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Foreign Devil Girl in Hong Kong by Ruth Epp intertwines a quick history lesson with immersion into a new culture that will provide entertainment for all ages.
About the book- Illustrating the difficulties of life as a lone “foreign devil girl,” Epp explains life in the British colony of Hong Kong during 1959. Early in 1959, Ruth left her home on the South Dakota prairies and traveled by cargo ship to Hong Kong, on the south coast of China. She was answering a call from God. The ship’s officers smiled in amusement and asked, “What do you think a twenty-two-year-old girl like you can do in Hong Kong?” She thought she knew—until she found herself a “foreign devil girl” surrounded by poor working class people, whose language, culture, and life experiences were totally foreign to her. God was her only confidante and friend as she struggled to learn how to fulfill her mission. Cantonese is one of the most difficult Chinese dialects to learn, and her “teacher” didn’t know a word of English. Her attempts to speak sometimes provoked outbursts of hilarious laughter. Such experiences showed her some surprising things about herself and increased her determination to learn to speak Cantonese perfectly. Unexpectedly challenging questions were raised about the God she introduced, and she was hard pressed to find convincing answers. But God blessed her efforts to bring people to him, and helped her as she took time to re-evaluate her own faith. The author tells her story honestly, just as she did long ago in her journal when she recorded the “lessons” she learned through the successes and failures, joys and sorrows of her first four and a half years in Hong Kong. Her writing gives us an inspiring view of a real God at work in the life of a real person.
My take- It was an honestly written book, and her life was definitely unique. She led her life the way she feels she should have, and feels she was called by God to do. The book jumped around a lot, and didn’t always makes a lot of chronological sense. She often didn’t give back story, so things were often unexplained or made me feel left out or that things had been left out. It also seemed like many, many things didn’t have endings, or middles, or beginnings. It was like a book of what she thought were highlights of her time in Hong King- but it was not presented that way.
The book was an interesting read, and the time and place was both intriguing and turbulent. It just seems so half done- so much seems left out. And at the very end, the whole secret courting and hint toward marriage (that obviously happened), without (again) any further information or mention of it in the book after her meetings with John (her intended) was just an obvious omission. While an honest book about a woman, her God, her experiences, and an honest look at herself and her personal growth, it was a bit lacking in the actual story and writing.
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