Stories highlight Chinese diaspora

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This article was published 03/10/2020 (2166 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As awareness of white privilege begins to be discussed more broadly, the Western literary world is slowly recognizing contributions from authors who are Black, Indigenous or are people of colour.

Jack Wang’s debut, a collection of rich and poignant short stories, shows what people miss when they only read authors from their own backgrounds. History lovers and literary buffs will sink joyfully into his moving collection, which explores the Chinese immigrant experience over a century and across five continents.

The collection opens with The Valkyries, set in 1920s Vancouver, which explores Canada’s entry into professional hockey through the eyes of Nelson, a teenage laundry worker from Chinatown desperate to play the all-Canadian game.

Nelson tries out for a boys’ team only to be roughed up by the other players and matter-of-factly dismissed. As the coach explains, “I aim to win, and you can’t win with trouble in the locker room.” However, by disguising himself as a girl, Nelson lands a chance to play in a new girls’ hockey league.

The following six stories are not connected but progress by decade, giving the book the momentum of a novel.

In The Nature of Things, a young couple move from Vancouver to Shanghai, only to become trapped by the second Sino-Japanese war.

The Night of Broken Glass explores the role of a high-ranking Chinese government official stationed in 1940s Vienna who risks his life to help a Jewish couple escape the Nazis.

Everything in Between focuses on a lesser-known perspective of apartheid-era South Africa by portraying a Chinese family attempting to buy a house in a non-segregated neighbourhood.

In Belsize Park, set in 1970s London, an Oxford student, the son of Chinese immigrants, wonders if his wealthy white girlfriend and her family will accept him.

In Allhallows, an impoverished, subpar father in Florida ignores subtle discrimination towards himself and his mixed-race sons, ignoring his own shortcomings as a husband and father.

The book culminates with We Two Alone: middle-aged Leonard struggles to keep his dream of making it as an Asian-American actor alive while wooing back his estranged white wife.

While the impact of racial and cultural heritage remains a central theme in each story, it moves further into the background as the timeline becomes closer to the present day. The effect lulls readers into thinking race is not an issue for the characters, only to have it rear up and shock you.

For example, Leonard from We Two Alone founded a company of Asian-American actors to stage Shakespeare plays when he found his choice of acting roles as an Asian was severely limited. “He was tired of playing grocers and gangsters, of having yet another snot-nosed MFA student tell him to thicken up the accent. All he wanted was a role he didn’t have to explain.”

At the same time, the other story’s themes are so deep and universal — marriage, career, acceptance — that Wang manages to underscore the importance of cultural heritage while stressing humanity’s common ties.

Originally from Vancouver, Wang studied in the U.S., Canada and England and now lives in New York State. We Two Alone reflects his international background — his ability to create vivid and believable settings, in beautiful and readable prose, will deeply move readers.

Kathryne Cardwell is a Winnipeg writer.