‘China Girl — A Daughter’s Journey’
By Sophie Mokhtari • Writers of the Round Table, Press
Little do we know the outcome of our decisions made on the spur of the moment. We don’t realize that they have repercussions that echo through the years.
Anna Lee, whose Chinese name is Gum Sing, decides that the way to get a boy to recognize her is to make him jealous by allowing another boy to “go all the way” with her. She goes all the way with Ray, even though she can’t stand him.
This forces her to marry Ray to save face for the family. Sent away to America to start a life for herself, she leaves her daughter, Shih Fay, behind to be reared by her parents. Ray turns out to be an abusive husband. She has more children by him, a son, Damian and a daughter, Cindy. Later she comes back to get the daughter, Shih Fay. But because the daughter reminds her of her disgrace, she ignores her.
The story centers around Lily, the American name Shih Fay is given, and her adjustment to being unwanted. Lily has one thing to hold on to and that is the gift her grandmother gave her back in Hong Kong, a snuff bottle from the Ming Dynasty. This is her link to better times. In times of problems this helps her find comfort.
She recalls her grandmother telling her, “Your name is Lily now. Your name will always be Shih Fay in your heart. And in Gung Gung’s heart and mine. Do you remember what your name means?”
“Serenity of a snowfall.” “Yes. As long as you know that, it doesn’t matter what people call you.”
“So I’m Lily now?” Pau Pau closed her eyes and her stiff eyelashes tickled against Shih Fay’s eyelids. “Yes. In America, you’re Lily now.”
The story is told in third person multiple viewpoints. We find that the mother, Anna, can’t escape. Ray makes sure that she doesn’t get a work permit. So she is rough on the children as a result. Yet she still holds on to a dream. She wants to escape Ray and return to school to get her electronics degree and start making money of her own.
At church people see things differently than what they are. ”They must think she was the consummate young mother: staying at home, tired and frazzled, but ultimately in love with the creatures she and Ray had created. The truth was, though, that she wanted to scream. She wanted to leave. She wanted to leave her own children.”
This story is not a pretty one. The family is dysfunctional and the sins of the parents are visited on the children, This book does have a happy ending of sorts. Anna develops a backbone and realizes her dream. Lily returns to Hong Kong a fractured but wiser person. “As the plane launched skyward, Lily craned her neck, turning back to the terminal. they’d be OK while she was gone, Mom, and Damian and Cindy. She knew they’d be okay.”
Mokhtari is planning on doing a series of novels focusing on creating a “sweet life” out of “sour” circumstances in worlds of varied races, ethnicities and religious background. She will call this series the Lemonade Series. “China Girl” is the first novel in this series.
Exciting books are coming up that need to be reviewed. Keep on reading and please drop me a line at
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 16, 2008. Read the original PDF.