Sarah Canary - BookWyrm

304 pages

English language

Published Aug. 3, 2004 by Plume.

ISBN:: 978-0-452-28647-4

When black cloaked Sarah Canary wanders into a Chinese labor camp in the Washington territories in 1873, Chin Ah Kin is ordered by his uncle to escort "the ugliest woman he could imagine" away. Far away. But Chin soon becomes the follower.

In the first of many such instances, they are separated, both resurfacing some days later at an insane asylum. Chin has run afoul of the law and Sarah has been committed for observation. Their escape from the asylum in the company of another inmate sets into motion a series of adventures and misadventures that are at once hilarious, deeply moving, and downright terrifying.

When black cloaked Sarah Canary wanders into a Chinese labor camp in the Washington territories in 1873, Chin Ah Kin is ordered by his uncle to escort "the ugliest woman he could imagine" away. Far away. But Chin soon becomes the follower.

In the first of many such instances, they are separated, both resurfacing some days later at an insane asylum. Chin has run afoul of the law and Sarah has been committed for observation. Their escape from the asylum in the company of another inmate sets into motion a series of adventures and misadventures that are at once hilarious, deeply moving, and downright terrifying.

4 editions

Molly Foust reviewed Sarah Canary by Karen Joy Fowler

Review of 'Sarah Canary' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

This book is inventive, brilliant and a masterpiece of original, vibrant writing. Set in 1870's West coast America the book is replete with geniune hoeroes and heroines including the elusive and elemental Sarah Canary, a kidnapped Chinaman, an escaped lunatic, a sex-positive suffragist and a drunken, shellshocked Civil War vet. Fowler manages to create a story that is inventive, surreal and at times, amazingly profound. (A fun counterpoint for this book would be Marge Piercy's book Sex Wars, she goes into more detail about the 1870's goings-on back east)

Nikita

rated it

Oct. 5, 2011

mad_frisbeterian

rated it

Dec. 19, 2018