日本
just now
Amazon
walmart
| Manufacturer | - |
|---|---|
| Brand | Stacey Lee |
| Item model number | - |
| Color | - |
| Weight | - |
| Height | - |
| Depth | - |
| Product Id | 1972422 |
|---|---|
| User Reviews and Ratings | 3 (1 ratings) 3 out of 5 stars |
| UPC | 097815247409 |
| # | Title | Reviews | User Ratings | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Search on Amazon
Price:
Search
on
|
Search
on
|
||
| 2 |
The Downstairs Girl (Paperback)
Price:
$9.12
on
|
(5) |
$9.12
on
|
arrived in like-new condition, very pleased with my purchase
Loved everything about this book! Even the end - no matter what anyone says lol. What great characters... all with great character!
This was a very well-crafted YA book, which would also be suitable for adult readers. It had many layers to hold interest, and spoke about a different side to the early 20th Century of Reconstruction in the South. There is discussion of passing, of class, of power, the power of family, both direct and found. I really enjoyed it a great deal.
Stacey Lee writes some of my hands-down favorite YA historical fiction and The Downstairs Girl does not disappoint. There were some things that felt a little too convenient or coincidental and I have some questions about the results of the horse race (which I won't share here because spoilers), but Jo was an amazing heroine with whom I really enjoyed spending my time. And, unfortunately for us all, the parallels between society and politics and race relations in 1890 and now are depressingly obvious. The research and love of history are clear but, as always it's Lee's characters who shine brightly from the pages. Not just Jo but Old Gin—especially Old Gin— and Noemi and Sweet Potato (yes, the horse) and the Paynes and the Bells and even the despicable Billy Riggs. As long as Stacey Lee wants to continue writing historical fiction, I will want to continue reading it.
Historical fiction set in late 1800's post Civil War Atlanta. The downstairs girl of the title, Jo Kuan, is a 17 year old Chinese American teen living with Old Gin, the man who raised her since she was left on his doorsteps as a baby. There are issues Jo faces with racism, colorism, discrimination against women (side stories concerning suffragettes) and classism. Jo is spunky and has lots of barriers thrown in her way which she internalizes and strives to overcome, one by one. I guessed the mystery surrounded her parents pretty quickly; follow the breadcrumbs. I listened to the audiobook and thoroughly enjoyed listening to the narrator Emily Woo Zeller do all the southern accents, both female and male, really well.
This was a fascinating look at life in Atlanta during the late 1800's. The Civil War is over and slavery has been abolished, but race is still dividing the city. In addition, women are showing their independence and clamoring for the vote. Jo Kuan, a young Chinese woman, serves as a ladie's maid, but secretly also pens an advice column that provides a scathing commentary about the inequity of Atlanta society. I found myself racing through this book and enjoying every minute. Insightful characters with a fast-paced plot. Definitely a good read for YA or tweens.
Set about twenty-five years after the Civil Way, Jo Kuan is making her living with a milliner when her job is cut to make way for a less talented white girl. I never realized that after the Civil War, many of the Asians from out West headed to the South for work and a limbo of sorts. There was an interesting moment when Jo, clearly a bright girl, doesn't want to take a spot from a black student at school. She goes back to work as the maid for a wealthy family, and from the hideout under a newspaper office, begins penning letters and answers for worries of the day for Atlantans. Between race, suffragists and the criminal underbelly of the town, this story had a bit of everything and made for a great read.
Jo Kuan is a Chinese American young woman living in segregated Atlanta in the years following the Civil War. I loved that she was a strong character that shared her opinions fearlessly in a creative way. I felt like much of the novel was predictable, but it was still entertaining. It was a slice of history, particularly the Chinese American experience, that I knew little about. “We are all like candles, and whether we are single or joined with another does not affect how brightly we can burn.” “Somehow, Old Gin and I have managed to fit ourselves into a society that, like a newspaper, rarely comes in colors other than black and white.”
Stacey Lee writes historical fiction for young adults featuring intrepid female characters who fight discrimination and adversity to realize their dreams. The heroine in The Downstairs Girl is Jo Kuan, 17, who is living in Atlanta, Georgia in 1890. She has been brought up by a man she calls Old Gin. He took care of her ever since she was left on his doorstep as an infant. He has been both mother and father to her, as well as teacher and friend, and she is devoted to him. Old Gin couldn't find anyplace that would rent to the Chinese, so he felt lucky to find a secret basement in which he and Jo could live. Such places were formerly used by abolitionists to hide blacks trying to escape to the North. Both blacks and later Chinese availed themselves of these rough quarters. As the author explains in a Note at the end of the book, when the slaves were freed, Chinese were shipped in, not just to replace them on the plantations, but to help rebuild the South. Lee writes: “Planation owners envisioned an improved system of coerced labor, as Chinese workers were lauded as ‘fine specimens, bright and intelligent' (New Orleans Times, June 3, 1870). They were dismayed, however, when the Chinese behaved no differently from formerly enslaved blacks. The new workers were unwilling to withstand the terrible conditions and ran away to the cities, and sometimes vanished from the South altogether. After the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 - a federal law that prohibited the immigration of Chinese laborers until 1943 - the Chinese already in the United States could no longer bring their families from China. Isolated and living in the margins of a country that only saw in black and white, they eventually found livelihoods outside the plantations.” The basement harboring Jo and Old Gin was under the home of the Bell family. Mr. Bell ran the “Focus” newspaper. Their son, Nathan, did the political cartoons for the Focus as well as other work at the paper. Nathan was, according to Jo, “my oldest friend, even if he doesn't know it.” Jo had been eavesdropping on the Bells ever since she could remember. The abolitionists who built the basement cleverly disguised the upstairs end of a speaking tube to resemble a vent so those inhabiting the basement would know if they were discovered or otherwise in danger. Jo explained about her listening to the Bell family, “Their words comforted me on many a lonely night and made me feel like part of a family.” As the story begins, Jo has just been fired from a milliner's shop not because of her work, which is excellent, but because customers are offended by seeing a Chinese girl there. In addition, she is, in her boss Mrs. English's assessment, a “saucebox” - “you don't know when to keep your opinions to yourself.” Mrs. English also blacklisted Jo from working at any other milliner's shop: “I can't risk you spilling my secrets.” Old Gin gets Jo a job as a lady's maid for Caroline Payne on the estate where he works as a groom. It will be a demeaning and demanding job, but she and Old Gin need the money. Meanwhile, the Focus is fighting for its existence. It is losing subscriptions - the paper needs 2,000 more in a month or it will have to shut down. The only feature their rival the “Trumpeter” has that they lack is “Advice from Aunt Edna.” Clearly the Focus also needs an advice columnist, but, as Jo thinks, “something different from Aunt Edna, something radical . . . Why put a second horse in a race when you can put in a dragon, which not only flies but eats horses for breakfast?” Jo decides that if she is such a saucebox, maybe she would make a good “agony aunt.” [“Agony aunt” is a phrase denoting the writer of an advice column in a newspaper or other periodical.] She reasons: “I have opinions, just like everyone else. And outside of the Bells, if anyone knows the Focus, it's me. . . . No one would know my identity. The best way to deliver the truth, if not posthumously, is anonymously.” Thus Jo begins submitting columns to the Focus under the byline of “Miss Sweetie,” and the columns are wildly popular. Circulation soars, and curiosity about her identity mounts. But this isn't the only secret in play. Jo is investigating the mystery of her own past, and what she discovers is startling. The story concludes with an Epilogue that will satisfy readers, like me, who like to know how all the plot lines get resolved. Discussion: A number of issues relevant to the 1890s [and still today, sadly] play into the story, including rights for women, racism against those who have darker skin, and the disparities in opportunities and resources between rich and poor. The author shows how these problems effect Jo's life, and her fortitude and determination in dealing with them. As Jo muses later: “Millinery gave me a way to be seen; Miss Sweetie gave a voice to be heard. But maybe what I needed most of all was simply the freedom to walk out from the shadows of my hat. Somehow, Old Gin and I have managed to fit ourselves into a society that, like a newspaper, rarely comes in colors other than black and white. There will always be those who keep their distance. But there will also be those who don't mind riding their safeties [bicycles] in my lane.” Evaluation: This is a delightful story with a courageous, plucky heroine who is sweet, witty, and persistent in spite of all the barriers in her path. This would make a great book for teens (and older!), who can't help but be inspired by Jo.
After being dismissed from her job as a hat maker, Jo Kuan is forced into a job as a lady's maid. Her charge is difficult, cantankerous, and determined to make Jo uncomfortable. Jo and her adopted father, Old Gin, live in a hidden cellar. Above them lives the Bell's a newspaper family. When Jo learns that the newspaper is in trouble, she begins pinning an agony aunt column "Dear Miss Sweetie." Her irreverent columns, and challenges to society's normal quickly lands her in hot water, as people across the city try and uncover her identity. I was pleased to discover a strong, female character, determined to make a difference in the world. I loved Jo's attitude and point of view. Although Jo was a strong character, a lot of the secondary characters were one dimensional and felt like caricatures. The plot itself was a bit predictable, and easily resolved. Overall, 3 out of 5 stars.