15. Kerry Young, the author of Pao , moved from Jamaica to England in 1965, much like Pao’s daughter Mui. How does Young portray Mui in the novel? Why does Mui remain attached to her father and to Jamaica, even as a barrister in England? The novel ends just before Mui’s homecoming to Jamaica. How does this ending feel?
Suggested reading
Cristina Garcia, Monkey Hunting ; Ha Jin, Waiting ; Anchee Min, Pearl of China ; Jean Kwok, Girl in Translation ; Edwidge Danticat, The Dew Breaker ; Junot Diaz, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao ; Jamaica Kincaid, Annie John ; Julia Alvarez, In the Time of Butterflies ; Lisa See, Shanghai Girls ; Henry Chang, Chinatown Beat ; Beverley Manley, The Manley Memoirs ; Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Kerry Young was born in Kingston, Jamaica, to a Chinese-African mother and a Chinese father, a businessman in Kingston’s shadow economy who provided inspiration for Pao. Young moved to England in 1965 at the age of ten. She earned her MA in creative writing at Nottingham Trent University. This is her first novel.
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