Water Ghosts--Shawna Yang Ryan (Book Review)

I don't like ghost stories. So, what was I doing reading a book called Water Ghosts? I blame Shawna Yang Ryan and Twitter.

First of all, @Penguinpress offered out a few review copies on Twitter. When I checked into the title, I found that Ryan, a Taiwanese American, had set the story in 1928 in Locke, California, the only U.S. city built entirely by and for Chinese immigrants. And me with my Diversity challenge! Plus, I'm a sucker for small towns and their histories: the nearly-forgotten stories, the houses that are named for people long gone (just, not so much the haunted ones).

Actually, the ghost part wasn't too "whooooooooooo" for me. Water ghosts are a part of Chinese folklore, so that aspect tied together really well with the way so many of the characters cut themselves off from their homes and families in order to seek out a new life.

And now (she says with a flourish of her magic handkerchief), I shall take Water Ghosts through the five questions from Mitali Perkin's article, as assigned by me on Diversity Roll Call (be sure to check out the other posts on this topic, they're fascinating!).

1. Are the nonwhite characters too good to be true?
The white characters and the Chinese characters are equally flawed. You've got your brothel run by a Chinese psychic woman with white prostititutes. You've got your your imperfect (Chinese) preacher with his imperfect (white) wife and their imperfect (both) daughter. And your Chinese creepy-women who smell bad and leave weird white dust behind them wherever they go.

2. How and why does the author define race?
Interesting question. It's a Chinese-built town, and the ties to China are crucial to the plot. But what about the caucasian characters? Would it be the same novel if everyone was Chinese? I think it would work either way. The inter-relations between the two groups make for a more complex story, though, and the presence of Chloe, a white prostitute, makes the theme of disconnection from one's roots more global, rather than just a statement about the roots of Chinese American cultures. Chloe's family is close enough for her to run into her brother in a movie theater, and yet they are strangers.

3. Is the cover art true to the story?
Yes, it's spooky and ethereal, and has some chinese characters or something? (My version doesn't have the red ink). There aren't any people in it.

4. Who solves the problems in the story?
I don't think I can answer this without giving away too much of the story, but it's definitely not a case of white people swooping in and solving the Chinese immigrants' problems. The people who do swoop do more shaking things up than solving problems.

5. How is beauty defined?
I'm sure there are places where the characters are described, but at the moment I can't find them! And yet, I could picture each of them perfectly. Here's a description of Richard, through former-lover Poppy's eyes--never does she refer to his looks, and yet (in the context of knowing he's a 38-year-old Chinese man in 1928), can't you just see him?: "Scents spin off his body, so strong they are almost visible to her--the slick, wax smell of Bryllcream in his hair; the sweat coming through his suit; body scent, unrelieved by soap and cologne, that lingers behind his ears and in the lines of his throat." Have I mentioned the writing is beautiful? It is.

The Soundtrack: The Chinese Blues was written in 1915, but to me this ragtime song sounds like exactly what you'd hear coming out of Richard's gambling hall, The Lucky Fortune. [Edit. 6/3/09: For more songs related to Water Ghosts, see the playlist Shawna Ryan created for music blog Largehearted Boy.]

The Rules for Hearts--Sara Ryan (book review)

The Rules for Hearts is Sara Ryan's second novel, and the second to be nominated for an Oregon Book Award. Her first, Empress of the World, won the Leslie Bradshaw Award for Young Adult Literature.

In The Rules for Hearts, Battle Davies moves to Portland, Oregon, to spend a summer with the older brother who ran away from home four years ago. Battle works to rebuild her relationship with her brother and find a place among his housemates as she waits to begin the next phase of her life, in college.

I never got around to reading Ryan's first book, which turned out to be a mistake. I was mystified by repeated references to a girl from Battle's past named Nicola. I kept waiting for a big revelation to explain Nicola's continued presence--was there a traumatic event involving her? Would she appear halfway through the book to liven things up? The big revelation didn't come until I'd finished the book and began seeking out other reviews before writing my own: Nicola is the main character from Empress of the World. Ah. So, her presence is the thread that ties the second book to the first. Unfortunately, it's a loose thread that, while perhaps meaningful to loyal readers and the author, was more of a distraction for this reader.


One of the main conflicts in the story is Battle's desire to spend more time with her brother, who seems to be avoiding her. Interestingly, I found myself as a reader having the same problem as Battle was--not quite enough time with that brother. His presence is so elusive that at first he appears to be merely the author's mechanism for getting Battle to Portland and into a house she doesn't quite fit into. I would have liked a little more brother backstory (perhaps instead of the Nicola backstory?), so I could understand what brought him to the place he is, and get hit hard by his shortcomings right along with Battle.

What makes this book stand out? The fact that both the brother and Battle are attracted to people of their own gender, and that this is not the main focus of the story. I decided to review this book during Banned Book Week because I'm sure plenty of people would prefer that their teens not read a book where the protagonist is comfortable with the fact that she's into girls. I wonder if the book is being purchased by school libraries, and if so, will it be challenged in the future despite the fact that the sexual content is limited to kissing and vague implication?

For more information about Sara Ryan, you may visit her blog at http://sararyan.com/. The Rules for Hearts also has its own website, http://therulesforhearts.com/.

The soundtrack: The characters in Rules for Hearts are in the cast of the play, A Midsummer Night's Dream. So I decided to go with Al Petteway's "Midsummer Moon." I'm not sure it's Battle's style, but I'm pretty sure Kenny Rogers' "The Gambler" or Juice Newton's "The Queen of Hearts" aren't, either.