How Much of these Hills is Gold Book Review
I picked up this book on a recommendation because the authoress’s next book, The Land of Milk and Honey intrigued me and I like to see the evolution of authors I read. This was Ms. Zhang’s first book and I believe “Lush” is the best descriptor I have of it. Lush in its descriptions, Lush in its interweaving story lines, Lush in how the authoress waxes poetry.
The first half, or perhaps first third, of the novel is told in this dream like state. Lucid dreaming, where you are awake, but you know not everything is to be true. Its not an unreliable narrator instance, but rather what you get when you ask a 10 or 11 year old to write down their thoughts and what they see, feel, hear. Its more a stream of consciousness with metaphors and other alliterary devices mixed up with reality. This part of the novel deals with 2 kids dealing with the death of their father and having to bury him the right way.
The other parts of the book are much more straightforward. There is a flashback scene to when their mother was still alive, when they still had happiness and their family unit was still cohesive. We have another part of the book where we see the kids all grown up, each having gone their own ways after the death of their parents, and then yet another part, of the dead father telling his version of the same events. You’re not sure who he’s telling it to, even though he calls his daughter’s name aloud, you feel it must be speaking to the ether.
And then finally the last part, when the kids reunite and they want to fulfill one of their mother’s dream of going back from whence she came. There is no happy ending to the book, but neither is it a sad one.
The book is beautifully written, and once upon a time, I would have gushed about how it was written. Its still beautifully written, but I think some of the lushness must have fallen flat on me. Perhaps its because the lushness disappears once the kids grow up and the description becomes more concrete, as wonder disappears as age appears.
There’s also quite a bit of sprinkling of pinyin throughout the book, and I think this part I wish the authoress would have just used chinese characters. She gives no translations to the pinyin, and I think it’d have been equally as well served to have just put chinese characters there. Pinyin does pronunciation no justice, and the chinese characters would have given more of a foreign feel.
I’d say read this book if you’re into mental imagery thats as pretty as the california sunsets. do not go into it looking for a satisfying read becuase there is none. It reminds me a lot of the sound and the fury, in that you come away with a sense of futileness, yet are spent of rage from that same futile feeling. And yet you still regret having finished the book.
It fully deserves its prize, and I don’t feel the worse for having read it.