The Fortunes

The Fortunes reimagines the traditional multigenerational novel through the lens of immigrant experience. The family ins... (more)

The Fortunes reimagines the traditional multigenerational novel through the lens of immigrant experience. The family institution is revered in Chinese culture, but the historical reality of Chinese Americans has seen family bonds denied, fragmented, or imperiled. The Fortunes uses this history from the bachelor society of the gold rush era to laws against interracial marriage to the recent wave of adopted baby girls to create a portrait of a community whose line of descent is broken, yet which has tenaciously persisted, as much through love as by blood. Through four lives a railroad baron's valet who unwittingly ignites an explosion in Chinese labor, Hollywood's first Chinese movie star, a victim of a hate crime that mobilizes Asian Americans, and a biracial writer visiting China for an adoption--this novel captures and capsizes over a century of our history. These stories, three of which are inspired by real historical characters, examines the process of becoming not only Chinese American, but American. (less)

"Sly, funny, intelligent, and artfully structured, The Fortunes recasts American history through the lives of Chinese Am... (more)

"Sly, funny, intelligent, and artfully structured, The Fortunes recasts American history through the lives of Chinese Americans and reimagines the multigenerational novel through the fractures of immigrant family experience. Inhabiting four lives--a railroad baron's valet who unwittingly ignites an explosion in Chinese labor; Hollywood's first Chinese movie star; a hate-crime victim whose death mobilizes the Asian American community; and a biracial writer visiting China for an adoption--this novel captures and capsizes over a century of our history, showing that even as family bonds are denied and broken, a community can survive--as much through love as blood. "--Back cover. (less)

Inhabiting four lives{u2014}a railroad baron's valet who unwittingly ignites an explosion in Chinese labor, Hollywood's ... (more)

Inhabiting four lives{u2014}a railroad baron's valet who unwittingly ignites an explosion in Chinese labor, Hollywood's first Chinese movie star, a hate-crime victim whose death mobilizes Asian Americans, and a biracial writer visiting China for an adoption{u2014}this novel captures and capsizes over a century of our history, showing that even as family bonds are denied and broken, a community can survive{u2014}as much through love as blood. Building fact into fiction, spinning fiction around fact, Davies uses each of these stories{u2014}three inspired by real historical characters{u2014}to examine the process of becoming not only Chinese American, but American. (less)