{"product_id":"bad-bad-girl-by-gish-jen","title":"Bad Bad Girl by Gish Jen","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eL.A. TIMES\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e15 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR •\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eTIME\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\"100 BEST\" • RUPAUL'S BOOK CLUB PICK • An engrossing, blisteringly funny-sad autobiographical novel tracing a tumultuous mother-daughter relationship.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A transcendent work of art.”\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003e—Boston Globe\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Gish Jen has written\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ethe\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003emultigenerational mother-daughter epic of our new century.” —Junot Díaz\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Heart-piercingly personal. . . . Suffused with love.”\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003e—Los Angeles Times\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eMy mother had died, but still I heard her voice. . .\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGish’s mother, Loo Shu-hsin, is born in 1924 to a wealthy Shanghai family whose girls are expected to restrain themselves. Her beloved nursemaid—far more loving to than her real mother—is torn from her even as she is constantly reprimanded: “Bad bad girl! You don’t know how to talk!” Sent to a modern Catholic school by her progressive father, she receives not only an English name—Agnes—but a first-rate education. To his delight, she excels. But even then he can only sigh, “Too bad. If you were a boy, you could accomplish a lot.” Agnes finds solace in books and, in 1947, announces her intention to pursue a PhD in America. As the Communist revolution looms, she sets sail—never to return.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLonely and adrift in New York, she begins dating Jen Chao-Pe, an engineering student. They do their best to block out the increasingly dire plight of their families back home and successfully establish a new American life: Marriage! A house in the suburbs! A number one son! By the time Gish is born, though, the news from China is proving inescapable; their marriage is foundering; and Agnes, confronted with a strong-willed, outspoken daughter distinctly reminiscent of herself, is repeating the refrain—“Bad bad girl! You don’t know how to talk!”—as she recapitulates the harshness of her own childhood.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSpanning continents, generations, and cultures, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eBad Bad Girl\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is a novel only Gish Jen could have written: genre-bending, courageous, wise, and as immensely incisive as it is compassionate.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFormer library hard cover in very good condition.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mt Lebanon Book Cellar","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44173295026356,"sku":"F - HC - MTL - SPB","price":7.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0504\/7097\/7716\/files\/71kBuaGowBL._SY466.jpg?v=1774884542","url":"https:\/\/mt-lebanon-book-cellar.myshopify.com\/products\/bad-bad-girl-by-gish-jen","provider":"Mt Lebanon Book Cellar","version":"1.0","type":"link"}