Dreams of Joy (2011) (edit title/settings)

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Summary edit see section history

Characters/People edit see section history

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• Joy: Daughter of Pearl and mother of Samantha.
• Pearl: The woman who has raised Joy as her own daughter, even though she is her aunt. She loves Joy enough to follow her to China to try to find her and bring her back.
• Li Zhi-ge or Z.G.: Joy's biological father and a well-known artist in China.
• Tao: A young man in the Green Dragon Village whom Joy meets. He is somewhat of an artist.
• Dun: He is a professor and a boarder in May and Pearl's Shanghai home. He knew them when they were just girls.
• Cook: He was the cook for May and Pearl's family when they lived in Shanghai, and he is still living in their family home.
• Wu: The bureaucrat that Pearl meets with to obtain travel permits
• Kumei: A young woman in the Green Dragon Village who befriends Joy.
• May: Joy's birth mother, but she gave Joy up to be raised by Pearl. Joy knows her as Auntie May.
• Samantha: Daughter of Joy and Tao.
• Yong: An older woman who lives with Kumei in the Green Dragon Village. Whe was a wife of the landowner and has bound feet.
• Madame Hu: An elderly woman and friend of May and Pearl's mother whom they knew growing up in Shanghai.
• Chairman Mao: The leader of China (the actual historical person)
• Leon Lee: The American-Chinese boy Joy's mother has always tried to get her to marry.
• Vern: May's husband, he is childlike.
• Tommy: Add a description of this character.
• Louie Yun: A relative of Pearl's husband. Still lives in a village in China.
• Peng
• Hazel: A friend of Joy's in Los Angeles.
• Brigade Leader Lai: The head of the commune where Joy and Tao are living.
• Ta-ming: Kumei's son.
• Sung-ling: A woman at the commune. Has a baby just a week before Joy has hers.
• Party Secretary Feng Jin
• Comrade Ping-li
• Fu-shee
• Jie Jie: Tao's sister.
• Joe Kwok
• Comrade Yikai
• Agent Sanders
• Comrade Li
• Grandfather Louie
• Comrade Feng Rui
• Chou En-lai
• Violet

Quotes edit see section history

• “Eventually, the only things left will be dust and memories.”

  Pearl

• “Fate can't be second guessed.”

  Auntie Hu

• “So much sadness and heartache, no? And yet we have to go on living.”

• “it's as if they are dragging great shadows of memories behind them.”

• “Hard work for a few years, happiness for a thousand.”

  Chairman Mao

• “The spear hits the bird that sticks its head out.”

• “People are shaped by the earth and water around them.”

  Z.G.

• “Sometimes it's just so damn hard to be a mother.”

  Pearl

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• As she spoke, I wanted to cry, because sometimes it’s just so damn hard to be a mother. We have to wait and wait and wait for our children to open their hearts to us. And if that doesn’t work, we have to bide our time and look for the moment of weakness when we can sneak back into their lives and they will see us and remember us for the people who love them unconditionally.

  Highlighted by 338 Kindle customers

• “Seeing something once is better than hearing about it a hundred times. Doing something once is better than seeing it a hundred times.”

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• I thought I could use idealism to solve my inner conflicts, but in healing my inner conflicts I destroyed my idealism.

  Highlighted by 133 Kindle customers

• She’s chosen a life I wouldn’t pick, but it is her life and she’s going to have to figure things out for herself—as a woman. It kills me to let her go, but it’s the best and only thing I can do as her mother.

  Highlighted by 131 Kindle customers

• “Always show the greatest kindness to the ones you like the least. If you show kindness to your mother-in-law, who like all women has been bred to hate her daughter-in-law, then you will create an obligation she will never be able to repay.”

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• The realization that truth, forgiveness, and goodness are more important than revenge, condemnation, and cruelty gives me courage and certainty.

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• Blessing and worry, happiness and fear—this is a mother’s love.

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• No matter what you’re feeling or how desperate you become, always take a moral position. If you do that, God will watch over you.”

  Highlighted by 83 Kindle customers

• Give a low man one ounce of power and he’ll throw ten thousand pounds of bricks on your head.

  Highlighted by 79 Kindle customers

• Mothers suffer; children do what they want. I look over at Tao’s family.

  Highlighted by 19 Kindle customers

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Shanghai
• New China
• Hong Kong
• Canton
• Los Angeles
• Chinatown
• America
• Peking
• Wah Hong Village
• Green Dragon
• People's Republic Of China
• United States
• Chicago
• Red China
• Hangchow
• South China
• New Society
• Soviet Union

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Glossary edit see section history

• jie jie: older sister
• shie-shie: thank you
• ch'i yun: breath resonance in a couplet
• hai pah: unique sense of style
• ai-jen: beloved
• guan-hsi: connections, networking among people
• jin: a monetary unit
• mu: an agricultural unit
• erhu: an instrument played upright in one's lap
• tuanyuan: reunion. literally, perfect circle.
• yuan: a monetary unit
• ai-kuo: love for country
• kung ai: encompassing love

Series & Lists edit see section history

Preceded by Shanghai Girls.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Lisa See (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PS3569.E3334 D75 2011
• Dewey: 813

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Genre Fiction › Historical
• Books › Literature & Fiction › World Literature › Chinese