Born in Detroit in 1968, Curtis Chin grew up in his family's popular Chinese restaurant, established in 1940 by his great-grandfather. While Curtis diBorn in Detroit in 1968, Curtis Chin grew up in his family's popular Chinese restaurant, established in 1940 by his great-grandfather. While Curtis didn't really pick up the knack of cooking his family's dishes (despite his wild experimentation in the kitchen), he did learn many life lessons over the years of hanging out and then working there. In this memoir, he reveals some of those lessons and how they helped him name and address the racism he faced, explore and understand his sexuality, and come to terms with the ongoing decline of his city and the aging of his family members. Insightful and humorous, Chin's life story offers another piece of the immigrant story in the United States, including how it affects the subsequent generations and how they made a powerful impact on their own community: "Yes, my family succeeded because of America, but America also succeeded because of us."
Thank you, Little, Brown and Company and NetGalley, for providing an eARC of this book. Opinions expressed here are solely my own....more
While tarot cards have been around for centuries, most modern decks owe their basic design and symbolism to the iconic deck created by Pamela Colman SWhile tarot cards have been around for centuries, most modern decks owe their basic design and symbolism to the iconic deck created by Pamela Colman Smith (and unfortunately known for many years as the Rider Waite deck, named for two men who had far less creative input). Smith's history is a fascinating one, given her itinerant childhood and her early work with the Lyceum Theatre and great figures such as Henry Irving, Ellen Terry, and Bram Stoker. She became involved with the Order of the Golden Dawn, which commissioned her to create the tarot deck for their magical studies and rituals.
The book Magician and Fool offers a fictionalized version of this history, and while it's interesting to see behind the scenes at the Lyceum or within the secretive walls of the Golden Dawn, ultimately it was not a book I really enjoyed reading. The writing often feels stilted, including in some conversations that feel a little pointless to the narrative, and there are so many viewpoint shifts and Wikipedia-esque infodumps throughout the pages that I honestly struggled to find a coherent thread even past the halfway point. And while the characters are pretty much all real historical figures, most of them actually felt two-dimensional or even simply symbolic, just as Smith used them in her tarot drawings. (Even Smith, depicted as having synesthesia without it diagnosed as such, seems to have a limited range of personality, which seems completely unbelievable, given her history.)
I did appreciate that the author highlighted the sexism within the Golden Dawn and offered a character who could address the cultural appropriation inherent in the Golden Dawn's work. But the book also had cringey moments, like the scene in which Smith auditions for the Lyceum folk by telling a story from her Black nanny, using "a Jamaican accent." Just... ew, no.
In a way, the book reads more like a biography or simple historical novel -- except that it doesn't strictly adhere to the actual history, the historical figures don't pop to life, and the fantastical elements are really over the top.
A serious disappointment. 2 stars.
Thank you, Spark Press and NetGalley, for providing an eARC of this book. Opinions expressed here are solely my own....more
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