Bambi Nancy Shen

This is an interesting autobiography of a woman with Chinese parents who was raised in Vietnam, attended French schools, graduated from a Catholic college, and went from a young girl told she was ugly and unlovable by her mother to a confident, intelligent, and courageous woman. The path was certainly not straight. While her life itself took many different routes, the background of WWII, the Chinese Civil War, and the Vietnam War complicate her life; they also add a depth of world-wide historical events to the life of one young woman.

Bambi Shen's mother never forgave her for being a female. It is difficult to understand how a mother could be so openly mean to her own child, but it is easy to see how early words spoken to a child affect decisions many years later. The author's parents were never poor and had many political connections in China in Vietnam which at times was an advantage and at other times a disadvantage. Through the Catholic Church, Ms. Shen received a scholarship to a small Catholic college in Tennessee. Arriving in America fully fluent in French but with textbook English and little knowledge of American ways, she worked hard at learning to be an American which at times was the exact opposite of the way she had been raised. An outstanding and hardworking student, but still unsure and fighting feelings of unworthiness, she stumbled into a bad marriage but one that produced two sons. Her married life took her from Tennessee to Springfield, MO and to the small Missouri towns of Butler and Warsaw where she not only learned to cope but learned to develop friendships and confidence.

Finally out of the marriage, she married a second time as a marriage of convenience for both herself and her husband who was marrying her as a front for his homosexuality. This marriage brings her to the University of Missouri-Kansas City where she finished her master's degree in French Language and Literature. Throughout her life as an American she still feels bound to her mother now living in Taiwan. This book is a personal example of the deeply held traditions and obligations of a Chinese family.

Although not particularly well written with huge jumps in the story line, this book is definitely a fascinating look at one woman's very remarkable life which spans many decades and two cultures combined with the usual daily routines of life and the unusual twists and turns that her life has taken.… (mer)