Name: Women of the Silk
Rating: 3.5 (5 reviews)
ISBN: 9780312099435

Gail Tsukiyama

Sent by her family to work in a silk factory just prior to World War II, young Pei grows to womanhood, working fifteen-hour days and sending her pay to the family who abandoned her

A Novel

Women of the Silk

altlovesbooks

As other reviewers have noted, this is one of the author's first books and it shows. I've read other books by her and mostly enjoyed them, but this one felt flat in many ways and was really not a compelling read. 

Pei is born to a poor family, who ends up sending her off to work in a silk factory just to make ends meet. Pei meets her fellow sisters who all work and live at this silk factory, and is shown the ropes by Lin, one of the other workers. Interspersed with Pei learning the job are other chapters featuring other key characters in the story and their backstories and motivations, but by and large the story revolves around Pei and Lin.

I found the characters in this book flat in the extreme, and sort of caricatures in their own right. Pei doesn't feel like she has a spine or a personality, and instead clings to the people around her and seems to be upset whenever anyone leaves to move on to better things. Lin is the strong, capable, tragic figure who turned down a life in luxury to work at this silk factory. Auntie Yee saves these poor children. The owner of the factory is an evil man who exploits these poor women. There wasn't a lot of nuance or character growth to speak of, and that grated on me. There also wasn't a lot really going on at any point in the book. The blurb on the cover emphasizes the factory strike, but that came so late in the book and was over so quickly that I was incredibly disappointed and unsatisfied. 

Just a bland book. I thought The Street of a Thousand Blossoms was a better read.

Women of the Silk A Novel

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