Li Jun and the Iron Road by Anne Tait Publisher: Dundurn (2015)
eARC (216 pages)
Via: NetGalley
Rating:
Reading Challenges: Read 2015
Synopsis
Adapted from the award-winning TV miniseries “Iron Road,” starring Sam Neill and Peter O’Toole, the story of a woman whose search for herself helped shaped two nations. Set in the 1880s in southern China and the mountains of British Columbia, “Li Jun and the Iron Road” tells the story of a feisty street urchin nicknamed Little Tiger, who works in a fireworks factory and yearns to sail across the ocean to the country she knows as Gold Mountain. Sent by her dying mother to find her father, who had left years earlier, Little Tiger disguises herself as a boy and finds herself working on the railroad in Canada. When her deception leads to a forbidden love with a privileged son of a Canadian railroad tycoon, the results leave two worlds shaken.
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My Review
This story has an interesting premise. Li Jun, a Chinese girl, has to disguise herself as a boy and find a way to get to Canada. She is searching for her father who went to work on the Canadian railroad years before.
This was a rather short read in all. It totally reminded me of Mulan. I mean, she is a girl disguised as a boy fighting a “war” against the Huns/white man she shouldn’t be able to win.
I didn’t really like the romance. It didn’t seem to work, especially since she is disguised as a boy. It was strange.
I felt a bit like this story was not nearly as developed as it could be. It talked about the cruelties of the working conditions for the Chinese workers on the Canadian railroad. I didn’t feel like I connected with any of the characters though.
I don’t really know what else to say about this book. I really didn’t connect with it and it didn’t leave me with anything. If you like historical fiction involving Chinese and Canadians, you might like this book.
Which Reading Challenges?
- You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley for
review consideration. This in no way affects my opinion of the title
nor the content of this review.
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