Jamie Ford researches a book like
nobody’s business. His meticulous archival digging resulted in his wildly popular
debut novel, The Hotel at the Corner of
Bitter and Sweet. In his second novel, Songs
of Willow Frost, he mines 1920s
and ‘30s Seattle as carefully as earlier settlers dissected the west for gold. Ford’s
research uncovered many heroes and villains of Seattle’s Film Row and Chinatown
as well as theaters, racetracks, and the very real Sacred Heart Orphanage.
The book opens on William Eng’s twelfth
birthday in 1934. It’s not his actual birthday but at the Sacred Heart
Orphanage it’s easier to celebrate all the boys’ birthdays on the same date,
September 28, Pope Leo XII’s birthday.
On this day each boy receives a gift, either a saved letter from home or
in William’s case, information about his mother. William learns that on the last day he saw
her as she lay bleeding and perhaps dying, his mother was sent to a sanitarium
instead of a hospital because as a Chinese unwed mother doctors refused to treat
her. So on this day William has hope
that his mother may be alive. The treat for the boys’ birthday is an outing to
the movies where just before the movie begins a beautiful woman who looks
exactly like William’s mother appears and sings a song. Thus William begins his
quest to find “Willow Frost” the movie star who he’s certain is his mother.
William soon escapes from the
orphanage with his best friend, Charlotte, a blind girl, who fears her father’s
return more than life in the orphanage. Then the book backtracks to trace
Willow Frost’s life and the men who abused her and ruined her early hopes and
dreams. William’s evil stepfather is one of many one-dimensional caricatures
she encounters. Sadly the book’s characters are difficult to discern as all of
them have a flat affect and use the same overly sentimental language.
The novel is best when in settings
that naturally use Ford’s painstaking research.
The sheet music store where Willow first sings in public, Seattle’s
burgeoning Film Row, and the Wah-Mee Club offer an authentic glimpse of the
era. Unfortunately, Ford’s contrived use of overtly emotional gimmicks like the
orphaned blind girl overshadow the story.
Summing it Up:
Songs
of Willow Frost provides intriguing details of Seattle’s
Chinese-American community in the 1920s and ‘30s and of early film history
which may help cinema and historical fiction fans enjoy the novel despite the flat,
soap-opera-like characters.
Rating: 2 stars
Category: Fiction, Pigeon Pie, Super Nutrition
Publication date: September 10, 2013
Read an Excerpt (the first two chapters):
http://www.scribd.com/doc/149913121/SONGS-OF-WILLOW-FROST-by-Jamie-Ford#.UmkdjPnrwkM
What Others are Saying:
Library Journal Review and Interview: http://reviews.libraryjournal.com/2013/09/prepub/interviews/talking-to-jamie-ford-about-his-libraryreads-pick-songs-of-willow-frost/
The Seattle Times: http://seattletimes.com/html/books/2021803649_songswillowfrostxml.html
No comments:
Post a Comment