We Two Alone audiobook

I was very much affected by this book, a collection of stories about the Chinese diaspora. There was so much care and research in these stories, and I felt they were very powerful. They were also very sophisticated. The last story made me cry. I'm so glad Jack wrote this book, and I look forward to his novel!!

Each story a world that revolves around the analysis of cultural heritage, generational clashes, expectations for the future.Interesting.

The final two stories didn't do anything for me...which is a shame, because the other 5 tales were magnificent: a unique cultural viewpoint into the past, with each story evoking a unique take on very familiar places and events. "The Valkyries" in particular is the most fascinating use of hockey I've ever encountered.

Jack Wang’s first collection of short fiction, We Two Alone, is a superior example of the form, beautifully crafted, emotionally resonant, and dramatically satisfying. Wang’s characters are primarily Chinese nationals and the sons and daughters of Chinese immigrants, people who are struggling to acclimatize to shifting geopolitical environments and/or deal with crises that threaten their way of life and sometimes their very survival. Racism is present in many of these stories, either hovering menacingly in the background or playing a dominant role in the lives of Wang’s characters. For instance, “The Valkyries” takes place in Vancouver and Banff shortly after the end of the First World War. Teenage orphan Nelson, who lives in Vancouver’s Chinatown and works in a laundry, loves hockey and is highly skilled, but being Chinese he’s denied the opportunity to play in an organized men’s league. Instead, when he discovers a women’s league, he assumes a disguise, passes himself off as “Nelly,” and becomes one of the stars for his team, the Valkyries. But when his deception is uncovered, the price he pays goes far beyond a mere settling of scores. A remarkable feature of Wang's fiction is his ability to convincingly evoke an assortment of cultural and historical contexts. In “The Nature of Things,” it is 1937. Young Chinese couple Frank and Alice must flee Shanghai because of the escalating hostilities with Japan. Frank, an American-educated physician, puts his pregnant wife on a train to safety but refuses to leave the city himself because of his work. From this point the story chronicles Alice’s desperate yearning and fears for her husband after the Japanese invasion, and her eventual realization that she will never see him again. The narrator of “The Night of Broken Glass” is recalling the time just prior to World War II when he, his father and stepmother lived in Vienna. The narrator’s father is a Chinese diplomat, versed in the ways of the world, wily and pragmatic, and the story tells of the father’s careful navigation of shifting political winds when the Nazis move into Austria and begin victimizing Jews, minorities and foreign nationals. “Everything in Between,” set in South Africa at the beginning of the Apartheid era, describes a Chinese family’s efforts to live a normal life under exceedingly challenging circumstances. “Bellsize Park” takes place in contemporary England and poignantly depicts the doomed relationship of two students: Peter, who is Chinese, and Fiona, who is English. And in “All Hallows” divorced Ernie’s irresponsible nature is thrown into sharp relief when he takes his children, Ben and Toby, trick-or-treating the day after Halloween because he’d failed to show up the night before as he’d promised. As good as these stories are, the outstanding piece in this collection is the masterful novella from which the volume takes its title. Leonard and Emily, both actors, are divorced. Leonard, in his late forties and still hunting for the Big Break, is entering a premature cognitive decline, which he recognizes because it is the same disorder that left his mother debilitated before her death. As he struggles with worsening symptoms, he recalls his years married to Emily, who finally gave up on the dream, retired from acting and left Leonard when he refused to do the same. Wang chronicles their life together from beginning to end: the shared aspirations, thwarted idealism, the minor triumphs countered by heartrending setbacks that marked their marriage and their careers. In the end, a crisis brings Leonard and Emily together one more time to enact a final scene before Leonard slips into the darkness and is unable to remember what they meant to each other. There is an effortless and seamless quality to Jack Wang’s writing that is particularly impressive. The nuts and bolts of craft, the scaffolding of plot, never intrude on the reader’s experience. In each of these tales Wang generates considerable narrative momentum by introducing his characters in place, slowly revealing their hopes and fears as he ramps up the stakes and the tension, and then letting the drama unfold in a manner that is patient and never forced. There is nothing cheap or maudlin going on here. Wang frequently elicits an emotional response from the reader, but without exception this reaction arises naturally out of the drama we’re witnessing. We Two Alone is a thoroughly engaging volume of short fiction by an exceptionally talented author. These are near flawless tales of personal struggle and modern angst: deeply empathetic, humane stories by a writer whose command of form and technique is unfailing.

Halfway through the first period, when she dropped a perfect pass in the Amazons' zone, Nelson cradled the puck on his blade and aimed it for his favourite spot: top shelf, far side. The crowd roared as he leapt into Tessa's arms.I was so knocked down by the first story, "The Valkyries," that I almost didn't continue with the rest of the book. The beginning is as warm and engaging as a well-written YA novel, all young enthusiasm and passion and whoa, hockey! However the ending morphed into unexpected horror and I had to take a break and reread the last section again. How very much I wanted the best outcome for Nelson! The other short stories were beautifully written but not nearly as involving. The novella "We Two Alone" was the strongest, with wonderful characters I really cared about. Perfect as it was, but would have worked well as a longer novel. I will watch out for future work by this Canadian author.

As I attempt to read the Canada Reads nominations for this year, I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I am not usually a fan of short stories, but the author was able to create a depth in his stories that is not usually the case. It showed the struggle of Chinese immigrants throughout the last century.

I read this book at different times - the wonder of reading short stories I've found is being able to read them as you wish, over time or all at once. The collection is described as covering the Chinese diaspora across the globe over the past hundred years, and yet there are only seven stories, a few heartbreaking. Cultural and racial prejudice, the demands of society and family, and the intrusion of real life impact the relationship between people in each of these stories. This explains the title of the short story collection, We Two Alone.

Wang beautifully touches on the intersection of the Chinese identity relating to gender, racism, sexuality. Each story highlights integral moments in both Chinese and international history to illustrate the importance of one's concept of home, acceptance and freedom.

What a perfectly lovely book of short stories! Each has a main character that is a Chinese immigrant or recently descended from one. Besides that, the settings (time and place) vary wildly. Racism appears as a regular theme, yes, but mostly it’s just people living life. In this way, I’m reminded of my on-air interview with Latinx scholars after “American Dirt” came out, dramatically chronicling a fictional account of a Mexican woman’s journey over the southern border to the US. The scholars’ basic message of general distaste for what they called “trauma porn” was “Why can’t we just have content about a Colombian woman like, going grocery shopping and dealing with a work conflict?” Their point being, can we please get content about BIPOC that is just about living life and not about their existence being incessantly traumatic for others’ enjoyment? To me, this is that read. The blatant and subtle racism against AAPI and specifically Chinese people is hardly ignored, don’t get me wrong—but really these are stories about basic humanity: love, loss, insecurity, success, failure, divorce, money, drugs, and well, hockey 🤷🏻‍♀️Have to add, however, that while I enjoyed this every time I picked it up, there was an X factor missing from most of the stories for me. I don’t know, just that little something that makes you feel a fiction story as much as you feel your own life—wasn’t there for me mostly. Absolutely worth the read though! (Thank you to the publisher for this advanced release copy in exchange for my honest opinion. Am I…doing this right?)

Woah! A moving collection of short stories, spanning the Chinese immigrant experience, through many years and many countries.There are some very moving stories here, and often very sad.I have worked with many Chinese immigrants through my job, and I thought this book gained me a bit of a better understand and was really strongly written.

While I don’t usually read short story collections I must admit that I was totally engaged in all 7 of these short stories. Each one telling of the Chinese experience from a different perspective, country/state, position and time period. Even in these short stories I was able to connect with the characters. A very good read.

I really enjoyed this collection of stories filled with various people and situations. It will engage you from the first page with its flawless writing and keep you flipping the pages as you make your way from one story to the next. Recommended. Happy reading! #WeTwoAlone #NetGalley

Disclaimer: I received an e-proof of this book in exchange for an honest review.We Two Alone focuses on stories about the Chinese diaspora through history, like in “The Nature of Things,” a story about married Chinese-Canadian couple Frank and Alice, who move to Shanghai and are separated by the Second Sino-Japanese War. During their separation, Alice finds a book Frank packed for her in her suitcase, and learns more about him through the passages he underlined. Many of the stories involve the Chinese diaspora experience in Canada, Germany, South Africa, and other countries, and I enjoyed the historical details in these stories and learning more about the discrimination the families faced. “I was born on one continent; I will die on another. This is the story of many. It’s everything in between that’s different. Who would I have become if we had landed in Perth? If my parents had chosen Toronto, London, San Francisco? And what if friction and gravity had been kinder the year I was eight? What country, then, might have been ours?”