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Susan McBeth’s
TRAVEL BY THE BOOK

“China Dolls” by Lisa See

he promise of instant, unimaginable wealth their dreams, but also to keep hidden secrets they have
lured hundreds of thousands of Forty-Niners learned to bury in a world of distrust.
to California in the mid-nineteenth century. By portraying the girls as the serious artists they con-
TWhile most arrived in covered wagons, cross- sider themselves to be in a debauched environment
ing plains and hills, moun- that does not hesitate to take
tains and deserts, many also advantage of their wont for suc-
traveled by ship across per- cess,
ilous and unforgiving seas
in search of what Chinese See successfully renders an au-
immigrants called the “Gold thentic historical narrative of
Mountain.” A few lucky pre-WWII “Orientals.” The nar-
souls did indeed strike it rative is peppered with ancillary
rich, but for most, disap- characters, both historical and
pointment and despair were fictive, who strengthen that
the only payoff earned in rendering, including the brief-
“them thar hills.” est of appearances by Ronald
Reagan and Errol Flynn.
And what of those Chinese
immigrants and their Gold When the Japanese attack Pearl
Mountain? Perhaps you Harbor, the fear and paranoia
should turn to New York it generates invades their in-
Times bestselling author ner circle, as Ruby is sent to
Lisa See, whose great-great an internment camp, and ru-
grandfather was integral in mors and innuendos abound
the founding of Chinatown as to who may have betrayed
Los Angeles, and who has her. This is where See is at her
branded herself as an au- best, weaving the intricacies of
thoritative storyteller of the strained friendships, unravel-
Chinese immigrant with her ing secrets, and impending war
deeply-layered characters that generate a strong under-
who reward readers with a current of suspicion. Are the
rich historicity of fiction. girls truly friends, or have they merely been using each
other to pursue their own respective ambitions?
In her most recent novel, China Dolls (Random House,
2014), written in alternating first-person voices by Yet for all their tribulations, the remuneration these
three friends--traditional Helen who comes from a early Chinese immigrants bequeathed is a veritable
successful merchant family in San Francisco, dreamer cornucopia of Chinese food and culture, perhaps not
Grace who escaped from an abusive home in the Mid- the Gold Mountain they originally sought out, but a
west, and fierce Ruby, who is actually Japanese but treasure indeed. So if you are planning a trip along the
posing as Chinese--See recreates the Chinese immi- Left Coast, stop and enjoy the multi-sensorial explo-
grant world of 1938 San Francisco. sion of food, culture, history, art, architecture, and
shopping that is now Chinatown Los Angeles and Chi-
Initially bonded over their common stigma as outsid- natown San Francisco. And take a moment to bow in
ers, and exacerbated by the physical attributes that gratitude to the China Dolls whose sacrifices, challeng-
do not allow them to hide their heritage in a biased es, and determination helped make it all possible.
land, the girls vow to remain steadfast and loyal. They
join the “Chop Suey Circuit,” becoming entertainers ~By Susan McBeth
in forbidden nightclubs in an effort to not only fulfill

Wine Dine & Travel Winter 2015 67