A Superior Man

Written by Paul Yee

Narrated by James Chen

For more than thirty years, Paul Yee has written about his Chinese-Canadian heritage in award-winning books for young readers as well as adult non-fiction. Here, in his first work of fiction for adults, he takes us on a harrowing journey into a milestone event of Canadian history: the use of Chinese coolies to help build the Canadian Pacific Railway in British Columbia in hazardous conditions. After the CPR is built in 1885, Yang Hok, a former coolie, treks along the railway to return his half-Chinese/half-Native son to the boy's mother where he confronts the conflicts arising from road-building among the Chinese and Native peoples. Hok's guide on the often perilous trip, Sam Bing Lew, also of mixed Chinese-Native blood, urges Hok to take his son to China, while Hok has dreams of finding fortune in America. The two men agree on little, as many issues fester between Chinese and Natives at a time when both races were disdained as inferior by whites ("redbeards"). This far-reaching novel crackles with the brutal, visceral energy of the time-a period marked by contraband, illegal gambling, disfigurement, and death. It also depicts the bawdy world of Chinese "bachelors," whose families remained in China while they worked in Canada, and who enjoyed more freedom to live their lives without restraint. Yang Hok is not an easy man to like; but through the blood and sweat of his experience, he aspires to become the "superior man" he knows he should be. Boldly frank and steeped in history, A Superior Man paints a vivid portrait of the experience of the Chinese in North America in the 19th century. Paul Yee's twenty-seven books for young people include the Governor General's Award-winning Ghost Train. This is his first novel for adults.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 22, 2016
• ISBN: 9781501936142

Paul Yee

PAUL YEE was born in Spalding, Saskatchewan, and grew up in Vancouver's Chinatown. A former archivist, he now writes full time. His books have won many awards and honors, including the Governor General's Award (Ghost Train), the Ruth Schwartz Award (Ghost Train and Roses Sing on New Snow), and the Canadian Library Association Book of the Year Award (Tales from Gold Mountain). He has won the Vancouver Book Award and been shortlisted for the BC Book Prize, and his books have been named to several lists, including NYPL Books for the Teen Age (Dead Man’s Gold), ALA Notables and Booklist's Top Ten Historical Fiction. Most recently, Paul’s young adult novel Money Boy was named a Stonewall Honor Book and he won the Vicky Metcalf Award for a body of work. Paul lives in Toronto.

Reviews for A Superior Man

[zumbanista · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I looked forward to reading A Superior Man by Paul Yee because I am a descendant of early Chinese Canadian immigrants who settled in the geographic area during the same timeframe covered in the book. Mentally I was engaged by the stories and travails of Hok, but the style of writing and coarseness of language was offputting to me. I can well imagine the turns of phrase used by these uneducated and rough China men may be true to life, but it made for unpleasant reading. The story contained enough tragedy, violence, racism and poverty as it was.

Many characters were only thumbnail sketches and our antagonist seemed unpleasant, arrogant, greedy and shallow. So points for the research and storyline generally but outweighed by my distaste for the writing.