The Third Son

By: Julie Wu

Narrated by: David Shih

It's 1943. As air-raid sirens blare in Japanese-occupied Taiwan, eight-year-old Saburo is in no hurry to go home to the abuse he suffers at the hands of his parents and older brother. In the peach forests of Taoyuan, he encounters Yoshiko, whose loving family is like a glimpse of paradise for him. Their brief meeting is a memory he cherishes from that moment forward, and for years after he tries to locate her again. But when he finally does, she is by the side of his eldest brother and greatest rival.

As the Chinese Nationalist Army lays claim to the island after the war, Saburo bravely struggles to break free of the future assigned him by heritage and circumstance and to go in search of new frontiers.

©2013 Julie Wu. Recorded by arrangement with Algonquin Books of Chapel hill, a Division of Workman Publishing Company, Inc. (P)2013 HighBridge Company

What a long way to say nothing

While beautifully written, and anecdotally interesting for the setting and cultural references, at the end of the story, you’re left wondering what just happened? Nothing? Really? No information on how he or his car survived hanging off a cliff? No idea what he actually accomplished in his research?
Pretty disappointing with where we left off and lack of character or story arc