Debut author Jana McBurney-Lin writes about a woman conflicted between the modern world and the traditions of her culture. She will be at the Malibu Library to sign and discuss her novel on Saturday.
By Jonathan Friedman / Assistant Editor
Jana McBurney-Lin took 12 years to do it, but she finally finished her first novel, which is being published this week. And she has already received praise for her debut, “My Half of the Sky,” with the novel, published by Komenar Publishing, being named one of the 20 picks of the month for August by the independent book-seller coalition Web site, Book Sense.
The novel deals with a Chinese woman named Li Hui who has reached marriageable age. As she struggles to find love, she receives guidance and advice from different people. She looks to the modern world, but is pulled back by the traditions of the village. The woman must learn how to reconcile the modern world versus the traditions of her culture.
Lin, daughter of Malibu activist Georgiana McBurney, got the idea for writing her book while living in Singapore. Her in-laws were visiting from China. Before they came, Lin asked her husband, Hui Hui Lin, how long they would be staying. He told her that one is not supposed to ask that. They ended up visiting for six months.
“They totally changed my life,” Lin said. “I was taking notes on what I was learning. They’d complain to my husband that I was watching too much TV. I felt like I was visiting an alien planet.”
Lin said she further learned about cultural differences when she eventually visited her husband’s hometown. There, she saw how important it was for Chinese people to have boys. She recalled a story in which her sister-in-law asked if she could trade her daughter for one of Lin’s sons.
“That just floored me,” Lin said. “Here everyone just came, walking with the cell phone; part of the modern world. But there still must be a son in the family. And I did say, ‘no way.'”
Lin grew up in Illinois and attended Bates College in Maine, where she received a bachelor’s degree in rhetoric. After graduating college in the 1980s, she found no work. So Lin moved to Japan, expecting to be there for one year. She ended up being there for six years, working for various English-language publications and teaching English. She also met her husband there. They eventually moved to Singapore, where they lived for eight years. Lin now lives in Los Gatos with her husband and four children.
Lin will discuss and sign her book on Saturday from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Malibu Library, located at 23519 Civic Center Way. For more information, call 456.6438.