Phoenix Pencil Company

Made it to page 40 and I'm unsure how to recycle the drivel. Reads like an unedited, self published, neurotic, rambling, collection of words.

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the eARC!This book was dazzling. For some reason before I started reading it, I didn't connect that Phoenix meant the animal - I kept imagining Phoenix, Arizona. This was quickly cleared up when I started reading.This was a beautiful exploration of a time in history we don't hear much about, and from a perspective I hadn't been taught about. The structure of the book was really interesting too - dual timelines was really fun.I liked both storylines, but I think the one in the past was slightly better. The idea of a pencil giving up its secrets with a magical power was SO interesting. I loved the exploration of communication, what we decide to share, what is shared without our consent, and what it means to post online.One thing that was a little disappointing, and I'm assuming this was related to it being an ARC, not the final version, most of the emojis that are included in the text came through as squares, so I had to just guess what was being said by the context. This was not a huge part of the text, so don't let that put you off, but it was something I noted.

Monica’s grandmother, Yun, asks her to help find her long-lost cousin, Meng. Monica utilizes a computer program to locate Meng and meets Louise, who is friends with Meng. Upon meeting, Meng sends a simple pencil as a gift. However, this seemingly ordinary gift holds immense significance in the history of Meng and Yun. The narrative unfolds through alternating time periods, revealing the profound connection between the pencils and the past.I recommend this book, it has something for everyone- historical fiction of WWII Shanghai, fantasy elements, LGBTQIAP+, romance with some spice, family secrets, and redemption. It’s a multilayered novel with alternating timelines and stories that I was engaged to learn how it was going to end. The fantasy elements of the pencils is quite unique.Thank you William Morrow and Netgalley for the advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

“The pencil is one of the simplest yet most revolutionary tools ever created…(a) humble writing instrument…an essential part of human creativity and expression.”A mix of powdered graphite and clay was shaped into rods and baked. By adjustment to the clay-to-graphite ratio, pencils of varying darkness and hardness would then be placed in a cedar wood casing. This reader loves pencils…pencils in triangular casing, sports team casing, Hello Kitty and super student casings. Pencils rule!Monica Tsai had been raised by her grandparents, both now in their nineties. Seventy years ago, Grandma Yun lost touch with her cousin, Meng. Yun rarely spoke about the Phoenix Pencil Company, run in Shanghai, by the matriarchs of the family. The husbands/fathers were fighting in two subsequent wars. Yun was reluctant to speak about her haunted past filled with regret. She wished to right a wrong, to beg Meng for forgiveness. Using modern technological coding, Monica was able to “spark a connection with Louise Sun”. Louise had posted, " I’ve been having the time of my life in Shanghai this summer with the absolute BOSS sitting next to me here. She lived through the Japanese occupation of Shanghai and ran the Phoenix Pencil Company…They would make custom pencils for people all over…One of the only woman-run companies in the city at the time!” Meng wanted Louise to send a package to Yun. The package contained…a pencil. Meng’s pencil, in striking black was like the pencils Monica found in the attic of her grandparents house. “The point wasn’t sharp, yet the lead still shone. At the opposite end of the point was a carving of a phoenix”. After seventy years, why would Meng attach importance to a used pencil?How could families record shared history during a time of upheaval in Shanghai…in a time of “war and betrayal’? Yun and Meng each had a version of the same truth that plagued the family. Through the matriarchal line, a gift (or curse) was put to use…reforging pencils. This superpower could be used for good or unleashed to do harm. People from all walks of life came to the pencil factory for a “pencil fitting” to try out different graphite compositions and then select from a multitude of cedar casing designs. One day, a policeman named Gao came for a fitting. The Wong family was wary of the police who cooperated with local gangs and aided the Japanese in controlling Shanghai. In order to secure their safety, Yun and Meng were forced to reforge battered pencils left by Gao while he left with pristine ones. Nosy neighbors were always on the alert to report any unusual activity.Reforging -a method by which the point of a pencil was forced into the wrist so that the pencil’s heart flowed into the arm creating the scarring image of a phoenix. The used pencil’s words could either be saved by the reforger, as a memory, or could be blotted onto paper as a written message. In this way, Gao and others, passed wartime messages and strategies to the higher ups. The women of the pencil factory were intimidated and therefore, cooperated.Yun had “survived wars, moved all over the world, learned new languages and customs…Now her mind is going to betray her, slowly and steadily.” Before she forgets, it is hoped that through reforging she would share her life journey with her granddaughter, Monica.This very inventive read of literary fiction, by debut author Allison King, focuses on the importance of recording ancestral history to keep family memories alive for future generations.Highly recommended.

The Phoenix Pencil Company is a multi-generational saga with elements of magical realism. Each chapter switches between the grandmother’s story of growing up in Shanghai and the granddaughter’s story in present-day Boston. The grandmother’s family owned the Phoenix Pencil Company, where her mother makes pencils that seem ordinary, but allow them to access all of the words the pencil ever writes. This was utilized during WWII and the communist takeover in China, forcing the grandmother to leave her whole family and move to the US. The granddaughter is trying to help her grandmother reconnect to her heritage, and in the process meets a fellow college student who becomes a potential love interest.This has a lot of elements I love - a multi-generational saga set during WWII in Asia? Sign me up! Secret magical pencils? I’m in! The premise was incredibly engaging and the history lesson on the Japanese occupation of Shanghai and eventual fall to the communist party was really interesting to me. But the story had some pacing issues, and the present-day storyline with the granddaughter didn't have enough meat to keep me interested.Thank you to NetGalley, William Morrow, and Allison King for my review copy!