Author: Lisa See
First Published: 2009
Publisher: Random House
Series: Shanghai Girls #1
400 pages (mass market paperback)
Another fantastic book by Lisa See. As with Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, I could not put down Shanghai Girls once I started reading!
Shanghai Girls is about two sisters — Pearl and May — who are living in Shanghai during its height in 1937. Shanghai is the “Paris of Asia” and the sisters enjoy being “beautiful girls”, being painted for calendars, going to night clubs and dressing in the most fashionable clothes available. Suddenly their whole world is turned upside down when their father has gambled away their fortunes and is forced to sell the girls as wives to a wealthy Chinese family living in Los Angelos, to pay his debts. The girls stubbornly hold onto their modern ideals of love and marriage and refuse to go until the Japanese invade and bomb the city. With absolutely nothing left to lose, the girls make the incredible journey across the ocean to the United States, hoping their husbands and in-laws will take them in. Once there, the two girls must cope with becoming American, as well as racism and the wars.
I kind of like these riches to rags stories Lisa See comes up with, set against the backdrop of China. I was really hopeful for this to be a great book since I loved Snow Flower and the Secret Fan so much, and I’m happy to say I am not disappointed in the least. Again, Lisa See has created a powerful story of sisterhood and female friendship across the lifespan. Things change in life, people experience good and bad luck, but the two protagonists in this book make it through with incredible resilience. Although … at times, they did sort of annoy me with how spoiled they seem! But then again, they were rich, lovely girls to begin with, it’s probably very surreal falling from such a height.
I particularly enjoyed this book because the theme of children thinking they are so modern while their parents are too traditional and backwards is one of my favourite themes to read about. I think all kids of all backgrounds, growing up, want to break free from their parents’ strict rules and traditions as much as possible, believing they are part of a newer, more modern generation. You can see that clearly in this novel, especially when Pearl and May are told their father has arranged marriages for them. They are truly horrified, thinking, “Who has arranged marriages anymore?!” and continue to dream of marrying their one true love instead. When Pearl’s daughter, Joy, grows up, she also tries to break away from Pearl, claiming that Pearl is too backwards and overly Chinese. Pearl realizes that this is exactly how she felt about her own parents. It’s like a vicious, continuous cycle — kids are always going to think they’re “better” in some way to their parents.
The book also provides insight to the hardships the first immigrants to the United States experienced. While this book focused on the Chinese, I think the difficulties they faced are similar to what any group faces. Outside of Chinatown, the girls are faced with hostility and discrimination. Just finding a house to live in is a great ordeal. The only place they can live peacefully in is Chinatown, but they are forced to wear “costumes” — their traditional Chinese clothes — instead of Americanizing themselves with Western clothing. Even worse is when the States is fighting against Japan, and later, China, and the Chinese in Chinatown are regarded with suspicion — never mind the fact that they’ve lived in America for over ten years now without any problems; everyone thinks every Chinese is a spy.
This book is full of emotions and like with See’s other book, I was completely drawn into the characters. There were a few parts of the book that lagged a bit, but they were far and few, in my opinion. I did think the ending was rather abrupt, and I would have been totally disappointed in it had I not already known that there is a sequel to this book, Dreams of Joy (which I have sitting on my bookshelf, hopefully to be read soon!)
My Rating: 5/5
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