Shanghai Girls

This post first published July 12, 2012.

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

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

This post first published July 10, 2012.

Author: Lisa See
First Published: January 2005
Publisher: Bloomsbury
333 pages (mass market paperback)
 
My very first Lisa See book — and certainly won’t be my last! I am loving historical fiction lately, though I’ve mostly stayed around Europe, so I’m glad to be venturing out into Asian territory. Specifically, in this book, it is China.  I am Chinese (in appearance, though culturally, I’m very North American), so I immediately felt a bit of a connection with the story and slid into the culture presented in this novel easily. I thought this was a great way to learn more about the country my parents’ families are from, and it really was a fantastic read. I was absolutely captivated by the beautiful story that had my heart aching for its characters by the end.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is about a girl named Lily, who, at the beginning of the novel, is 80 years old and is reflecting on her life and her past, knowing she will probably die soon. Lily started off as the second daughter of a farmer. One day, the local diviner and matchmaker tell her family that if Lily’s feet are properly bound, she will have perfect little feet and be eligible for marriage into a higher-status family in the future. In 19th century China, foot-binding is a common practice. Little girls’ feet are bound with cloth in such a way that the toes are bent under the foot until eventually the bones break and stay that way. The smaller the feet, the more fashionable, beautiful and desirable a woman is.

Foot binding is agonizingly painful, but Lily has her laotong, her “old same”, Snow Flower, to share her experience with. A laotong is essentially someone you are friends with for life, but deeper than a friendship, even deeper than a marriage, and it is ‘official’ with a contract and everything. It is only because Lily has such perfect feet that Snow Flower is able to become laotong with a lowly farmer’s daughter, for Snow Flower is actually from a much higher status family. The two girls form a deep relationship as they experience foot binding together, as well as learning nu shu, the secret women’s writing. Together, they share their life in nu shu written on a fan. However, when the two girls’ fortunes reverse, their relationship changes. Suddenly, it is very difficult to stay laotong with one another, even though they try their hardest.

I really enjoyed this book. I read it nearly non-stop, only putting it down when I had to go to work. I finished it pretty fast, since it is not very long, but wow, it was such a journey. You follow Lily and Snow Flower through their whole lives, from when they are little girls to old women, and it is really a very touching story about the love and deep friendship between women in that time period in China. Back in those days, especially in the more rural parts of China, girls were considered useless and only sons are desired. I suppose a bit of that sentiment still exists today in China, from what I know, but it has definitely improved a lot compared to the 19th century. As a 21st century reader, reading about two “useless” girls coming together and both trying to find their place in their families and in a community that simply doesn’t value women, was heart breaking. But even though this book takes place in a time when women are not considered important at all, from this novel, I could see that women are proud of themselves and what they are able to do to serve their families. Lily, in particular, reached almost cold-hearted levels of pride in herself. She always talked about doing her duties as a wife, mother and daughter-in-law and pushed it on Snow Flower too, who tried her best to follow Lily’s example. It was difficult though, because the two girls’ positions have reversed completely and in extreme degrees. Sometimes I felt Lily was too harsh, but then I have to remember that this was the way it was back then.

This book is also very rich in cultural details. Even though I am Chinese, I really don’t know that much about China’s past and older traditions and customs. It might have been a little easier for me to slip into the world in this book since I am not completely unfamiliar with it, but at the same time, there were many things I didn’t know and was astonished to discover.

As a random side note: I find it kind of ironic how in one of my recent book reviews, I briefly mentioned not liking movie poster book covers. Then I read my copy of this book, not knowing that I had a movie poster book cover! (My copy doesn’t have that “Now a major motion picture!” circle on the right, as in this picture; it has it written in smaller letters at the bottom of the cover). I really like this cover too, so I feel almost a bit conflicted … haha! I guess movie poster book covers can work out occasionally.

A powerful and beautiful story, I recommend this book to everyone!

My Rating: 5/5