title: The Jade Peony: A Novel
author:  Wayson Choy 
description: <i>The Jade Peony</i>, Wayson Choy's first novel and a RUSA Notable Book, is a genre-bending, memoirlike collection of stories about a family in Vancouver's Chinatown before and during World War II. Three siblings tell the stories of their very different childhoods in a world defined by change, each in their own way wresting autonomy from the strictures of history, family, and poverty. Sister Jook-Liang aspires to be Shirley Temple; adopted Second Brother Jung-Sum, who struggles with his sexuality, finds his way through boxing. Third Brother Sekky, who never feels comfortable with the multitude of Chinese dialects swirling around him, becomes obsessed with war games, and learns a devastating lesson about what war really means when his 17-year-old babysitter dates a Japanese man, with terrible consequences.
zlib_text: **PRAISE FOR** _ **THE JADE PEONY:**_
  
  “An exquisite novel... the craftsmanship is glorious.”
  
  GLOBE AND MAIL
  
  “In China, [Choy] tells us, a figure called the ‘dark storyteller’ reveals
  ‘hidden things not seen in the glare of daylight.’ Working in a new country
  and a new context, Wayson Choy has deftly continued that tradition... a fine
  debut novel.”
  
  NEW YORK TIMES
  
  “One of the finest works of fiction yet to break the silence that surrounds so
  many... immigrant communities.”
  
  MACLEAN’S
  
  “A book that is richly peopled with eccentric and complex characters... calls
  to mind David Guterson’s _Snow Falling on Cedars,_ with the conflicts of
  loyalty and love and the poisoned ethnic hatred.”
  
  ST. LOUIS POST DISPATCH
  
  “A true and touching insight into a largely unrecorded wartime world. It’s
  human and moving without being sentimental.... A genuine contribution to
  history as well as to fiction.”
  
  MARGARET DRABBLE
  
  “ _The Jade Peony_ is a sweet and funny novel and accomplishes so much of what
  we