Lisa See

The story of a Chinese mother and her daughter, who has been adopted by an American couple, tracing the very different cultural factors that compel them to consume a rare native tea that has shaped their family's destiny for generations.

a novel

The tea girl of Hummingbird Lane

A thrilling new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa See explores the lives of a Chinese mother and her daughter who has been adopted by an American couple. Li-yan and her family align their lives around the seasons and the farming of tea. There is ritual and routine, and it has been ever thus for generations. Then one day a jeep appears at the village gate—the first automobile any of them have seen—and a stranger arrives. In this remote Yunnan village, the stranger finds the rare tea he has been seeking and a reticent Akha people. In her biggest seller, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, See introduced the Yao people to her readers. Here she shares the customs of another Chinese ethnic minority, the Akha, whose world will soon change. Li-yan, one of the few educated girls on her mountain, translates for the stranger and is among the first to reject the rules that have shaped her existence. When she has a baby outside of wedlock, rather than stand by tradition, she wraps her daughter in a blanket, with a tea cake hidden in her swaddling, and abandons her in the nearest city. After mother and daughter have gone their separate ways, Li-yan slowly emerges from the security and insularity of her village to encounter modern life while Haley grows up a privileged and well-loved California girl. Despite Haley’s happy home life, she wonders about her origins; and Li-yan longs for her lost daughter. They both search for and find answers in the tea that has shaped their family’s destiny for generations. A powerful story about a family, separated by circumstances, culture, and distance, Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane paints an unforgettable portrait of a little known region and its people and celebrates the bond that connects mothers and daughters.

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane

steph

A weak man always seeks to hurt those lower than he is...

felt that complex mother-daughter relationship. mother brings you pain but you want to grip the fabric of her dress even tighter - bury your face in it, seek comfort

She clicks her tongue to show her impatience and bats me away with the back of her hand. I am so confused...I long to bury my face I'm her skirt.

Nothing so untoward should be spoken directly.

Realising this for the first time as a child myself, was also jarring.

I'm not sure what's more troublesome—that A-ma can't see everything inside my head as I always thought she could or that I've gotten away with my fabrications.

Mae Erceg

The plot of this book was just wonderful. So many amazing qualities: the world building, the characters’ developments, the symbolism, and I now have a newfound appreciation for tea! 5 out of 5 stars, wonderful wonderful book. Would 100% recommend.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa See, “one of those special writers capable of delivering both poetry and plot” (The New York Times Book Review), a moving novel about tradition, tea farming, and the bonds between mothers and daughters. In their remote mountain village, Li-yan and her family align their lives around the seasons and the farming of tea. For the Akha people, ensconced in ritual and routine, life goes on as it has for generations—until a stranger appears at the village gate in a jeep, the first automobile any of the villagers has ever seen. The stranger’s arrival marks the first entrance of the modern world in the lives of the Akha people. Slowly, Li-yan, one of the few educated girls on her mountain, begins to reject the customs that shaped her early life. When she has a baby out of wedlock—conceived with a man her parents consider a poor choice—she rejects the tradition that would compel her to give the child over to be killed, and instead leaves her, wrapped in a blanket with a tea cake tucked in its folds, near an orphanage in a nearby city. As Li-yan comes into herself, leaving her insular village for an education, a business, and city life, her daughter, Haley, is raised in California by loving adoptive parents. Despite her privileged childhood, Haley wonders about her origins. Across the ocean Li-yan longs for her lost daughter. Over the course of years, each searches for meaning in the study of Pu’er, the tea that has shaped their family’s destiny for centuries. A powerful story about circumstances, culture, and distance, The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane paints an unforgettable portrait of a little known region and its people and celebrates the bond of family.

A Novel

Colleen

4.5 Stars


  



This review contains some spoilers.

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane is a detailed and culturally rich story of a young girl growing up in rural China through a time great change. Li-yan breaks village taboo by getting pregnant out of wedlock which changes the course of her entire life. 

It’s a sad and depressing story yet moving and beautiful. Although honestly, the start of the story had me worried that this would be like Tess of the D'Urbervilles set in China. But it is worth sticking with the story despite the gloomy start. It’s thoroughly researched and beautifully written. But I have to include a warning that the story includes infanticide as well as some tough subjects.

“It's said that great sorrow is no more than a reflection of one's capacity for great joy. I see it from the opposite direction. I'm happy, but there's an empty space inside me that will never stop suffering from the loss of Yan-yeh.”
This is a character driven story with a slow plot. The story spans from 1988 to 2016 and follows Li-yan and her family. It examines cultural identity. It compares old traditions with new values and the unavoidable ways that life changes. Most poignantly, the story explores the strength of a mother / daughter bond.

“Suffering has brought clarity into my life. Maybe the things that have happened to me are punishment for what I did in a previous life, maybe they were fate or destiny, and maybe they're all just part of a natural cycle - like the short but spectacular lives of cherry blossoms in spring or leaves falling away in autumn.” 
The only problem I had with the story was that the ending was so abrupt. After such a slow buildup, I felt robbed of that last emotional scene. It really could have used an epilogue at the very least. That is the main reason this is not a full five stars for me. (view spoiler)[I also have to admit that although I was happy with the way things worked out, in some ways it seemed too happy of an ending and too serendipitous. It was definitely emotionally satisfying, but at the same time, the swing from misery to elation bordered on farfetched. (hide spoiler)] But it is still a beautiful, well-written story. I would definitely recommend it to people who enjoy character driven historical fiction. 


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 4 Stars
Writing Style: 5 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 5 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 4 Stars
Level of Captivation: 5 Stars
Originality: 5 Stars

Sara

3.75

I continue to live in awe of Lisa See's ability to create such hard-hitting and raw worlds through her beautiful prose and writing. This is my second book by See (I read The Island of Sea Woman this past summer and it instantly became a new favorite) and I was so excited to embark on this journey because it centered around one of my favorite things: tea! I've discovered that I am a sucker for historical fiction that focuses on ethnic minority groups through the lens of a multi-generational female family line, so this novel seemed to be the perfect fit for me. 

In regards to the plot, I got exactly what I wanted. The Tea Girl is an exceptionally written novel that delves into the cultural and animistic practices of the Akha people and the lives of mountain-dwelling tea cultivators. Li-yan is a remarkably strong woman and it was a gift to see her grow up, make mistakes, and learn to move on from them. Additionally, every single in-depth discussion of the process of making Pu'er tea was incredibly detailed and (for a tea lover like myself) the perfect addition to a novel already jam-packed with historical and cultural information.

The reason why this book is only a 3.75 stars when See's other book is a 5 comes down to the writing. The pacing of the novel was incredibly fast. I don't mind fast pacing or shorter sentences, but everything felt very rushed, and I kept feeling like I wanted more time to sit with the events to process them as they occur. Additionally, each time jump we experienced took us very far into the future, skipping forward in time anywhere from 3-8 years. This also made the fast-paced writing seem to fly by, but not in a way I liked. This novel is full of heartbreaking and intense scenes of grief, loss, love, pain, guilt, and culture described in beautiful and intricately constructed prose. I feel that a slower pacing would have greatly benefitted this book and would have truly made it a 5 star read, since every other aspect of the novel was amazing.

Overall, I'm very happy that I decided to pick this book up. Lisa See is quickly becoming one of my favorite writers and i'm very excited to pick up another book by her!

Nadine 

I had high hopes for the book in the beginning as it was very reminiscent of Pearl Buck. BUT, this is written for another time and age and type of reader. Ones who like things tidied up at the end and things to be sad and tragic but not too much. And how convenient that love and extreme wealth are matched so well and the good-for-nothing drug addict first passion husband is killed and gotten rid of near the beginning so that he can't come back and haunt / spoil things. 
And all these extremely wealthy people seem to have got the "four hour work week" down pat so they have plenty of time to indulge other interests and passions. 
Sorry, good escapism, and a nice light "neat" and tidy book but not one I'll put amongst the great classics.

Arden Kowalski

This should really be 4.5 stars. Lisa See is a brilliant author and I want to read all of her work.

Tiffany Robinson

For me this book dragged on and I could never get into it.

Jennifer

I'm a tea enthusiast and I have a soft spot with pu'er tea, and this is what prompted me to pick up this novel. It's a fascinating novel coming from the perspective of an ethnic minority and her trail of understanding the tea culture from her upbringing. It cleverly intertwines between her long lost birth daughter who's also on searching her cultural identity. So if there's something that stands out, it's definitely the vividness and the vantage point of the storytelling. In particular, I felt pretty emotional reading about brief snapshots of Haley's life - so at an emotional level, this book did a pretty decent job.

Despite the storytelling and the emotional narratives, I felt like the romance section didn't entirely work for me and I also found myself feeling a bit disconnected from Li-Yan's narrative around halfway through the novel. I think Haley's narrative is more solid so I would had loved that there's more fleshed out there. I do love how everything clicked in the final part of the novel but I felt like if there were more Hayley narratives inserted in between, the jump between Li-Yan's and Hayley's POV's would be more seamless.

Nevertheless, I found this a pretty smooth and pleasant read. (there are a few triggers to be aware of but they're minor: violence, and death). I love the storytelling and I also enjoy how I was able to connect to Haley at an emotional level. The main reason I didn't give it a 4 star is because of the romance and minor disconnect in Li-Yan's narrative in the transitional years - but I feel like this is just my personal preference where I'd usually read books which is less heavily focused on romance.

In the bottom line: if you like a sentimental read with a unique perspective & strong storytelling, then this book is for you. So grab some hot tea and get ready to get emotional over it!

(3.5 stars out of 5)

Judy Hudgins

Just didn't 'grab' me and I really wanted it too. But too many other books in the queue to keep trying.

Krista Kirby

I feel like the ending was a little too abrupt, which is why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5, but overall this was an amazing book!

Jessica Smith

2.5 stars. Honestly I was going to rate this three stars, but then the story just abruptly ended when my Kindle said I was 86% done, and I felt SO RELIEVED that I realised this probably wasn't a three-star book for me, unfortunately.

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane starts in rural China in the early 1990s, following a young girl, Li-yan, who belongs to the Akha ethnic minority. Her early life is thoroughly miserable, with her elders reminding her constantly that she's a worthless, unwanted nuisance because she's female, and her mother exasperated and frustrated because she can't even get on board with the ritual murder of babies she'll be required to perform if she's to succeed her as a midwife. In her adolescence, she's supposed to be concentrating on school because her teacher thinks she could be the first person from her village – or even from the general area – to ever make it to university. However, she gets distracted when a tea merchant from Hong Kong arrives in her village, seeking out a particularly exquisite brew from the area. She helps him out, translating for her non-Mandarin-speaking village and even providing extra-special tea leaves from a super-secret grove that her mother tells her not to pluck for this man. She also gets distracted from school by a boy in her class, San-pa, on whom she has a crush and who she manages to get pregnant with before he leaves to look for work in Thailand.

She can't raise a baby out of wedlock – only a few years earlier, her mum would have made her sacrifice it in a ritual baby murder – so she surrenders it to an orphanage in a nearby, bigger town. That baby goes on to be adopted by a white American couple and raised in Los Angeles, under the name of Haley. As for Li-yan, things with San-pa don't work out, but she does become a highly successful businesswoman in the tea industry, and ends up moving out to Los Angeles herself.

There are some good things about this book, so don't let my lack of enthusiasm discourage you if you think this book is a great fit for your interests. My own favourite aspect was probably how it depicted the rapid changes in rural China between about 1990 and 2010. Li-yan goes from spending her childhood in abject poverty to being able to make webcam calls over her laptop when she visits her village, as one example. It's the kind of thing where like, sure you could read a Wikipedia article or something about China's economic growth, but reading concrete examples of how people's lives have changed, even in fictional form like this, helps to drive it home.

But unfortunately, there were also parts of this book that I found kind of displeasing, for lack of a better word, and the good things about this book just weren't enough to overcome that. Clearly I found the murder of babies really distasteful (I know there are reasons why small human societies faced with overwhelming, harsh scarcity had such practices, but it doesn't mean I'm chomping at the bit to read visceral accounts of it!), and the vehement hatred of women and girls shown by the village elders in the early part of the book was pretty tough to stomach, too. Then later on, the book acquires a very different problem of existing in a world where everyone is a multi-millionaire with multi-millionaire concerns. There was a romance that just didn't have enough meat on it to be enticing, and even the central plotline – Li-yan's separation from her biological daughter, and their attempts to find each other – just felt underwhelming. The last chapter randomly being from Haley's perspective also felt befuddling, and I had no real sense that the book was winding its way to its ending earlier than like, one page before that end.

Overall, I felt like the other Lisa See book I read recently, The Island of Sea Women, was just a lot better, even though I wasn't in the right frame of mind to read it when I did. The story was tighter, and the historical detail (or… information about tea, in this case) struck me as more interesting. I'm not trying to say this was a bad book though, just one I personally didn't find the most enjoyable.

Dani C

Phenomenal. A must read for those interested in Chinese culture, tea lovers, and most importantly adoptive parents. This may be a work of fiction but See not only did her homework, she cut to the quick of many tensions and hard topics that need addressing in the adoption community. 
Story wise, you get sucked in, plain and simple. It's impossible not to picture yourself standing alongside the characters as you move through the story, impossible for mothers to not relate to each mother in the novel in one way or another, and impossible not to become a little enchanted with Pu'er yourself by the end of the book.

Ana Couto

One of the best books I read this year! It held my full attention from start to finish — a literary masterpiece!

The tea girl of Hummingbird Lane a novel

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