Seeing Calvin Coolidge in a dream

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Last edited by MARC Bot
July 31, 2024 | History

Seeing Calvin Coolidge in a dream

1st ed.
  • 0 Ratings
  • 1 Want to read
  • 0 Currently reading
  • 1 Have read

Moonlight illuminates Chai and his wife, Ding, who enjoy the view from their backyard deck and recite Chinese poetry to each other. Chai, a disillusioned former Red Guard during the Cultural Revolution, has achieved a version of the immigrant's dream: he works as a banker in New York, is the father of a healthy baby daughter, and enjoys a contented marriage. To Ding's amusement, Chai has developed an obsession with the life and maxims of Calvin Coolidge.

For Chai, the long-dead president epitomizes the hard-working, frugal virtues of America in contrast to the moral squalor and hypocrisy of China's Communist leaders.

But one day a chance discovery leads Chai astray. He learns that a lover from his youth - Selina, now Mrs. Yoy - lives in Boston with her husband and their son. Under the cover of doing Coolidge research in New England, Chai arranges to meet her. Selina's beauty stands in contrast to Ding's sensible appearance, and her son, a young man, seems cast in Chai's very image. The staid banker's heart is inflamed by the implications of this resemblance.

Confused by his emotions, he determines to revive the affair. Chai's passionate pursuit of his youthful love blinds him to Ding, whose vision is more acute. How Ding schemes to win back her wayward husband - and teach him necessary truths about love and life - forms the beguiling conclusion to this tale.

Publish Date
Publisher
St. Martin's Press
Language
English
Pages
273

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Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: Seeing Calvin Coolidge in a Dream
Seeing Calvin Coolidge in a Dream: A Novel
July 15, 1997, St. Martin's Griffin
Paperback in English - 1st St. Martin's Griffin Ed edition
Cover of: Seeing Calvin Coolidge in a dream
Seeing Calvin Coolidge in a dream
1996, St. Martin's Press
in English - 1st ed.

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Book Details


Edition Notes

Published in
New York

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
813/.54
Library of Congress
PS3554.E667 S44 1996, PS3554.E667S44 1996

The Physical Object

Pagination
273 p. ;
Number of pages
273

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL793020M
Internet Archive
seeingcalvincool00derb
ISBN 10
0312140444
LCCN
95025613
OCLC/WorldCat
33209661
Library Thing
333279
Goodreads
2760013

Excerpts

After putting Hetty to bed we had played a game of Scrabble, according to our custom.
added anonymously.

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History

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July 31, 2024 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
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December 10, 2009 Created by WorkBot add works page