The Third Son

by Julie Wu

• ISBN10: 1616203277
• ISBN13: 9781616203276
• Publish Date: 27 May 2014 (first published 30 April 2013)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Algonquin Books
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 338
• Language: English

Reviews

[Heather]

 



This synopsis sort of made me cringe. I've read the whole "my brother is marrying the girl I want" story so many times. I'm over it. This isn't that though. There was a delightful change.


Saburo gets the girl. Actually, even better, the girl makes up her own mind and chooses him over his brother. Yes, a female main character with agency. I love her. She's tough and independent minded. She's chafing under the demands of her time and place. She's determined to change her life and basically pushes him to get them where they need to be. That isn't the whole point of the book either.  That happens partway through and the rest of the book is about their life.  

This is the second book I read because of Shenwei's post about the 228 Massacre in Taiwan. This first one was The 228 Legacy. I enjoyed The Third Son a lot more.  I actually read it in one sitting.  

I'd recommend this one to any historical fiction fans especially if they are looking for settings you don't often see.  I hadn't read anything about Taiwan prior to these books.  This is set during a period of a lot of unrest in Taiwan and did a great job explaining the history.  This review was originally posted on Based On A True Story

[Lianne]

I received a paperback copy of this novel courtesy of the LibratyThing Early Reviewers programme. This review in its entirety was originally posted at caffeinatedlife.net: http://www.caffeinatedlife.net/blog/2014/06/28/review-the-third-son/

According to one of the blurbs printed on the back of the book (said by author Lydia Netzer, “Clear your schedule! The Thirs Son is you next obsessive read.” Indeed, I just could not tear away from Saburo’s story, I had to keep reading and find out whether everything would turn out well in the end for him :)

In Saburo, the author created a very interesting and wholly sympathetic character who has his own dreams, needs, and feelings. I felt sympathetic for the character right from the beginning because of the way his family treated him because he was the third son and they did not value him the way they valued his eldest brother and always treated him like an idiot. But Saburo is not an idiot: he’s bright, he’s keen to learn, he has his own dreams of going out into the world. And through perseverance and the help of some kind people amidst the turmoil in Taiwan during the mid-20th century, his is able to achieve everything his heart desired. Following Saburo’s story was also interesting because it is very much an immigrant’s story, balancing between his family obligations, his desire to reunite with his own new family, to find a job, etc.

Meanwhile, his family made me so angry. You can see the tensions between family obligation and duty, that rigid respect for elders and the cultural and social attitudes that reinforce it, but on the other hand they were treating Saburo so poorly, like he was not even a son of theirs, that it was just being appalling.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading The Third Son, I cannot recommend it enough. It has a wonderful sense of culture and setting with its use of history and current events of the time, but at the heart of the story is one character trying to find some measure of acceptance with the family who seemingly disregarded him all his life.