Reviewed by Lianne on
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.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 26 June, 2014: Finished reading
- 26 June, 2014: Reviewed