Calls Across the Pacific

Reviews

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A brilliant historical fiction set in the 1970s of a young woman who escaped Maoist China to freedom ...

“The writer leads us through the people of China, showing that revolutions don't always end with the people as victors. Communism uses the people as a tool and leaves the people questioning why nothing gets any better. I found the book a quick read and enjoyed Nina as a character, at times the book even veered off into romance mode, but not too much :-) ”

-Back to Books

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Fleeing the Cultural Revolution, a young Nina Huang says goodbye to her family and friends, and swim across to Hong Kong .

“Nina attempts to integrate herself into a larger national identity, one that is ultimately complicated by the titular “calls across the Pacific.” Rather than presenting Nina as traumatized by her many boundary-crossing movements, Roy is intent on revealing a tactical character, one who is willing to push herself intellectually and physically in order to survive.  ”

-Asian American Literature Fans 

Blurb

Amid the Cultural Revolution, Nina Huang says goodbye to her boyfriend, Dahai, who plans to join the Viet Cong in the Vietnam War, and sneaks across the bay by boat to Hong Kong where she is granted political asylum in the United States. After her escape from mainland China and subsequent immigration to the U.S. and later to Canada, Nina's employment and education, and her experiences with romantic/sexual relationships are a radical departure from the moral code she knew in China. Nina studies political science at an American university and finds herself constantly evaluating democracy and capitalism and critiquing communism. Twice during the time she is living in North America, she travels back to China to reunite with her mother as well as friends, and to see how Chinese society and politics are evolving. This becomes the predominant focus as she finally decides, as a journalist, to interview and record her contemporaries' experiences of life in China for a Western audience. In doing so, however, as an escaped citizen who has returned with an American passport, Nina puts herself in dangerous situations and finds herself needing to flee from the red terror once again.