The Third Son

When in doubt about a book I'm thinking about reading, if it's an Algonquin title I'll give it the benefit.  I don't know what their mission is as a book publisher but I really should see if I can find it.  They have such original stories - from authors I might not find through the usual channels.

Julie Wu's book "The Third Son" was set in Taiwan - a country I know little about - but why don't I know more?  Maybe this is one of the reasons she wrote this book.  It was set in the 1940s (mostly) when Taiwanese rule changed - seemingly randomly - and with more bad news coming with each political party or country's domination.  It's just now occurring to me that this was also the story of the third son - Saburo or Chia-lin (depending on the political ramifications).  His family had an absurdly hostile way of favoring the first son in the family - not only favoring him, but withholding, food, love and kindness towards the third son.  Seemingly randomly - and with more bad news coming at each life event.

The writing was a little hard to follow - a bit stilted - but I got the feeling this was intentional as the writing was from Saburo's perspective.  He lived in multiple worlds within his family and community, and would later live in multiple places.

Yet he found love - he found resolve - and he found his own way.  I liked it - glad I read it.