Jennifer Lin

This book is basically a history/memoir of one Chinese Christian family from Shanghai. The book starts with the conversion of the family patriarch in the 1880's. This man was a peasant with no education. He hitched his star to that of the English Episcopalian missionaries from Ireland and Wales who came to China in the late 1880's. His conversion was genuine, by all accounts, but he also wanted his children to get a good education. Towards that end he left his farm and went to work for these missionaries. All of his children got educations, as did his grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Most of them were educated in Western Church schools in China and then in the U. S. By the 1940's everybody in the family was a college graduate either in China or the U. S. The major character in this family, Lin Pu Chi was educated at St. Johns University in Philadelphia and was an ordained Episcopalian priest. The chain of well educated children was broken in the Cultural Revolution when the family was declared to be enemies of the state and many of the family members, including teenagers, were sent, or volunteered for, reeducation placements. These teenagers were unable to go to college so their educations were retarded for 10 years. Eventually, they did go to universities and many of them went to western universities in Australia and the U. S. It is a remarkable story and very well written. The author was a reporter who worked for the Philadelphia Inquirer and was based in China for 5 years. She and her father began tracking her family and she spent years searching in archives for letters, magazine articles, and other ephemera having to do with the history of her family. The writing was outstanding, making this a very readable book. It should have a wider audience than it does. The fact that it is published by an academic press may give readers the mistaken impression that this book is a scholarly tome. It is not. It compares favorably to Jung Chung's "Wild Swans" or other books and memoirs about the experience of living in Modern China and in particular what happened to middle class families during the Cultural Revolution.… (mehr)

Sole Sisters by Jennifer Lin is filled with short stories contributed by accomplished and recreational runners alike. It addresses how running can strengthen bonds between women, issues women face as runners such as eatings disorders among competitive young girls, and how running has helped women overcome life's obstacles (cancer, death, divorce, etc.).

It is a small book, and a quick read, but the stories are often filled with emotion and meaning making it a valuable book for any female runner from novice to racing veteran.… (mehr)