28 Feb Review: The Immortal Woman
The Immortal Woman
Written by: Su Chang
House of Anansi Press Inc, 2025
ISBN: 9781487013172 (paperback)
9781487013189 (EPUB)
$24.99 CAD (paperback)
$19.99 CAD (EPUB)
384 pages
Ages: 17 years and older
Review by: Hannah Weaver
The Immortal Woman spans multiple generations, beginning with Lemei, a student Red Guard leader in 1960s Shanghai. As a journalist, she witnesses an act during the Tiananmen Square protests that sparks her determination for her daughter, Lin, to move to America and remove all trace of her Chinese identity. In America (and later Canada), Lin attempts just this, but eventually faces the reality of being a Chinese-born immigrant in North America and what it means to erase her heritage. While character development is at times lacking and the vocabulary choice occasionally jarring, Su Chang paints a complex picture of intergenerational trauma and the meaning of home. This book assumes a certain level of historical knowledge, and contains some violent and sexual content, appropriate for readers 17+. There are no illustrations. A PDF guide with discussion questions is available on the publisher’s website.