Historical September–October 2025 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
Hello! Karen Stokes here.
As a bibliophile and new addition to the Times.
I will offer my opinion and review of books I have read.
While I am not an English major or literary juggernaut, I will review books by discussing plot, characters and writing. For example, does the plot move forward smoothly or was it riddled with plot holes and tangents? Are the characters believable, grow when needed, seem true throughout. Is the writing challenging, good, simple, beautiful or just plain bad. Agree or agree to disagree, that’s what makes reviews fun. Books get us talking about something we have shared in common.
We need that more these days. For my first review, I recommend Feeding Ghosts, a Graphic Memoir by Tessa Hulls. Feeding Ghosts is a graphic novel, which is a type of book that uses illustrations and sequential art combined with word text to tell a story.
I must confess, I am not a fan of graphic novels.
I often find the artwork too stark and harsh, the writing a bit cryptic. So, while I started this book with reservations, I soon became hooked!
The story is about three generations of Chinese and Chinese American women, their complicatedly intertwined lives and the trauma that is passed down between them. Sun Yi, the author’s grandmother, was a Shanghai journalist who spent eight years caught in China’s political upheaval of the 1949 Communist victory.
She eventually flees to Hong Kong with her daughter, Rose, (Tessa’s mother) to forge a life for them there. Rose is sent to a boarding school in Hong Kong, but Sun Yi suffers a mental breakdown, while Rose is away, and is committed to a mental institution. Rose eventually travels to the United States on a scholarship and brings Sun Yi to live with her. Tessa, Rose’s daughter and the author, grows up under the weight of Sun Yi’s unexamined trauma and mental illness and her mother’s fears about life.
In an effort to escape the emotional trauma, Tessa travels around the world, but comes to realize her freedom is more about avoidance than adventure, so returns to spend a decade researching and writing her book.
The author offers a wonderful interplay of history with a beautiful collective of voices in her narration.
She relays her matriarchs’ heart wrenching stories in a measured and objective perspective, all the while, demonstrating vulnerability and honesty when working through the emotional traumas from her family’s past. Tessa does an amazing job of living in her history.
The book’s story line moves seamlessly between the different characters’ timelines and the author’s commentary, keeping events well connected.
The author’s goal of self-examination and unraveling of her family dynamics is surprisingly relatable.
While we may not share Chinese genealogy, some of us may understand the history of family trauma.
The characters are incredibly well developed.
I did not feel any gaps or thinness in how she presented her family.
Most importantly, I could sense the love and respect Ms. Hulls has for her mother and grandmother, even as she wrote about their very complicated relationships.
The history of China in her family’s timeline read for me, as a character as well.
I have never studied China’s history and frankly, it is brutal.
As I read about the fall of a dynasty and the rise of a new, brutal government, an eerie recognition of a country’s ideological shifts could not be shaken. Reading about the horrors of the political upheaval in China/Hong Kong at that time in history and her grandmother’s experiences were emotionally challenging and made for a heavy read.
The text blocks were word dense at times, yet very concise and well written. Sometimes, I had to put the book down and take a mental break.
However, I could not resist picking it up again.
In summary, captivating plot, great characters and excellent writing.
I highly recommend this book.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, September–October 2025.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times2025_09.pdf, printed page(s) 5; PDF page(s) 5.
