70 pages • 2 hours read
Ties That Bind, Ties That Break
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Summary and Study Guide
Overview
Ties That Bind, Ties That Break (1999) is a young adult historical novel by Lensey Namioka that won the 2000 Washington State Book Award and the 2004 California Young Readers Medal for Young Adults. It focuses on a young Chinese girl growing up during a revolutionary period in the 1920s who refuses to have her feet bound as tradition dictates. A sequel, An Ocean Apart, A World Away (2002) focuses on the main character’s best friend, Xueyan, and deals with other aspects of the Chinese experience in America.
The girl’s name is Tao Ailin. The reader first encounters her as an adult in a California Chinatown restaurant where she unexpectedly meets someone from her past: Liu Hanwei, the person she was engaged to as a child. When they talk and he asks her why she ran away to work for an American family; it brings out her story via a flashback. The book is written in the first person.
Plot Summary
Ailin grows up in a wealthy but strict Chinese household during a period of increased Western and Communist influence, in which the future of China appears to be at stake. As a result, revolutionary events are happening, but some traditionalists stick even more stubbornly to the old ways—including the ancient art of Unlock all 70 pages of this Study Guide Plus, gain access to 8,900+ more expert-written Study Guides. Including features:
