Weekend Reading

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See

This book was mentioned in another book that I read (On the Curry Trail), last year,  I requested it through the library soon after that, but, put it aside over the holiday season and renewed it twice before I sat down to read it, this weekend.

The story is about a girl, Li-yan, from the Akha people, one of the many ethnic groups in Asia, including China.  She and her family live in a remote mountain village in the Yunnan Province in China, steeped in their ancestral traditions and the tea they grow and produce.  The year is 1988, but, the modern world has not encroached on them, until, one day, a stranger arrives in a jeep, the first automobile any of the villagers have seen.  The stranger is in search of a type of tea called Pu'er tea.  The book follows the story of Li-yan as she becomes one of the first persons from her village to get an education and makes a life for herself, outside her village and yet, bound to it at the same time.  She has a baby out of wedlock with a boy her family disapproves of and Li-yan rejects the traditional customs of her people, which would not have allowed the baby to live, and gives up her baby girl to be adopted.  Some things are rather predictable, as Li-yan longs for the daughter she gave up for adoption (she does go back to the orphanage to reclaim her, but, it was too late, the baby had been adopted by an American couple) and the adopted girl, growing up in California, wonders about her birth mother.  But, there were many interesting twists and turns to the story, too, which kept it from being too predictable.  There is a happy ending, of course.  

I enjoyed reading this book.  I learned a little bit about the Akha people and their traditions and how the changes brought about by modernization can both improve and destroy a more sustainable way of life.  An increased demand for their tea brought more income and electricity, running water, motorcycles, etc.  But, at the same time, that same high demand for tea brought about more quality control requirements, which led to the villagers getting rid of their livestock and it became easier to buy produce than grow it themselves, etc.

One of my favorite chapters of the book was when a group of the adopted girls, now in their teens, were in a group session with a counselor and were talking about their experiences, parental expectations, especially when it came to academics and music, stereotyping, etc.  It was as if I was listening to my daughter and her group of Asian friends (none of whom are adopted, but, all are children of first generation immigrants, all subjected to high academic expectations by their parents, all expected to play at least one musical instrument) talking!  I recommended the book to my daughter, without telling her too much about the story; if she reads it, I know she will nod her head in agreement when she gets to that section of the book!

I now have to finish reading my other library book, the one about decluttering!   I'm about half way through with that!  Both book are due on the 16th!  

Have you read The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane?  If so, did you like it?  If not, is it something you might want to read?