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Lannie
Posted June 14, 2010
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SHOCKING!
Lily's words detail experiences in her life that will break your heart. The excruciating pain of foot-binding, the secluded life hidden away from men, and the necessity of creating their own secret language, were endured by the women in this culture. This is shocking how women are so devalued in this 19th century Chinese culture!! It reveals a culture that makes you shake your head with disbelief and makes you feel blessed to be living in America in the 21st century!! So much pain and heartbreak and so eye-opening! A real learning experience!
15 out of 17 people found this review helpful.
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Amazing Writing
This is a book that should be recommended for everyone. It is not just a book for women --- it is far too good to be limited to any subset of readers.
It is a book for anyone who loves great writing that illuminates not just the characters in the book but the readers and all their attributes both good and bad. It is a book that will lay your emotions and prejudices bare. It is a book for anyone who thinks --- and it is also good for those who spend there life reacting without thinking --- good writing can improve any mind no matter how bound up in ideological straight jackets --- perhaps we should include this book on a mandatory reading list for all politicians. It is a book for anyone who loves or is loved or wants to be loved. It is a book for anyone who feels anything --- you can not read this book without some emotion rocking and vibrating sympathetically with the events and joys and sufferings of the story. It is not a book just about footbinding --- it is much more than that --- it is a book about the binding of the soul --- how humans distort and deform their relationships with those around them --- how we reject our most natural allies and friends and lovers ---- those around us ---- our own family ---- but in the end there is hope --- the hope that things will improve even if only a little --- the hope that even if it cannot be improved now things can be made a little more tolerable --- with secret solaces and shared dreams and every once in a long while the breath-taking realization of the potential of us all when a true love is allowed to survive . Perhaps it is hidden and must speak in secret languages but once fired love fills the world from the tiniest of places --- there is no need for hope once that love flickers --- even under the greatest tyranny love makes things right.7 out of 10 people found this review helpful.
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snowflowerfan
Posted February 5, 2010
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Amazing Must Read Book
Lisa See's Snow Flower and the Secret Fan consists of every emotion: joy, sorrow, grief, and most important, love. Through her vivid diction and unique storyline, the author takes the reader to nineteenth-century rural China. In the course of this novel, Lily, one of the main characters, reminisces stories of her younger days, mainly with her laotong, or "old same", Snow Flower. While Lily's elder sister partakes in the usual sworn sisterhood of four girls that only lasts until marriage, a lifelong laotong match is found for Lily and Snow Flower, causing their bond to overrule every relationship that Lily beholds. Though Lily and Snow Flower share much more than love and friendship, these two girls' bonds are forced to undergo many ordeals as they suffer the effects of jealousy.
Though the reader may experience joy from the first chapters of this book, grief soon follows as we convert our minds to the pain of foot-binding that these young girls start experiencing. As the two main characters start maturing over time, we, as readers begin to understand the effect of foot-binding and this laotong relationship on these girls as it helps them settle their future. Ideas of famine, denial, distrust, pressure, poverty, and jealousy are all expressed throughout this one story.
This interesting, well-written book will not let you, as a reader, put it down as Lily's each separate memory gives the story more unexpected twists and turns. Not only does See provide an amazing storyline, but she tries to enhance the pleasure of reading this novel by expanding on each little detail. In all, this book is a must-have and will not let you down.5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
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Arranged marriages, loss, and motherhood in nineteenth-century China
I can't believe I waited so long to read this book. Shame on me. This book was wonderful, lyrical, entertaining - all the makings of a wonderful novel. I was transported to 19th century China as I read the words of Lily and her experiences with footbinding, marriage, and her lifelong friendship (laotong) with Snow Flower. Chinese women in this period of China's history lived a rather secluded life, almost always separated from men. They even had their own written language, nu shu, which is spotlighted throughout the novel.
The aspect of the novel that most affected me were the detailed descriptions of the footbinding process that most Chinese girls endured in the early years of their lives. This process was incredibly painful and basically handicapped the woman's movement for the rest of their lives.4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Heart Wrenching
A sad story about the plight of women during the food binding period in China. Excellent.
4 out of 7 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted September 5, 2009
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Fantastic!
Lisa See's "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" is a beautifully written exploration of the connections that women have over the spans of their lives. It is poignant, disturbing, and spot on regardless of whether the reader is a lover of the 19th century (in which the story is set) or one who favours the contemporary. The disappointments the women of the novel face are simialr to our own; and the burdens that society places on women today are much the same that were placed on women from Lily's time, though in different ways. See's tale begs the question of "what is really different" as it explores the issues of "beauty' and the sacrifices women make to be "beautiful". It approaches the ways in which women demean themselves for the sake of "beauty". Is women's image of beauty cultural or universal,and from whence do we get these notions of what is means to be "beautiful." For See, the answer is that we can all see oursleves as beautiful and if we (as women) would stop judging our sisters we might find happier lives. As well, See allows us to see the absolute determination of women to survive ina ll ways possible. In the end, what we collectivly allow is a universal subjection of ourselves, never recognizing our abilities to be strong and united, and we all contribute to this situation by our own "policing" of other women. Also explored are the notions of family dynamics which (for women) can be oppressive and challenging to say the least. The characters in See's novel may seem distant to the western woman, but read intuitively, her women teach us lessons that should not be ignored. her women live life in the most subtle and charming terms, but they also live life more valiantly and meaningfully than we can imagine. This book SHOULD be on OPRAH"S BOOKLIST . . . it is a MUST for any woman who has a family, children, parental difficulties, and who loves another woman in any fashion. The book is simply a MUST READ for those who love literature whether academically, as a pleasure reader of women's fiction, or for the general reader. A simply amazing piece.
4 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
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READ, TAKE A TRIP, GET TO KNOW A DIFFERENT CULTURE
I STARTED WITH LISA SEE WHEN I FOUND "SHANGHAI GIRLS" AND WAS READING DAY AND NIGHT. THIS IS AN EXCELLENT NOVEL WITH REAL TRADITIONS. IF YOU WANT TO TRAVEL AND ENJOY A GOOD TRIP READ THIS ONE. I ALSO JUST FINISHED "SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN" ALSO BY LISA SEE. THIS IS ANOTHER EXCELLENT READ. I ACTUALLY HAD TEARS IN MY EYES IN ONE PART. THIS IS HOW "INTO" A BOOK THIS ONE IS. NOW I"M READING "PEONY IN LOVE". I CAN'T TELL YOU ANYTHING ABOUT THIS ONE AS I JUST STARTED.
3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Snow Flower delivers more than secrets...this is a touching story; will not disappoint the faithful reader.
Delivered in beautiful layers, resplendent in telling and alive with imagery, history and cultural, magnificent detail that linger long after reading. Hard to put down.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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I will never forget this book
A powerful story about female relationships. I loved this book.
2 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Beautifully written and very moving.
I was very enveloped in the story. I had little knowledge about Chinese culture before reading Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. It was moving and captivating.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted November 5, 2009
review- great book
An excellent book with wonderful characters and story.
2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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GramsE
Posted October 27, 2009
A friendship in a different culture
This book was recommended by my adult daughter, whose friends I assume have also read it. I thoroughly enjoyed the level of friendship developed between the two main characters and how it changed as they got older. This was not only enjoyable but enlightening of what the Chinese culture imposed on its girls and women. I've passed my copy on to a friend.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Life In Restrospect
I fell in love with this book from the moment I picked it up. The relationship between Lily and Snow Flower is truly heartwarming. Listening to Lily describe her life, step by step through all the ups and downs she's experienced is both engrossing and heartwreanching. It's an especially good read if you are even the slightest bit interested in Chinese culture. The chapters in the book, describing the proces of "foot-binding" is so gut wrenching, I came close to tears for these small girls.
It was sad and dramatic and in the end makes you think about all the important relationships in your own life. Highly reccommend!2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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HEDI09
Posted September 21, 2009
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A TRIUMPH!
Another triumph for womanhood, that keeps your heart pounding! I agree with all of the positive reviews!!! Another winner in my opinion is E X P L O S I O N I N P A R I S, by LINDA MASEMORE PIRRUNG, a thought- provoking mystery, suspense and love story, fight for survival, life, love and fulfillment...Should be on every woman's book club list!!! I'm totally in love with this book!! Check out the reviews! They'll hook you as they did me! EXPLOSION IN PARIS...An absolute joy to read!!
2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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filled with sorrow...
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is filled with sorrow with a touch of happiness sprinkled in for good measure. In this novel, Lily is recounting to us her life story and the one thing that she cannot forgive herself for. This novel is about her friendship with Snow Flower and ultimately the regret that Lily feels for a misunderstanding that threatens the love they have for one another. Snow Flower and the secret fan is suffused with hopelessness, anguish and sorrow. We see famine, plague, rebellion, death, pain and much more. This is not the book to read if your looking for a heartwarming story! The friendship we watch blossom between Snow Flower and Lily is breathtaking though. The writing is beautiful and as long as you don't let the story depress you, it's an absorbing tale.
2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted May 26, 2010
Family and Friendship
Though I almost quit reading Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by page 40, I now must admit Lisa See has written a remarkably compelling story. It is filled with the history of China, family, friendships, social status issues, women's rights, and the pull of culture and beauty.
I continued to read this book, during the day only for quite a few pages, until then I could not put it down. I felt compelled to understand why these women allowed this practice of foot binding to continue - and then personally put their daughters through the same torture.
But I think the point of putting this at the beginning of the story was not just chronological order, but for us to understand the strength of will and pull of culture and custom on these 2 girls destined to be matched as Lao Tong by their families. Children in the beginning, we see them grow up together, get married, and help each other through great perils as best they could with a surprising twist to their lives.
I reflected on my own Western customs of high heels, women's liberation (not!), cosmetic surgery, lack of family ties and guidance and I was truly drawn into this world, despite its seemingly barbaric ways.
Ms. See, who is part Chinese herself, writes in her notes "on the surface, we as American women are independent, free, and mobile, but at our cores we still long for love, friendship, happiness, tranquility and to be heard".1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted February 20, 2010
Touching
Beautifully written. Shocking. Full of painful truths and raw emotions. I couldn't put it down!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Enjoyed it!
I have read other fiction books about early Chinese history, mostly for women but this auther introduced me to new terms and practices. The way the main character matures with her awareness about her life long friend toward the end, is marvelous to witness.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted September 21, 2009
Good Read
I liked this book but I didn't get it when she totally disavowed her friend without even talking to her face to face. I wasn't happy with the ending but the rest leading up to it was really fantastic.
I loved the way the girls' friendship blossomed and strengthened throughout the years.
It's a nice book.1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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purple06
Posted September 11, 2009
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, is a beautifully written novel about foot binding in nineteenth- century China. The story depicts the every day life of girls and women in society. The vivid details make for a great story line that is cheerful and haunting at the same time. Once started, this book is impossible to put down.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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