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Wednesday, October 12, 2011

The Foremost Good Fortune



The Foremost Good Fortune by Susan Conley


The foremost good fortune
Laowai
pole position

Anish Kapoor in China.

I am reading running away to home where author Jennifer Wilson with her family goes to her Croatian ancestral village to find her roots. I picked this 'The Foremost Good Fortune' book by Susan so I could compare.

Language is a big impediment in the new country in communicating yourself. Both families get care packages from grandparents back home for the displaced grandkids.



Puer tea

The author dines at local restaurants and involves herself in activities - sweater party, bag purchasing, that get her to interact more with the adopted country. From the people she meets everyday - a maid at house, a chaffeur, gym trainer, yoga teacher she learns much about the Chinese culture. As a family, she travels to different places and learns about the regions.

By making us see how her kids process her having cancer, she shows us a filigree of emotions around the cancer victims and family.

The author is not clueless in China as her husband has been there before and can speak the language. The children assimilate faster into the new culture with their father making it fun for them to learn the language. In distress when a child has to dissuade the maid from catching a pigeon outside their window, he says 'bu yao'.. not wanted.

The author compares her cancer to all situations she cant get a handle on.



Running Away to Home: Our Family's Journey to Croatia in Search of Who We Are, Where We Came From, and What Really Matters 

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