 "I enjoyed this book." | 2010-05-31 |
| - Reviewed By Jos M. Hohmann from Media, PA United States |
| I read a lot of historical fiction, and I also read to be entertained. This book "fit the bill". It also made me stop and think, now and then. |
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 "How to value a life?" | 2010-03-20 |
| - Reviewed By lifeo'books from Stl, MO, US |
| What a great read! It took about 50 pages but once I was there, I was hooked. I love a book that asks a great question and then goes about building an answer. In this case, it's the question of the value of a life (and the value of not rushing to judgement). A child from rural northern Michigan falls into a void while chasing a deer. She is a trailer park kid and of Chinese/Am and Finnish/Am parents. How would you put a value on her life? This author masterfully leads you into 2000 years of intruiging stories of her ancestors--each better than the last. No man is an island and this book builds a legacy better than any I've read in a long time. |
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 "I had higher hopes" | 2010-01-03 |
| - Reviewed By Channibus from Near the beach |
| I had high expectations for this novel since the story line was original and fascinating. However, I felt that I had to force myself along to read the upcoming chapters, hoping it would be more interesting than the previous chapters. This never happened for me. I got halfway through the book before I realized that it wasn't very enjoyable. Some books "hook" me in and unfortunately this book didn't do it for me. |
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| "Fantastic Novel Links Upper Michigan to World History" | 2009-04-19 |
| - Reviewed By Superior Book Promotions - Marquette Fiction from Marquette, MI USA |
"Ursula Under" is a dynamic novel about family, genealogy, history and how the world is a smaller place than we think in which we are all connected. Set in Upper Michigan, the story of Ursula Wong encompasses half the globe and shows how the lives of everyone, even in the remote Upper Peninsula, are intertwined with those of people across the world.
Two year old Ursula Wong, while on a picnic with her parents, falls down an old overgrown and hidden mine shaft. Immediately, rescue efforts begin and the media covers the story. While watching the media coverage on television, one woman asks, "Why are they wasting all that money and energy on a ___ half-breed trailer-trash kid?"
Author Ingrid Hill provides an astounding and life-confirming answer to that question by revealing the history of Ursula's family over twenty-three centuries, telling the stories of many of her ancestors, from a Chinese alchemist and his concubine to a Finnish girl who ends up being playmate to Queen Christina of Sweden. Hill reveals how closely linked the human race is through marriage and blood relationships, through neighbors, and through kindred spirits.
Hill's exploration of who Ursula Wong is becomes an exploration of who the human race is, of the frailty and chance occurrences that have put each of us here, and the similarities between us all that transcend issues of race, color, and class. If just one of Ursula's ancestors had not lived, or if just one of them had made different decisions about who to wed or where to live, she would not have been born.
Ursula Under builds layer by layer with interchanging chapters about her immediate family and tales of her ancestors. The generations that preceded her culminate in this moment of a little girl falling down a well. As readers cheer the rescue attempt to save Ursula, they cheer themselves and all the ancestors who came before, who struggled throughout their lives to achieve what may appear to be little, yet whose sacrifices, mistakes, dreams, and actions have culminated in everything we have today, in each precious life that is born. The reader senses that our ancestors' lives continue to flow through each of us, representing that none of us are truly alone.
A rare novel that transcends story to touch the spirit, "Ursula, Under" reminds us all of the significance of every human life. |
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 "not for me" | 2009-01-10 |
| - Reviewed By L. Pisani |
When I read the description on Amazon I thought the story sounded like the Red Violin and I love learning about history and time periods through character narratives. But this novel is a total snooze fest, I knew I didn't like it in the beginning before she fell in the shaft but I kept reading waiting for the other stories. We finally get to the ancient China part of the story and I'm still bored and end up flipping pages looking for something to happen, I was disappointed, I won't finish it. I give a two for effort.
For the people who liked it more power to ya but if you want to read a couple good stories from another culture try Pearl s. Buck's books, or Three Cups of Tea, or the Kite Runner.
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| "Very enjoyable book" | 2008-08-17 |
| - Reviewed By S_S from Phoenix, AZ |
| I bought this book by random chance at the airport a few years ago, and it is great - a wonderful story that weaves between Ursula's ancestor's lives and the present day. |
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