Book Review: Ghost Forest by Pik-Shuen Fung (20 Books of Summer #9)

Hello Everyone,

Today’s review is on Ghost Forest by Pik-Shuen Fung.

About the Book

How do you grieve, if your family doesn’t talk about feelings?

This is the question the unnamed protagonist of Ghost Forest considers after her father dies. One of the many Hong Kong “astronaut” fathers, he stays there to work, while the rest of the family immigrated to Canada before the 1997 Handover, when the British returned sovereignty over Hong Kong to China.

As she revisits memories of her father through the years, she struggles with unresolved questions and misunderstandings. Turning to her mother and grandmother for answers, she discovers her own life refracted brightly in theirs.

Buoyant, heartbreaking, and unexpectedly funny, Ghost Forest is a slim novel that envelops the reader in joy and sorrow. Fung writes with a poetic and haunting voice, layering detail and abstraction, weaving memory and oral history to paint a moving portrait of a Chinese-Canadian astronaut family.

My Thoughts

Until a few months ago, I had never heard of this book. But by chance, I cam across it at work. I was instantly entranced by the cover and the title and found myself flipping through it. However, at the time I already had a lot of books vying for my attention and decided to not pick it up, but I would see it every time I walked through the stacks, as if calling out to me. Fast forward to the middle of July, in the beginning stages of a reading slump, desperate to pick up something that would capture my attention, I knew I needed to pick up Ghost Forest, and I am glad I did!

Ghost Forest is a beautiful exploration of an immigrant daughter and her relationship with her father, who stays in Hong Kong after his family moves to Canada in the late ’90s. It also shows the clash of the old and new world and how the unnamed protagonist clashes with her father, especially when it comes to tradition and respect and how they view both things differently. It was also interesting to see her look back on who her father was after his passing.

I also liked how the novel was written differently from a typical novel. It was written in short paragraphs and vignettes, and red similarly to a novel-in-verse, even though it isn’t. But I loved that and I love novels that are set up that way.

Overall, I loved Ghost Forest and the unique way in which the story is told. I also enjoyed the exploration of a father-daughter relationship and a clash of two cultures. 4.5/5 Stars.

Happy Reading,

Janelle L. C.