The Brightest Star - Gail Tsukiyama (#Review & #Blogtour)

Date of Reading: 13/-8/2024

Author: Gail Tsukiyama

Publisher: HarperVia

Publication Date: August 1, 2024

Rating: 5/5

(This review is part of the blog tour organised by Random Things Tours)

About the book:

Beloved bestselling author Gail Tsukiyama returns with a rich historical novel based on the life of the luminous, groundbreaking actress Anna May Wong—the first and only Asian American woman to gain movie stardom in the early days of Hollywood. 

At the dawn of a new century, America is falling in love with silent movies, including young Wong Liu

Tsong. The daughter of poor Chinese immigrants, Wong Liu goes to the local nickelodeons to escape the schoolmates who bully her for her Chinese heritage. By sixteen, Wong Liu had already chosen a stage name, Anna May, and left high school to pursue her Hollywood dreams, defying her disapproving father and her traditional Chinese upbringing—a choice that would have emotional and physical consequences. 

Anna May gets her big break—and her first taste of Hollywood fame—starring opposite Douglas Fairbanks in The Thief of Bagdad. Yet her beauty and talent aren’t enough to overcome the racism that relegates her to supporting roles as a helpless, exotic butterfly or a vicious, murderous dragon lady, while Caucasian actresses in “yellowface” are given starring roles portraying Asian women. Though she suffers professionally and personally, Anna May fights to become a star, financially support her family, and keep her illicit love affairs hidden—even as she finds freedom and glittering success abroad, and receives glowing reviews across the globe.

Review:

       Anna May Wong is not a familiar figure for a non-American like me. Nevertheless, I was intrigued by the blurb to know more about the first Chinese American actress in Hollywood. What Tsukiyama covers here is not just biographical fiction, but the history of Hollywood through the eyes of a woman who refused to be constrained by the limitations of this industry.

        Born as the daughter of a laundry man, Liu Tsong developed a passion for movies at a young age. Her Chinese heritage, which caused a lot of bullying at school, haunted her film career too through the regulations of the Hayes Code and anti-miscegenation laws that criminalised interracial marriages even being depicted on a film screen. The story alternates between 1960 and the successive stages of her career which she has noted down and reflects on a long train journey. 

         As with all the life stories, we learn a lot from Anna's. Life was never a bed of roses for her and most of the time she was forced to play the villain irrespective of her wishes and talent. Still, she continued her fight to be acknowledged. When Hollywood refused to give her any leading roles, she found fame and recognition in Europe just like many Afro-American actors who suffered a similar fate in Hollywood. Anna lived long enough to see her name included in Hollywood's Walk of Fame, leaving a lasting legacy that continues to inspire countless individuals.

Meet the author:

Gail Tsukiyama was born in San Francisco, California, to a Chinese mother from Hong Kong and a Japanese father from Hawaii. She attended San Francisco State University where she earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree and a Master of Arts Degree in English. She is the bestselling author of several novels, including Women of the Silk and The Samurai’s Garden, as well as the recipient of the Academy of American Poets Prize and the PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award. She divides her time between El Cerrito and Napa Valley, California.