ThoseBrownEyes is an online magazine that declares the Asian tradition, achievement, ethnicity and culture...

and strives to provide equal emphasis on Asians residing and thriving on all parts of the world...

not as a segregated group, but as an integral member of the community.

©Amazon.com

Featured book:  Gail Tsukiyama's 

"The Language of Threads"

My Review: It's the rushed closure to a life lived through war and tragedy. 

This is the sequel to another of Tsukiyama's book, Women of the Silk. It begins with the outbreak of World War II where Pei (the leading character) had to leave the silk farm where

she spent most of her life. She flees to Hong Kong accompanied by an orphan, Ji Shen. After some misfortune in her first job, Pei found herself working for a British expatriate, Mrs. Finch, who treated her and Ji Shen as the daughters whom she never had. As their bond grew stronger the Japanese invaded Hong Kong, which immersed them into a different array of conflict. The war ends and Pei's life becomes prosperous and along the way she found her long lost sister, Li.  

As with some of her novels, Tsukiyama's "The Language of Threads" is historically fascinating. However, this conclusion to her story about the Sisters of the Silk is somewhat lacking in emotional involvement which leaves the characters almost one-dimensional. And the colorful life of Pei, which began with "Women of the Silk" as a baby comes to a rushed closure in "The Language of Threads" as the final years of her life is hurried into paper.

- reviewed by Marvin Morales

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Here are some of the comments that we received about this book: 

"...i like it a lot, but there are a lot of details that I should know before I could fully appreciate her book. I should have read Gail's other books. "

          - Erica Xing

"It's flat and dry compared to her other books. I am a big fan of G.Tsukiyama and I read her other novels again and again. This one is a disappointment. Somehow she failed in accomplishing what she used to do so effortlessly."

         - Juang Dikkon

"Lovely... absolutely lovely. What else can I say? It's almost perfect in all the aspects. But I need to read her other books because I am missing the other half of Pei's life." 

        - Kiki Solley

"It is a good reference for what life was like during WWII. I am not certain if it is non-fiction, but its accuracy to actual events is strikingly sharp. Reading it inspired me to read other biographies of people from that era."

        - Sandra Epscott

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©Amazon.com

For the next issue... 

Kien Nguyen's "The Unwanted"

The Unwanted is Kien's extraordinary and beautifully written memoir of life in Vietnam, and his desperate struggle to escape to America, the land of his father. It is a riveting insight into Vietnamese culture and effect of decades of war on a country and its people. - The Publisher's Description