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Snow Flower and the Secret fan

See, Lisa. Book - 2005 Fiction None on shelf No requests on this item Community Rating: 4.1 out of 5

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Fiction 4-week checkout Due 04-14-2024
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Fiction 4-week checkout Due 04-10-2024

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Snow Flower adn the secret Fan submitted by erksnerks on August 26, 2011, 3:41pm Great absorbing, historical read.

Great Historical Fiction submitted by monkk on July 13, 2012, 4:38pm This is one of my favorite books- a story of what it was like for a little girl to grow up in the 1900s in China. Her story continues to adulthood. Not for the squeamish- or if you are, skip the graphic descriptions of foot binding!

Relationships are hard submitted by llamahope on June 23, 2014, 8:34pm This was an amazing story of the lifelong relationship between two women in 1800/1900 China. With one woman's family on the rise and the other heading down, how they relate to each other and how their relationship changes through all the hardships of life was riveting. It was hard to put this book down, and it was easy to identiy with the characters, no matter how little I may have in common with many aspects of their life.

Absorbing submitted by emaelshaikh on August 31, 2016, 12:27pm Could not put it down!

incredibly moving and fascinating submitted by torikaebaya on February 4, 2017, 12:08pm Despite it being the most difficult novel I’ve ever finished reading, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is also probably the most stirring. The lives of the women portrayed become all encompassing; I often found it difficult to transition between reading this story and returning to real life. Yet, the true difficulty in reading Snow Flower comes from walking a mile in shoes stitched for Golden Lilies (bound feet).

Set in rural China before during and after the Taiping Rebellion, Snow Flower offers a salient if not critical ethnographic study of women descended from the Yao lineage of Jiangyong County. For the uninitiated, the world of the “upstairs chamber” is a bitter pill to swallow. Born out of millennia-old Confucian values, the lives of the women in Nineteenth Century China were far from easy. Although the protagonist Lily appears to rise to the top of her social strata, this is no court of Versailles—women live in the shadow of men and derive their sole value from giving birth and raising sons. Snow Flower also represents a rags-to-riches story in which Lily is given a singular opportunity to escape the Cinderella-like downtrodden fate of womanhood if she can survive the abuse of her peers.

In another sense, Snow Flower is a bildungsroman where our protagonist comes to trade places with an educated wealthy daughter from a neighboring town, her laotong. A Laotong is a life-long sworn sisterhood matched (it might be more accurate to say betrothed?) between two girls of similar station and disposition. The eponymous Snow Flower is Lily’s match, though at first they seem as different as night and day. The novel traces the deep friendship, love and longing between the two girls and often takes one’s breath away from their emotional upheaval. As Snow Flower comes to instruct Lily in nu shu (a lyrical writing system developed and used exclusively by Chinese women) and poetry, Lily imparts her practical knowledge of running a rural home.

Although it’s incredibly moving and fascinating, it took me nearly five months to read Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. The hardships that Lily must endure are painted in stark relief. Oftentimes I found that I simply couldn't bring myself to read an entire chapter all the way through. I wouldn't say Snow Flower is depressing as such, but it is nearly impossible to divorce oneself from the emotional turmoil Lily must endure. Snow Flower is a challenging read, one I wish I had attempted during college when I was hit with so many other difficult novels. However, I’m very glad I persevered and was able to peek into the sublime, vibrant world Chinese women once lived. Lisa See has my respect and gratitude for penning such a lovely of women’s literature.

Snow submitted by smr on July 2, 2020, 9:40pm Like snow flower

Flower submitted by Anthany on July 10, 2020, 9:13am Snow flower

Heart-wrenching submitted by Princess Cimorene on July 21, 2020, 12:38am This book is so beautiful, and yet so full of pain. I love that it really helps Western readers understand the Chinese practice of foot binding--not only the cruelty of it, but the context for it, which is so important. It's definitely hard to read at times, but I do like gaining deeper understanding of different cultures through literature, so I really appreciate this book.

, submitted by SoapyCupcaketoeNaIL on June 21, 2021, 10:42pm iqad

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PUBLISHED
New York : Random House, 2005.
Year Published: 2005
Description: 258 p.
Language: English
Format: Book

ISBN/STANDARD NUMBER
0812968069 (softcover)
1400060281 :

SUBJECTS
Reminiscing in old age -- Fiction.
Female friendship -- Fiction.
Women -- China -- Fiction.
Married women -- Fiction.
Older women -- Fiction.
Footbinding -- Fiction.
Childbirth -- Fiction.
Secrecy -- Fiction.
China -- Fiction.
Psychological fiction.
Domestic fiction.