Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

I don't remember much of this book from the first time I read it or why I gave it two stars but I loved it this time around!

As much as there were interesting moments that dealt with the rich historical time period in the novel, I felt that there was a lot of unnecessary repetition that dragged the narrative. Also, the pacing was at times incredibly slow, and in other moments the author glossed over information or made certain events feel like they were sped up like with Beautiful Moon's death. The whole thing felt so sudden and pointless.

Furthermore, the constant self-deprecation of the narrator (always thinking herself inferior to her laotong, thinking that women are worthless creatures and that sons are the only worthy accomplishment of a woman) was starting to grate on my nerves. Obviously, the historical context of the novel makes it so that this rampant misogyny is acceptable, but the constant reminders and hammering in of the ideology was oftentimes excessive and unnecessary.

The amount of foreshadowing in this novel was insane and really ruined the anticipation of events. I wanted to discover the twists and turns for myself, not have them told to me from the get-go. In any case, the ‘big reveal' around the midway point really wasn't as jaw-dropping as what you'd expect; in fact, it was rather underwhelming.

Overall, I feel that this story had so much potential to be really interesting and unique, but it ended up being lukewarm and too slice-of-life for my taste.

I've been intrigued by the idea of women's secret writing ever since I'd first read about it, and this book does a great job of immersing a reader in the culture that would make such a thing necessary. A tragic, beautiful and fascinating story about the lives of women and the way they can build each other up, even when constrained, or tear each other down.

The writing was beautiful, I loved the setting. The main character was equal parts inspiring and infuriating. Another reminder of the importance of communication with your loved ones. Incidentally, I'm not sure several weeks of devoted care is enough to erase decades of mistreatment and callousness. Even in the end, it felt like everything she did was to make herself feel better, and not to benefit Snow Flower.

I would not have read this book if I wasn't doing a reading challenge and had to read a book about a different culture. Certainly was an eye opener - especially regarding the foot binding which is now illegal.

Not too sure about this one - it is definitely more directed to a female audience, so perhaps that is it?

It is not a particularly fast moving story, but is interesting in its setting - rural China, mid 19th Century - with a bit of range across the wealthy and the poor. It does footbinding, spousal abuse, cultural worthlessness of female children. On a more positive light it also does the secret female writing (nu shu), the matching of similar girls as life long friends(laotongs) and seasonal festivals and beliefs.

For me the two main characters just weren't that interesting, and the writing just wasn't that compelling. It came across to me as just being a bit ‘lite' - I needed a bit more grit. About 200 pages into the book (of 288) I was just willing myself to keep going. Luckily I was invested just enough to carry on... so many books to read, so not always willing to stick with something I am not enjoying.

I guess for me it ultimately sits around 3 stars.

1.5 stars on subject matter alone. The rest ?
Zzzzzz.

What a beautiful, heartbreaking novel. The friendship between Lily and Snow Flower was the heart of the book, and the author made me feel such empathy for both women. I was fascinated to learn the details of the Chinese customs of foot binding and nu shu, which became so important in the girls' lives. I did not find this to be an easy book to read - it seemed that every page brought more suffering, either physical or emotional - but I was so compelled by Lily's story that I never considered quitting. This was a challenging read, but one I don't think I will soon forget.

In the beginning of Snow Flower & the Secret Fan we learn all about foot binding. I had gone to the Field Museum in Chicago years ago with my brother and saw shoes that women whose feet had been bound wore and I couldn't wrap my mind around it. Reading about it was both fascinating and horrifying. Looking at pictures of women's bound feet on Google was worse. When talking about her aunt's feet Lily says:

‘Her bound feet were not very small, maybe fourteen centimeters long, twice the size of what mine eventually became.'

Just in case you're not sure what that is in inches it's 5.5 inches. Which means Lily's feet end up being about 2.75 inches long. And if you're like me and had to Google how many inches is 14 centimeters you might have seen that below the answer, the second link was a Wikipedia article on the average male's penis size. Weird.

Anyhoo....that just nearly blew my mind. At one point she describes someone's foot as being about the size of a thumb. A tiny, Chinese woman's thumb.

This is chick lit at it's finest. A story not about a woman's quest for love, children and happiness, but about the most important relationship a woman will ever have. That with her best friend.

I love the way that Lisa See wrote the story, through the mouth of Lily as she is remembering her life now that she is in her ‘Sitting Quietly' days late into her 80's. Sometimes she remarks on how she cannot explain how she felt at some point or how she can never get that feeling or image out of her mind. Her honesty is her atonement for what she let go in her life. At times I could see myself in both women, although I could see my faults were similar to Lily's.

I thought about my mother and how she's been best friends with my Auntie (who is not really my Auntie) since they were girls. Like old sames. One Japanese, one Chinese. They've seen each other through so much and they will always been sames. I think that they even went to see this movie together!

Love. What it all came down to is women's love. The love we yearn for from our mothers, the love we have for our friends, our sames, and love that we try to show our daughters when we sometimes are being harder on them than they understand. It's showing our mother love.

I read this through the haze of sleep deprivation and baby blues that comes with the first two weeks of being a new mom. As such, I found the book both profoundly moving, and palpably, viscerally almost unbearably sad. See is very evocative – I usually do very poorly with historical fiction, especially set in an era about which I had little a priori knowledge, but I found myself very invested in the characters.

So, I'm going to attempt to give my thoughts on this book, but I honestly am still processing all I read, so I probably won't do it justice...

This book affected me deeply, and I couldn't put it down. There are some books that instantly take you in. Instead of reading and turning pages, you are living with the characters, taking in the world with them, thinking like them, being them. And then that book becomes a part of you, and when you are finished, it remains. This was one of those books for me.

I learned so much about the Chinese culture of this time period from this book, and I found it completely fascinating, even though a lot of it was appalling. Let's just say, I am very grateful I didn't grow up a Chinese women during this time! This has definitely spurred an interest in learning more about the Chinese way of life, thinking, history, culture, etc.

But the picture this book painted of what true friendship is, how different levels of friendship are affected by the different stages of life, and the unique friendships women need to feel complete and fulfilled was probably the thing that stuck with me the most. It gave me much to contemplate in my own life.

And isn't that what the very best stories do?

Beautiful.

What a wonderful story of the strength and love that can be shared between friends.

The thing about first-person historical fiction, is that it's hard to give proper historical context without seeming clunky... and this seemed clunky. Still though, the historical context IS interesting, and this was a fun, quick read.

I really enjoyed this novel a lot!

Snow Flower and Lily become friends in nineteenth century China, and they are only able to keep in touch with each other secretly in the culture of that day. Still, they find a way to share through all the events of their lives—their arranged marriages, the isolation they face, and their motherhood trials.

This is a powerful story of women's lives from long ago which touched me deeply.