Precious Silver Chopsticks by Mae Adams
Precious Silver Chopsticks is a real-life story, a kaleidoscopic tapestry interwoven with threads of the lives of these family members:
Grandpa, a descendant of a Chinese imperial scholar and a Korean princess, was a landlord, herbal medicine doctor, a Christian minister, and a Kung Fu instructor.
Grandma, a commoner, and ex-sea-diver raised Mae and gave her the silver chopsticks to symbolize her love.
Father, a prodigy and a musician, suffered from tuberculosis.
Mother, the daughter of a nobleman, was a college graduate when society considered women as second-class citizens. Her relationship with Mae was stormy.
Little-Pa, a mathematical genius, loved Mae like a father.
Big-Sis, Mae’s older sister, was a movie star in the 1950s.
Intaek, Mae’s little brother, was a commercial designer-artist.
Mae, the useless second daughter, is the narrator of this book.
A U.S. Marine Colonel, Hewitt Dayne Adams, commanded the First Marine Regiment during the Korean War and later married Mae.
Mae uses ironic humor to tell us about the Korean spirit and culture through her birth and education, her father’s death and his funeral, Grandpa’s sixtieth birthday, and a Korean wedding that coincides with the Japanese occupation. After World War II, the family escapes to South Korea at the personal loss of Grandma. Her story of the Korean War from a refugee’s point of view and survival through the indescribable chaos is vivid and heartbreaking.
The telling of her life story—the good, the bad, and all in truth—was an arduous task that demanded much emotional exertion. Since English is Mae’s fourth language, she wrote this book from her heart, out of love and gratitude for her grandma and husband. You will get some insight into other people’s lives lived in different corners of our world at another time in history through the journey of this book.
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