Finding Mr. Wong

(Paperback)

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Finding Mr. Wong, true to its title, chronicles the author's search for Wong Dong Wong as she attempted to piece together his life beyond what she knew of him as a cook and housekeeper and her experience growing up in Mr. Wong's kitchen. Crean's search for Mr. Wong took her to Chinatown in Vancouver and Toronto, and twice to Guangdong, China, where she located Wong's home village, found descendants of his father's brother, and the story of his beginnings. (Orphaned within a few months of his birth, and brought to Canada by his uncle, Wong YeeWoen.) In writing his life Crean has combined fiction with historical recreations, and memoir. The section on the 1919 Chinatown riot in Toronto, for instance, was suggested by author Paul Yee. The saga of night-life in Chinatown came from historian Elise Chenier's work on lesbian history and culture. One sub-theme of the book concerns the relationship between children and servants (typically nannies) which Crean explores in literature and film. She looked particularly at instances when the alliance crosses race as well as class, and she relates her own experience grappling with racism as a small child. A second sub-theme is memory and its role in the writing and researching of a book such as this.

Reviews

"[An] elegantly written and fiercely felt account of a love that crossed the boundaries of race and class."
The Vancouver Sun

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"[Crean] has shone a light on a little-known part of the story of the Chinese in Canada, and she has done so with love."
Judy Fong Bates, Literary Review of Canada

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"Part homage, part mystery, part memoir, Finding Mr. Wong is a loving look at a life that is no less important a part of our Canadian story for its previously having been rendered invisible."
Canadas History

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"[Crean] has shone a light on a little-known part of the story of the Chinese in Canada, and she has done so with love."
Judy Fong Bates, Literary Review of Canada

Author Bio

Susan Crean was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, and is of Scots-Irish descent. Her articles and essays have appeared in magazines and newspapers across Canada, and she is the author of seven books, the first, Whos Afraid of Canadian Culture, appearing in 1976. Her most recent book, The Laughing One: A Journey to Emily Carr, was nominated for a Governor Generals award and won a B.C. Book Prize in 2001. Crean currently lives in Toronto.