bruised from being beaten with a stick of bamboo. But there is a small voice of optimism inside of Saburo that keeps him going.
My favorite scenes in this novel are when Saburo arrives in America for the first time. He is intelligent and curious and it was delightful to read these scenes in which his naivete and innocence come to the fore.
If I had one problem it was with the secondary characters that can come across as one dimensional. The destructive actions of some of Saburo’s family members are hard to understand and seem to be purely evil. On the other hand, some of those characters sure are fun to hate!
I absolutely recommend The Third Son. Wholeheartedly.
After graduating from Harvard with a BA in literature, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, Julie Wu received an MD at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. She has received a writing grant from the Vermont Studio Center and is the recipient of a 2012 Massachusetts Cultural Council fellowship.
The Relentless Reader 