I just finished an excellent book by Wayson Choy called 'All that Matters'.  This is Choy's second novel, the first was 'The Jade Peony'.  The Jade Peony is the story of a Chinese family that has moved to Vancouver in the 1920's.  Each section of the book tells the story as children are born and the family grows.  All That Matters is about the same family but this time from the perspective of the oldest son.

What an excellent idea!  I loved this book because it is beautifully written but also because a great story is told from another angle.  As a reader I appreciated Choy's decision to write this novel.  It is as though we are standing in the family's house again, this time in a different spot in the room.

Choy is another example of the great new group of writers from Canada who are writing about the immigrant's experience.  I look forward to more and more of this literature.  I get a little tired of the 'Margaret Atwood is our best writer' school of thought.  I like Atwood but her experience growing up in 1950's Leaside to third generation Canadian parents and summers in the Canadian woods is not shared by all Canadians (including me).  I am more excited to read novel's like Choy's and also writers who chose Canada to be their home like Michale Ondaatje, M.G. Vassaniji and Rohinton Mistry.