Yeh Yeh's House
I haven't finished Evelina Chao's memoir of her late Chinese intellectual grandfather and her trip with her mother to China. But so far I'm fascinated. Chao, a professional viola player in Minnesota, spins a tail of family intrigue, immigrant machinations and political repression that, like all good memoirs, reads like a novel. I woke up early on Christmas morning at my in-law's farm in rural Colombia. As a contemplated the strangeness of my year-long trip to my late husband's country, I dipped into Chao's similar sojourn. To put it simply, I could really relate.