All that matters is to express truth

It was difficult to find someone else who read this book but I finally found someone I knew who did, so we briefly discussed it.

Immediately we agreed that the ending wasn't as good as we thought it would be. Choy leaves it very opened ended. We didn't even get to read about Jack coming down the ramp to Kiam and Jenny. It would've been great to witness their reunion (how they would have reacted or what they would have talked about).

We discussed some possible themes for the novel and came up with: identity, family, exclusion, belonging, and importance of family traditions. Choy conveys very well the mixed pressures and beliefs of Chinese trying to make a living in a new land that wants their work but is not ready to treat them as equal citizens.

She has read both All That Matters and The Jade Peony. She prefers The Jade Peony over this novel because it doesn’t have the elegant structure that the previous novel has. She continued and said that The Jade Peony basically consists of three short stories (each from the point of view of the three younger siblings) and All That Matters is just one continuous novel; there's a huge difference in the feeling of the novel if you go from three narrators to just one. I haven't read The Jade Peony yet or haven't really read books that have several perspectives in one before, so it didn't really bug me.

She read the novel over three years ago, but when I brought it up to her she said the first thing that she thinks of about this book is food, so we discussed that for a bit.

We came with a few things: food was something that tied family together and allowed them to hold on to those family traditions that were valued so much by the elders. The theme of food seemed to thread or weave its way through the plot of the novel seamlessly; you could hardly notice it because Choy wrote it so naturally, it felt normal for me to read. When she mentioned food and the preparing of the food I realized how much it really is mentioned throughout the book. I feel it is completely safe to say that there is something to do with food in every single chapter. It is mostly talked about when Kiam or another sibling is helping Poh-Poh prepare dinner. I realized no one ever prepared the meal by themselves; there was always contribution from at least one more person. The children would clean and sometimes cut the vegetables while Poh-Poh cooked or boiled them. I feel this represents a strong family. I also found myself craving Chinese food the whole time while reading this book; I'm actually eating some right now. Back to what the food represents... We thought the dinners were what brought them together. They could have had a very trying day or had an argument with another family member, but they were still brought together and reconciled over preparing the food. As a step forward in their relationship, Kiam invited Jenny over for dinner. This brought her and both of them as a couple closer with everyone else in the family. Another significant part in the book involving food is when Jack came over for dinner, even though earlier in the novel he was always forbidden to visit. It showed respect between them and also brought them together. The meal Stepmother prepared specially for him (peanut butter sandwiches and hot dogs cut into small pieces) depicted the coming together of both of their cultures and that they really can work together and be peaceful. 

Even after Poh-Poh's death, the Chen family continued their normal roles of preparing the dinners. They all worked together to make sure a good meal is made. I'm not going to lie, I was a bit envious while thinking of this all. My family definitely does not have as much passion in such a great family tradition as Kiam's family does. We barely eat together, nevermind prepare the dinner together. I think it's a great thing to do, to work together and make something that everyone enjoys. It definitely brought his family closer together.

I feel as if I should mention the Kitchen God. The Kitchen God is mentioned a lot throughout the book. It is a large piece of paper with a photo of Zao Jun (Kitchen God) printed on it. This is always placed in the kitchen, hence Kitchen God, near the stove. According to Chinese religion, Zao Jun records everything the family does throughout the year, good and bad. On the twenty third day of the twelfth lunar month, just before Chinese New Year, he returns to Heaven to report the activities of the household to the Jade Emperor (Yu Huang). The Jade Emperor, emperor of the heavens, either rewards or punishes a family based the report given to him by Zao Jun. He is released from earth by the burning of the photo each year, which Poh-Poh always did. Poh-Poh, who was extremely passionate with their religion, took it really seriously and made sure she did not say anything that could offend him. After she died, Sekky wanted to continue this tradition, so they burned the photo as well, mostly to respect Poh-Poh's old ways.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book very much. I'm definitely a fan of Wayson Choy's writing now, and I'm a little upset he isn't a more prolific writer; it would have been nice knowing there was almost an endless amount of books of his I could read. Either way, I will most likely read his other pieces of work. If they are half as good as I thought All That Matters was, I'm sure I'll enjoy them just as much.