The Many Daughters of Afong Moy is an ambitious novel spanning multiple generations, and it explores the idea of how different generations are connected and how future generations can experience traumas and experiences from past generations.

I found this novel very interesting but at times it was a bit tedious. The chapters alternated between different generations and at times I had troubled keeping who was who straight especially since some of the chapters were long. This one is best read when you have more time to read more in one sitting.

Eventually everything comes full circle, and I found the ending satisfying. Overall I enjoyed this novel.

Excellent read! Well written and very interesting, not your usual novel. Jamie Ford keeps you thinking and writes about subjects you didn't know you would want to read. This one about mental health, but ties in beautiful stories together. Thought provoking, entertaining and always new twists.

I loved, loved, loved this book. Loved. It was a beautiful journey exploring the idea of past lives and how they interconnect with the present. It also visits the idea that those past lives influence our current ones, and since most of us are not aware of them, we may be doomed to repeat those past lives. This is the story of what might happen if you were aware of those past lives and were able to explore them in more detail and 'break the cycle' so to speak. The author does a great job at making you feel sympathy for all of the characters, making them relatable, and had me rooting for something good to happen to them. I will be recommending this book to all of my friends that enjoy reading.

I received a free advanced ebook of The Many Daughters of Afong Moy from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

Jamie Ford's latest novel is unlike anything I have read. He presents generations of women, mothers and daughters, who share memories which not only impact the originator of the memory but also the future viewer. Thus Ford's characters inherit not just the biological genetics of the mother; they also inherit and sometimes relive the experiences.

Afong Moy is born in a China where women's feet are bound and they meet their husbands on their wedding day. Her own marriage is arranged for her father's economic benefit and her future, already married, husband dies before the ceremony. To maintain the contract, Afong's marriage to a dead man proceeds. Now the property of her husband's family she is sold off to begin a life as a curiosity as the first Chinese woman in America. There she is victimized, ridiculed, raped, and isolated because of language and cultural differences. Her descendants, from the mid 19th century to the future, form the line of characters in this novel. (Afong Moy was a real person who traveled in carnival shows and with P.T. Barnum.)

Each of the female descendants of Afong faces a difficult life. Always there is something that makes each an outsider, somehow separate and different from her peers. For some, this difference is perceived as mental instability which just exacerbates the character's loneliness. My favorite descendant, Dorothy, is trapped in a loveless relationship but she does find true contentment with her artistic daughter, Annabel. Dorothy resides in an ugly Seattle future where weather events are extreme and potentially deadly. It is Dorothy, long troubled by the burden of memories which could not possibly be hers, who first explores epigenetics as a treatment.

Because I was reading this book over the holidays. I had lots on interruptions and not enough concentrated reading time. Consequently I found I had to reread some sections since Ford moves back and forth in time. Still, The Many Daughters of Afong Moy is a wonderful and enjoyable read.

Jamie Ford did it again. Another wonderful story. I loved all the women and how their stories connected. Highly recommend this book. Fascinating.

4.25. I am a huge fan of Jamie Ford; loved The Corner of Bitter and Sweet and Love and Other Consolation Prizes. This book did not disappoint although very unlike his earlier novels, perhaps more due to the subject matter, epigenesis. Simplistically as I am no expert, this has to do with how trauma or events can genetically impact subsequent generations. As with other of of Ford’s novels, it weaves back and forth between multiple generations of Asian women (focusing on six women of Chinese descent) over more than a hundred years ( from the 19th to 21st centuries), with traumatic events in their lives that impacted them but also is inherited by their descendants over several generations. It incorporates magical realism, dystopian and science fiction themes but also common threads of love (lost), mental illness, and discrimination, among others. There are common threads that bind these women through the generations, somewhat similar to Anthony Doer’s Cloud Cuckoo Land, but more easily followed. This novel is not at all contrived and is totally engrossing for those who can truly appreciate the depth that Mr. Ford is taking us on his interesting journey. This is a wonderfully researched novel, with historical events well interspersed with the lives of the six women, including events in the future. Ford’s writing is magical and sucked me in where I could not put it down. Beautiful writing and excellent character development. Thank you NetGalley for providing me an advance copy in exchange for an unbiased and candid review. I can’t wait for his next novel.

One of the first adult literary fiction books I read was Jamie Ford’s Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. That was a book that made a strong impression on me in high school; I had never read a book that captured the experiences of young Asian-American during Japanese internment. It was possibly the first novel about Asian-American experience I had come across, even as an Asian-American. So I was excited to receive a review copy of Ford’s next novel from Atria Books and Netgalley!

The Many Lives of Afong Moy is an ambitious book; it tells the stories of five Chinese women in one family across many generations– Afong (based on the first Chinese woman to arrive in the United States), Lai King, Zoe, Faye, Greta, and Dorothy– in an effort to explore the effects of trauma on future generations.

The vast amount of time covered as we follow women from each generation allows Ford to play with different genres in a way, ranging from historical fiction to speculative, in a future devastated by climate change, where an experimental treatment for generational trauma occurs. I was impressed by the variety readers get to experience here and the particular eras Ford chose to write about. Despite needing to tell a story through so many perspectives, Ford does a good job of balancing them equally; the different stories are easy to follow, helped by the fact that we spend a lot of time with each woman before moving to another chapter. While reading, I remained interested in the mystery of how the timelines would eventually connect knowing that all of these women were related, which reminded me a bit of last year’s Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr.

One of the most challenging aspects of the book was the amount of suffering all of the characters inevitably experienced. Before the final section of the book (as the story is separated into three acts), I was ready to conclude that I unfortunately didn’t like the story much despite it being well-written; the fact that each woman was going to encounter tragedy was predictable and repetitive even if the specific details remained a mystery until all the events transpired, and it was difficult to "enjoy" as a result. But I think this is exactly Ford’s point in trying to depict the idea of inherited trauma and portraying the wide range of challenges women have faced historically, which I can respect. I won’t spoil anything, but the final chapter of the book somewhat redeemed it for me. I’m still trying to make sense of exactly what happened and what it means, but Ford conveys the importance of understanding the experiences of those who came before us as a means of coming to terms with our own identity, and the power of the hope this can bring in contending with past tragedy. For that this novel was worth reading!

I love Jaime Ford stories. The Hotel on the Corner if Bitter and Sweet is my favorite. His character development, settings and plot ad k w as ya hit the mark

What an interesting book exploring the idea of inherited family trauma. I had never heard of this concept or read a book that explored this as a plot, but this one was fantastic and well written. Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for a copy of this book for an honest review.

The Many Daughters of Afong Moy follows a family through multiple generations to explore the idea of inherited mamory . The idea that the memory of traumatic events can be passed down is interesting as is the story.

The subject of this book is very interesting to me. I have read It Didn’t Start With You by Mark Wolynn that deals with inherited family trauma., Jamie Ford writes well of the trauma of several characters all of who have an impact on Dorothy. Dorothy, far in the future undergoes a dramatic and disturbing procedure so she can see the lives of her mother, grandmother and great grandmothers.

This book has great potential, but it was very disturbing to me. Maybe because I was reading it at a sensitive time during the holidays, but it tells a good story of a very interesting subject.

This is such a magical, emotional, magnificently done historical fantasy! I really enjoyed the author's note and history of the novel. The scifi/fantasy elements were fun. I love Ford's beautiful writing style.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions expressed are completely my own.

What a wonderful book that I will be recommending to those that I think would enjoy this one! Thanks so much for the opportunity to read and review early!

This book was beautifully written. It had be engaged the whole time with the stories so intertwined that I just had to know what happened.

The ending in itself made this book all the more perfect!

I enjoyed the multiple POV and timelines that all impacted one another. I have never read a book quite like this one and I know it will stick with me for a while.

Thank you @netgalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review!

It was an enlightening read for me. In addition to learning some of the trials and tribulations of Chinese immigrants, I became familiar with inherited or genetic memory. This story took us from the mid 1800's to 2045 through a series of Afong Moy's offspring. It was an intriguing read and not one I thought I would enjoy. I highly recommend it. I didn't give it five stars simply because I sometimes had a difficult time remembering each character as the story moved from on era to another and then back. It's a result of my slow reading ability, still only four stars.

I have read and enjoyed Jamie Ford's two previous books, so I was quite excited to get my hands on this one. And it did not disappoint. I really enjoyed this book. It looks at several generations of a family, especially the women of that family. The chapters rotate through the different characters, and I found it really helpful to take a few notes about each character as they were introduced. Then I could use my cheat sheet as a quick reference when I began a new chapter. The main voice is one of Dorothy who lives on the coast of Washington state in 2045. She, through some really unique circumstances is learning about her ancestors and it was fascinating. I learned so much about actual historical events and I love how the stories wove through each other. The characters were rich and complex. I will be recommending this one to everyone!

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. This might be my favorite book that I have read this year. It was well written, and even though it had many different characters and time jumps. I never felt confused over who was who. They were all so different that it never got confusing, and all of the time lines finished in a way that it didn't feel like anything was missing.

Thank you for the advanced copy of this book! I will be posting my review on social media, to include Instagram, Amazon, Goodreads, and Instagram!

I received an invitation to read an advance copy of this book and I accepted because the concept struck me as fascinating, given what I’ve read on generational trauma. I’d never read a Jamie Ford novel before; to be completely honest, I hadn’t heard of his writing. I am so thankful to Atria Books for reaching out to me with this one, because by the second chapter, I was completely hooked (I’m now looking forward to reading Ford’s previous novels).

Every so often as you read a book, you find yourself feeling that this one is really going to be something amazing. I trust that in reading, because it’s never once steered me wrong, and I felt that from the beginning of this novel. This story was glorious. Beautifully written and a fully intriguing plot.

Strongly recommended.

This was such a wander from the beaten path, I couldn't put it down. Mr. Ford has captured the hauntings of despair and triumphs of generations.