May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and for today’s Book Club Spotlight, we are revisiting a previously featured author who wrote one of my favorite books from last year, The Samurai’s Garden. Chinese-Japanese American author Gail Tsukiyama, known for introspective historical fiction highlighting her dual ancestral ties, has been recognized as an influential writer and humanitarian across the globe. She was a featured author at the Library of Congress’ first National Book Festival in 2001, a guest speaker at literary and writers’ festivals in Hong Kong, Sydney, Toronto and Vancouver, and she is the current Executive Director at the non-profit Waterbridge Outreach. Tsukiyama’s 2013 novel, A Hundred Flowers, takes a personal look at the impact the Chinese Cultural Revolution and the Hundred Flowers Campaign had on ordinary families.
“Let a hundred flowers bloom; let a hundred schools of thought contend” – Mao Zedong, 1956.
There are many reasons why Tao may have chosen to climb the great kapok tree. It could have been a rush of youthful rebellion that led him to scale up its branches in the early morning light. Or maybe he went in search of the seeds and bark his mother used when making traditional medicine for their neighbors. In truth, Tao climbed the tall tree in his family’s courtyard in hopes of spying White Cloud Mountain off in the distance. If only he could see White Cloud Mountain, his father would return home. Kai Ying’s husband had been gone for a year when Tao decided to climb the kapok tree. Policemen had taken Sheng, like all political dissidents, far away to a labor camp when Mao’s “Hundred Flowers” campaign turned on the intellectuals it previously encouraged. When Tao climbed the kapok tree, Wei harbored a secret that he feared he could never share, giving all his energy and time to his grandson in an act of atonement and love. It is only after Tao falls out of the kapok tree, does a new life begin for the small family.
“But he also remembered the beauty and intellectual curiosity of a country that could have easily caught up with the rest of the world, if she weren’t always being dragged backward.”
– Gail Tsukiyama
Like Tsukiyama’s other works, A Hundred Flowers, is a quiet and introspective novel detailing personal relationships between the family of your birth, and the one that you have chosen along the way. With no strong words or action, A Hundred Flowers is a great read for anyone who is looking for a thoughtful novel to discuss with their Book Club Group. In her signature beautiful and easy flowing prose Tsukiyama uses the backdrop of a beloved country under an intellectually-repressive regime to allow the reader a look into the past in order to learn more about themselves and how it can relate to us today. With a strong belief in the power of historical fiction to engage readers with new ideas and places, Tsukiyama leads her readers to countries beyond their own, in hopes of finding a greater understanding of ourselves as a human race.
“I’m always equally surprised at how the environment of fear can bring out the best and the worst in humanity. But ultimately, it’s the resilience of the human spirit during turbulent times that always remains the most inspiring thing for me.”
– Gail Tsukiyama [x]
If you’re interested in requesting A Hundred Flowers for your book club, you can find the Request Form here. There are 8 copies. (A librarian must request items)
Tsukiyama, Gail. A Hundred Flowers. St. Martin’s Griffin. 2013.
