Memoirs of a Eurasian

In 1944, a young Chinese teenager falls in love with a Russian exile in Shanghai. She dies in childbirth, leaving an orphaned girl, who in turn becomes pregnant as a teenager and gives birth to a daughter named Mo Mo. Even as a child, Mo Mo is entrancing and exotic because of her Russian heritage, but she is also mistrusted for the same reason. Mo Mo travels from Shanghai to Hong Kong and back again during and after the Cultural Revolution and through China%E2%80%99s economic reforms, along the way grappling with both racial prejudice and a strained relationship with her mother. This latest novel from Yang (Shanghai Girl) is an engaging exploration of a world unknown to most Westerners. Yang navigates Hong Kong and the insular Chinese world of Shanghai with equal ease, convincingly charting Mo Mo%E2%80%99s life from childhood to adolescence and adulthood. And while Mo Mo isn%E2%80%99t always likable, she always offers a unique perspective. Readers will find this fascinating novel very enjoyable and readable.