Dragonfly Eyes, Cao Wenxuan
Dragonfly Eyes, Cao Wenxuan
List: $27.50 | Sale: $19.25
Club: $13.75

Dragonfly Eyes

Author: Cao Wenxuan

Narrator: Catherine Ho

Unabridged: 11 hr 30 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/09/2022


Synopsis

From acclaimed Chinese author Cao Wenxuan, recipient of the Hans Christian Andersen Award, comes a compelling family saga spanning fifty years and three generations.

Ah-Mei and her French grandmother, Nainai, share a rare bond. Maybe it’s because Ah-Mei is the only girl grandchild. Or maybe it’s because the pair look so much alike and neither resembles the rest of their Chinese family. Politics and war make 1960s Shanghai a hard place to grow up, especially when racism and bigotry are rife, and everyone seems suspicious of Nainai’s European heritage and interracial marriage. In this time of political upheaval, Ah-Mei and her family suffer much—and when the family silk business falters, they are left with almost nothing. Ah-Mei and her grandmother are resourceful, but will the tender connection they share bring them enough strength to carry through? This multigenerational saga by one of China’s most esteemed children’s authors takes the reader from 1920s France to a ravaged postwar Shanghai and through the convulsions of the Cultural Revolution.

About The Author

Cao Wenxuan, author of the acclaimed Bronze and Sunflower, is the recipient of the 2016 Hans Christian Andersen Award. He has also won several of China’s important awards for children’s literature. A professor of Chinese literature at Peking University, Cao Wenxuan has seen many of his books become bestsellers in China, and his work has been translated into French, Russian, German, Japanese, and Korean.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Kara (bookishskippy) on April 22, 2021

DON'T KNOW WHY THIS IS THE LEAST HYPE BOOK ON GOOD READS 😕, I PERSONALLY LOVED THIS FAIRYTALE! - Ratings:🧚‍♀️🧚‍♀️🧚‍♀️🧚‍♀️ - A story which took place over 50 years with 3 different generations bonded together sharing a beautiful saga. It was told more of a fairytale perspective which i did not have any p......more

Goodreads review by Jacqueline on September 23, 2021

Although this book is no doubt emotional and filled with beautiful scenarios, it's impossible not to point out the bad timeline and uninteresting character development. Throughout the majority of the book, Ah Mei's age (everyone's age to be honest) is not specified and time doesn't run in one smooth......more

Goodreads review by Meg on June 23, 2021

FULL REVIEW HERE! Three-word description : family, home, generations My rating : 4 / 5 stars This is quite an interesting read to me because this is one of my first translated work reads! I have heard of the author and his books in Chinese but I never picked them up so obviously this is such an intere......more

Goodreads review by Mary on January 28, 2021

A saga filled with resilience and love that spans over 50 years and takes in 3 generations of a family this novel is a treasure. The reader is lulled into the heart of a family home and kept there, through the prosperous times of success in the silk industry to the stark day-to-day realities of soci......more

Goodreads review by Masa on July 27, 2022

At bits I found it a bit slow, but the writing was beautiful. I adored the description and the relationship between Ah Mei and Nainai was so adorable. The ending physically broke me- I cried for about half an hour haha! oOverall I give it 4/5 stars just for the fact at some bits it was a bit slow :)......more