Women of the Silk

Dear Gail Tsukiyama,

I read your book Women of the Silk with my tutor when I was working on my English grammar. I came from China when I was fourteen. Sometimes when I read your book I felt so familiar with Pei’s culture, this made me feel close to Pei. I really love her because she is a happy person no matter what happens to her. She always has a positive attitude that teenagers today don’t always keep.

The way you wrote about the deep side of peoples hearts touched me. For example, when Pei thinks about why her family never visits her she always finds a positive excuse for them, like they’re to poor to travel. That makes her sad, but still she understood. It doesn’t stop her being happy with her life in the Girls House. This is like my situation. I really miss my family in China, but they can’t come to visit me right here. Even though I have visited them a couple of times, I still miss them so much. But like Pei, I really understand they cannot come to the U.S. and enjoy my life and share with them. And I’m growing as a person without them. Like Pei found a new family with Auntie Yee and the girls, I find a lot of new friends too. We support each other when we have hard moments in our life. I miss my aunt who is one of my closest family members in China and she is very ill now. Like Pei, who worried so much about her family, it makes me feel like Pei, worrying about my aunt.

Even through all the worry, Pei still managed her life to be an independent person who’s responsible for her own life. I think Pei’s story motivates me to be a strong person. I realize I can’t be stopped by sadness for my aunt even though I can’t be with her right now.

Pei’s story shows me people are the same no matter where they live or when they live. They should find courage to take care of themselves. No matter what happens in their life they need to survive well like Pei made the decision at the end of her story to survive even though she was afraid. For me Pei’s story teaches me how important it is. I have to choose a career which I enjoy and will always support me through the up and down times in the future of my life.

I want to say thank you to you for writing such a good book. It affected me a lot about how to deal with life. I really enjoyed the story. You did a really amazing job, especially how you understand Chinese culture.

Sincerely with respect,

Michelle W