Interestingly, Kingston begins the book with two distinctive chapters. Unlike the rest of the book, these two chapters are relatively homogenous, sticking with one form, voice, structure and tone throughout. The first chapter is the fable of the Land of Women. I didn?t understand this chapter until the last sentences, when it seemed as though Kingston was saying that coming to North America emasculated the Chinese men who made the journey to the Gold Mountain.

If Kingston?s main theme is that the journey to North America emasculated the Chinese Men, then from a reader?s perspective I?m not sure if the book delivers on this promise. To put a fable with a very obvious moral at the beginning of the book seems to me to set up a contract with the reader about the subject or theme of the book. Although, Kingston explores many different aspects of the Chinese experience in North America, and even starts to explore the ways that China Men were oppressed, I?m not sure she completely proves her case in my mind. I could be wrong, however.

Interestingly, the second chapter of the book is another short one, this time a nearly pure piece of memoir. Alone, this chapter seems to set up the author?s own relationship with Chinese men. By mistaking another man for her father, she seems to be saying from the beginning of the book that from her perspective Chinese men are nearly interchangeable. But interestingly, she isn?t the only one who makes the mistake. All the children in that scene mistake the strange man for their father. I like this chapter placed here because it contrasts nicely with the fable/story in the first chapter. The first chapter is told at a distance by a storyteller/narrator. The second chapter is told first person from our main narrator?s voice.

Kingston returns to this theme several more times in the book. On page 217, she remarks that one of her Uncles looks just like her father. Interestingly, Uncle Bun is also completely forgotten, erased from her sister?s memory only a few years after he leaves. Kingston often hints at how distant and interchangeable the China Men were to her and to the women of her family. At other times she explores her narrator?s perceptions that China Men have no heart, no emotions.

One of Kingston?s greatest strengths, in my opinion, is her ability to weave in all sorts of other stories into the narrative of her story -- presenting a mosaic of memoirs, possibilities, facts, essays, fables, legends, ghost stories, scenes and reporting -- that all add up to a complete picture of the lives of the China Men who came to the United States. On page 49, she starts one version of a trip to the US with, ?I think this is the journey you don?t tell me:? She then recounts the tale of the father?s arrival in the US as a stowaway. But like The French Lieutenant?s Woman, she (Kingston) also gives us another, more ordinary version of the father?s emigration. I don?t know which one is ?real? and which one is imagined and, frankly, I don?t care. The fact that some Chinese used each of these methods is credible enough to keep my disbelief suspended and keep me in the story.

Aside from extremely in-depth in history and Chinese culture, the stories are especially fun to read. I can only describe them as totally fantastic, bizarre, and unbelievable.Do you know the Chinese had found a place called"Land of Women" ? There was also communist Uncle Bun who suspected the U.S. government was plotting to poison him by collecting garbage from every door and hiding them in his food. Yes, these interesting stories have significant meaning related to the actual history. Not all of them are funny though; there are also stories that are terrifyingly shocking such as the inhuman tortures the Japanese did to Chinese and the bias laws America had toward Chinese. There are also side stories and fairy tales of all kinds from Chinese ghost stories to a lesson by Li Fu-yen which added a savor to the book. Anyone who read China Men would view life different than before.

I recommend China Men to people who have a desire to understand Chinese culture and learn how America culture affected them. However,the book is so abstract and arbitrary that it is hard to understand. Warning, it is not an easy book to read. If you feel you are confused, read several times more. There are many amazing truths of life in China Men, which are subtle but such a waste to miss.

At the beginning, I had some trouble understanding the plot, because I did not realize that this book is divided into lots of short stories rather than one complete story. In the event, I thought it makes a lot more sense, and the book a lot more readable.

This is also a humorous book, and there are parts where I literally laughed. An example would be the sugar story, where the policeman had mistaken the word Sook-ah, meaning old man, for sugar. However, foreigners might miss the catch of humor.

It is easy to get mixed up with the different characters since many of the names were similar, such as Ah Goong, Say Goong, Kau Goong, Ngee Bak, Bak Sook Goong, Bak Goong and Sahm Goong. It would be a pity if some of the readers may get confused. Another thing is that the narrator seems to be the same person in every story, which adds to the confusion.

Although this is a fascinating book, Kingston did not seem to truly understand the Chinese culture. For example, she said that "Hong Kong people are more refined than us (Chinese from China) and don't say old lady for wife or old rooster for husband.". However, this is certainly not true, Hong Kong people today still use these old sayings. At least my parents do so.

Lastly, I would not recommend you to read this book, if you have no idea of what was going on in World War II, Korean War and the Vietnam War. This is because the last story The Brother in Vietnam would seem very confusing and might make you frustrated. Also, a communist might feel disturbed by the satirization of communists, and how the communists were degraded.