3★
“She thinks of Ba salting his game. Of salt to scour iron. Of salt in an open wound, a burn that purifies. Salt to clean and salt to save. Salt on a rich man’s table every Sunday, a flavor to mark the passage of the week. Salt shrinking the flesh of fruit and meat both, changing it, buying time.”

Lucy and Sam have gone over a hilltop and seen a salt flat on the other side. They are twelve and eleven, on their own, leaving the mining country where they’ve been raised. They are outcasts from the mining camp near where they lived. The first part of their ‘escape’ is like something out of Cormac McCarthy or Quentin Tarantino. Gross and grisly. I won’t go into that.

I began to seriously question why I was reading this when I got to this part on page 24. They load a trunk “long as a man is tall” onto the back of a horse.

“Sam throws rope over Nellie’s back, ties some slipknots. Sam only grunts, putting a shoulder under the trunk to heave it up. Sam’s brown face goes red, then purple from effort. Lucy lends her shoulder too. The trunk slips into a loop of rope. . .”

Kids can have enough trouble slinging a heavy saddle over a horse, and that's designed to slip into place. A trunk? No way. And Nellie is not a packhorse or mule that might be used to this kind of handling. She is not even their horse who is used to them. Enough about horses.

We learn that they are ‘different’, and we’ve heard bullies call them Chinks. Foreign. Strange. But Ba, their father was actually born ‘here’ and raised by the local native tribe. Ma came from across the water, but it’s a long time into the story before we have some idea of what her background is.

“Home sounds like a fairy tale that Ma reads from a secret fourth book, written on the backs of her shut eyelids. Ma speaks of fruit that grows in the shape of stars. Green rocks harder and rarer than gold. She speaks the unpronounceable name of the mountain where she was born.”

The book opens with the family settling into a hut of sorts while Ba works in the coal mines. The gold had run out and coal was what was worth money – for the mine owners, not for the workers. But Ba insists that this is only temporary. They are prospectors, not miners. There’s a hierarchy and a class system everywhere, and they are the lowliest of the low.

In the beginning, Ba and Ma are presented one way, but later, as the children learn the truth of their relationship, it changes the way we interpret what we read before. That's interesting, but it wasn't enough to keep my attention. (Maybe I was still fixated on the trunk.)

I was also becoming annoyed with what I think of as writing-school writing. By that I mean, exercises in putting odd words together to create interesting phrases to attract attention. Some people create wonderful word pictures, but they are apt and enhance the story and move it forward. I really dislike unnecessary metaphors and similes, especially those that are forced and/or don't really make sense. I feel like they were collected and saved up but don't fit.

I believe the author is well regarded and this book is being touted as a prize-winner, so I will leave that to others to decide. These are a few phrases that some people will love but which annoy me.

“What he consumed seemed only to feed his temper, which stuck to his side like a faithful old cur.”
. . .

“Sam’s tapping an angry beat come morning, but Lucy, before they go, feels a need to speak. Silence weighs harder on her, pushes till she gives way.”
. . .

“Sam commences to talk as if speech is a coin hoarded for these past three months.”

I chose to read this because I usually enjoy reading about migrants settling into different cultures but never being accepted because they look different. That means they don’t look like northern Europeans. Why that should be the default appearance for acceptable migrants to the United States (and Australia, where I live now) is beyond me. Both countries have many generations of Asians, particularly Chinese, and both are the better for it. But fifth-generation people who ‘look’ Asian are still asked “Where do you come from?” And the answer “San Francisco” or “Sydney” isn’t enough.

I did read the whole book, and I'm sure there will be plenty of fans. I'm just not one of them. Thanks to NetGalley and Virago for the preview copy from which I’ve quoted.

My thanks to Little Brown Book Group/Virago for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘How Much of These Hills are Gold’ by C Pam Zhang in exchange for an honest review.

After the death of their father (Ba), who has followed their mother (Ma), Lucy and Sam, twelve and eleven, are suddenly orphaned and are forced to go on the run. They carry with them their father's body through an unforgiving landscape, “dotted with giant buffalo bones and tiger paw prints”; searching for a place to give him a proper burial.

Set in the American West during the 1860s Gold Rush, this is a debut work of literary fiction with elements of magical realism (tigers and jackals roam the wilderness rather than cougars and coyotes). It follows these two Chinese-American siblings as they search for their place in a society that is hostile to them in various ways.

In Part Two the narrative moves back three years when their father was prospecting for gold. Part Three has their father relating the story of how he met their mother. The final part takes place five years after the siblings’ first journey as they reconnect after an absence.

It is written in rich, lyrical prose that is undoubtedly beautiful though I found it quite dense and that it demanded a close reading.

This was a novel that certainly impressed me for its style, imagery, and powerful coming-of-age story. Yet this was an intellectual appreciation and I found it somewhat hard to connect emotionally with its narrative. That changed some over the course of the novel as I came to know Lucy and Sam and the author’s style.

It is a multilayered novel that I feel I only scratched the surface of. I expect that I would benefit from rereading it at a more leisurely pace or an immersive read/listen in order to better appreciate its themes, symbolism, and language.

This is definitely a novel that I would expect to see in consideration for literary prizes, such as the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2021.

Certainly recommended as a bold work of historical literary fiction.

The fact that this is a debut novel is astounding. Exquisitely written and heartbreakingly beautiful, Lucy and Sam's journey to find themselves and their true home in the aftermath of their Ba's death is a long, arduous tale. Set in non-chronological timelines, the orphans lives and journey is told brilliantly. Very different to what I normally read but a very welcome change, I only wish I'd have concentrated a little harder with this book! There are some parts that I found a little confusing or went over my head, especially the ending but I still really enjoyed How Much of These Hills Is Gold and I would definitely recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley, C Pam Zhang and Little, Brown Book Group UK for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

An immigrant family, disappointed and broken, desperate and full of longing for better things are part of this wild country. Its cruelty and beauty are part of their story. The two siblings share a history full of tales of tigers and buffalo and, a distant country which is theirs, but not theirs beckons, but is also strange to them. Their future is also unknowable, as they undertake a journey together to bury their past and look for new ways to see themselves. They are as confused and changeable as the march of progress, which brings the railroad to the west, but can’t retrieve the old way of life and wilderness.
Loneliness exists in the faces of those condemned to be forever outsiders, despite a place of birth connected to this land. The elusiveness of the buffalo and tales of tigers speak of a lost connection with the wild. The journey is as much a search for that as it is a search for their place in the world.
This is a beautiful novel, the language wonderfully sparse and full of longing.for a lost innocence. I really recommend it and personally could jump straight back to the beginning and read it again.

I don't know how to start this review and I don't think I can summarise how I felt reading this story and how wonderful it is.
It's a great reading experience, one of those book you won't forget and would start to read again as soon as you can.
The great style of writing, the vivid background and the excellent cast of characters makes this book a wonderful reading experience.
It's also full of food for thought and questions. Topics like sibling rivalry, relationship, racial tensions can makes you think and look for an answer.
There's no answer in this book and you will search thinking about what you read.
Excellent and brilliant, highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

There are so many themes in this book: identity, belonging, loss, home, loneliness. I’ve always been fascinated by the history of the gold rush, the building of the railways and the use of Chinese immigrants to complete this work. What does it mean to be displaced in a new and cruel land? How do you ever belong? Who can you trust? I am lucky enough to have lived a very settled life, but what happens if you have no roots? If you have no home and are not welcome wherever you go? To leave your history behind, knowing it counts for less than nothing? This book was quite unsettling to me because it raises so many questions, without necessarily providing answers. A very powerful and thought-provoking read. Many thanks to Netgalley for an arc of this booK.

Lucy (12) and Sam (9) are newly orphaned children of oriental immigrants escaping from a mining town where their parents have failed to make their fortune during the mid 19th century gold rush in the western USA. They carry with them the corpse of their father, Ba, looking for a burial site which would satisfy their eastern traditions. The narrative of their wandering is punctuated with description of the family back story, which provides the perspective necessary to understand the motivation and behaviour of the children.

The author blends Chinese symbolism and mythology with real events in the wild west. If, like me, you are puzzled by references to tigers in the USA, it is because this is a reimagined history. The tigers are not real and exist together with buffalos and other realities in the author’s imagined world.

How Much of These Hill is Gold is not just an exceptionally good read, it is an experience that will not be quickly forgotten. The story telling and imagery are truly beautiful. The novel explores the universal issues of racial discrimination, family tensions, sibling rivalry, hope, adversity and yearning for home in this particular and unusual setting.

I finished this book two days ago and yet certain images from it continue to haunt me: the buffalo bones, the dust, the tiger paw prints and mostly, the flecks of gold. It is these flecks of gold that drive many individuals and families from all over the globe to seek their fortune trying to find still in the aftermath of the American old rush. This fortune proves allusive and potentially destructive, leaving us to question what we should really hold to be valuable.
Samantha and Lucy are siblings whose family came to America in search of this fortune and are trying to find out who they are in a world that is incredibly hostile. The non-linear narrative introduces the reader to the sisters once their father has died from grief and alcoholism, their mother having abandoned them unable to cope with the life of mining and prospecting. A life she was little aware she would be facing after having crossed the ocean. They are trying to bury their father the best way they know however come up against many obstacles not just in terms of the racist attitudes that prevail in the attitudes of those around them who claim ‘this is our land’ but also the brutality and unforgiving nature of the landscape. It chokes, it pushes and pulls. It is oblivious and uncaring to the toils of humanity.
The landscape dominates the novel as something that draws people to it and as something that is impossible to escape from. The heat and its oppressiveness offering very little that can sustain life seems also to be a metaphorical representation of the lives of the villagers who try to live off it. It seems everyone is a victim however it is the women of this novel who seem to be the ones who suffer the most greatly. Their bodies are beaten, bruised; either perpetually pregnant or there for the gratification of men however this is not a novel without hope. Both Sam and Lucy, in their different ways, seem to forge their own path. The novel is viscerally haunting. A novel about survival, identity and finding your own home within a world that is in constant turmoil and change. Truly remarkable.

This a very well written, original and engaging story about Lucy and Sam, two siblings who find themselves orphaned in the post gold mining boom of California in 1862. They set off to find 'home' and a burial site for their father.

I enjoyed this book but the ending fell flat for me and left me disappointed. Or is there going to be a sequel?

I think readers of historical fiction, family saga's or Asian folklore will enjoy this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and the published for this ARC.

I absolutely loved this book. It took me a little while to get into it, but by a few pages into the second part, I was hooked. The prose is beautiful, the story is completely unique and engaging and the characters leap off the page. This is a completely new way of looking at the mythology of the American West, and Zhang is pulling out a piece of history that has been underexplored. Heartbreaking, inspiring and thrilling in equal measure, this is one of my favourite reads for a long time.

"How Much Of These Hills Is Gold" is a stunning debut. C Pam Zhang has a beautiful turn of phrase as she shows us the lives of a family of Chinese immigrants. It's a story about love, violence, exploitation, a sense of belonging and the struggle to survive.

This novel is getting a lot of well deserved hype. It's an unusual story and the structure is well executed but I'm not sure it made the novel stronger. I think I may have preferred if it was more chronological but this is a small criticism.

The nuance and subtlety with which the inner workings of family life are shown is the strength of the novel. The small moments and the large are deftly portrayed.

It isn't a heavily plotted novel and takes its time in descriptions of landscape which I'll admit aren't always my thing, but they're done here as well as I've come across.

I'm not sure how I was meant to feel at the end and the ending didn't resonate with me. Still, I look forward to more of the author's work. My thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Most unfortunately this did not work for me, though I had expected that it should. The writers voice felt a little contrived, I was aware of the effects she was trying to achieve, rather than dynamically feeling the effects. Some of what she was up to also felt rather like 'shocks' or reversals being deliberately kept from the reader - can't say more, for fear of spoilers, but, it gave me the feeling of being somewhat manipulated. Of course all art does carefully manipulate its audience, a writer must know what they are trying to do, but ideally the reader suspends disbelief because they are engaged, and only thinks about the mechanics of craft later

Took me a while to click with the book and it's not a cheerful read but still a very good one. The story of immigrants in a strange land fighting for survival. Lucy and Sam are both very strong women but somehow some of the age old problems still haunt them, I wish I could have understood the Chinese phrases, maybe that was the point- to make me feel disconnected too. A very bitter sweet book and the ending too. I found myself wanting clarification.
There are some formatting issues but they didn't detract too much to prevent me enjoying the book

This is an extraordinarily confident and challenging debut novel. With elements of both magic realism and Cormac McCarthy, it charts the coming of age of two Chinese American girls during the late Gold Rush era. With prose that is rich and vibrant, we follow the two girls, Lucy and Sam, as they set out on a trek to bury their father according to Chinese tradition.

At the heart of this novel, is a wonderful story about families and the bonds that bind them and like so many novelists with a Chinese background, Ms Zhang is a natural storyteller. As such, despite the abject poverty in which the family live, the constant racism they face and the tribulations of their journey (and rite of passage), I was so involved in the story, that I found the overall impact uplifting and ultimately optimistic.

The novel wasn’t perfect. There were times, particularly in the last of the 4 sections, when I felt I was reading the final submission for a doctorate in creative writing rather than a novel, and for me, the gender identity sub-plot, didn’t really work and was a nod to current thinking rather than an integral component of the book.
However, these are minor considerations. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, would recommend it enthusiastically and look forward to the author’s next novel.

Atmospheric, haunting and philosophical, I enjoyed this read, and the more I read the more I liked it.

Ma, Ba, Sam and Lucy are poor - working as coal miners in a land where gold is sought; Ba prospects when he can and eventually falls upon a streak of gold. All soon goes wrong, and Lucy and Sam find themselves hiking through the landscape searching for a future.

All along, the ties of the individuals to the land are so so strong, however they try to escape their position, the land draws them back. The environment itself is the biggest presence in this novel - the mountains, plains, grass - they are what you will remember from this read.

This book sets its scene well and describes the barrenness of the area and the lifestyle of its occupants sensitively. I found the story lacking in interest and it was hard to read to the end.

Set towards the end of the goldrush in the American west, this tells the storiy of 2 young Chinese American children and their journey to find a home, following the death of their father. It examines the relationship of both deceased parents and its impact on them both. It carries the legends/traditions from their Chinese heritage into their subsequent life. It is a beautiful coming of age story, told against a uniquely harsh background of poverty and environment. A life that progresses through barter and encounters that would prove daunting to even intrepid adults. Totally captivating

This is a beautifully-written, somewhat poetic novel set in America’s west. Lucy and Sam are the daughters of Chinese immigrants, surviving in a tough time, and making their way in the world.

The novel begins with the girls’ father (Ba) dying. The mother (Ma) has already passed away. What begins is a journey further west, with the girls taking their father’s body to lay him to rest.

Zhang doesn’t mention actual places - she refers to east and west - so readers are, to an extent, clueless as to where the story is set exactly. However, one learns of the turbulent times in which it is set, with Lucy and Sam’s family being treated poorly due to their unusual skin colour - and all of the ignorance surrounding this.

The novel moves back in time when both Ba and Ma were alive; when Ma became pregnant again; and, how the desperation to have food on the table led to furtive behaviour, particularly regarding searching for gold. At times, it is a little confusing - almost ethereal, perhaps, hence the poetic comment at the start of this review.

I enjoyed this but feel that it labours a little - and parts of the plot and storyline are too drawn-out, maybe very much like life at the time. Zhang creates a world that is alien to modern readers but its evocative nature makes this compelling.

I’ve read many novels set in the days of the Gold Rush but never quite like this before. We see that time, the excitement, disappointment and longing through the eyes of two Chinese-American siblings, 12 year old Lucy and 11 year old Sam. Through the four sections of the book, we follow them in a non-linear narrative as it flows from one, then the other as we see their journey as outsiders not just in a country but in a time of economic excitement.

What I really enjoyed here was the way the author mixed in myth and mysticism, folklore and culture in a way I’d never read before. The American dream seen through the eyes of Chinese Immigrants.

There was a lot to like here, including the Chinese cultural references, the idea of immigration, leaving ones home, finding a new one and dealing with racism along the way. Very relevant today when the Americans feel as if these newcomers are stealing their jobs and potential wealth.
The language of the novel simply adds to its weaving, lyrical yet hard-hitting message.