Helen W. (hrawilliams) reviewed on
Helpful Score: 1
Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and would recommend it to others, with the caveat that it is not necessarily an uplifting read. It is about a very difficult time in the US for Chinese immigrants and not a lot of positive things happen. It is very well written and you can easily get lost in the story (I also read it in just under two days on vacation). Because of this, I found myself internalizing the conflicts and suffering of the characters, and it definitely got me thinking. I wish I hadn't read it on vacation, really, because it is very good but I really wanted something beachy-er at the time.
Like her previous novel, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, the main theme of this story is really women's relationships in very difficult cultural circumstances. As usual, See does a great job of twining in some mystery and surprises, in a very interesting way that teaches you a lot about the history during this time period. The novel is written in the same, somewhat distant, tone of a first-person narrator (Pearl) that See seems to employ in all her books. This, combined with Pearl's actions, makes you unsure if you're completely on her side, but she is likeable nonetheless. Another main theme of this novel is what it is to be a "modern Chinese woman." It is interesting to watch how deftly See brings this theme to a lot of the women's relationships throughout the novel, particularly for Pearl, who is constantly pulled between modern ideals and ancient Chinese attitudes about cultural norms. Through her eyes you find yourself viewing the Chinese womanhood of her mother (very traditional), sister (very modern) and finally, her very Americanized daughter. Throughout the novel, Pearl is on the very fine line separating modernity and ancient ways, and she constantly struggles with the right path to take.
The story is mostly about two sisters who start life as "Beautiful Girls" (essentially models, but given the conservative Chinese society they live in, this is controversial to their family) in Shanghai. Pretty much immediately their world is shattered when their father announces he has lost all of their money gambling and can only save their family by marrying the two girls off to the sons of a rich American Chinese. At first this doesn't seem terrible, but the sisters are immediately against it, believing they are "modern women" who shouldn't have arranged marriages. The situation just deteriorates from there, as war breaks out, they find out their father's debt is much more serious than described and that they'll be forced to move to the US with their new husbands. Circumstances lead them to end up in the US, despite their wishes, and you watch them go through the immigration process and then end up as very precarious US citizens (there is a lot of interesting detail about how Chinese immigrants came to the US during this time, and the shady paperwork and racist attitudes involved). The story continues through the difficulties presented by WWII, surviving as an outcast and unwanted member of American society, the Korean War and the Red Scare in the 1950s.
I will add one warning -- there is a somewhat graphic depiction of rape during the first part of the novel as the sisters and their mother attempt to escape the Japanese in China. For whatever reason, it really stuck with me for a few days and I found it very disturbing. Perhaps because it is based on what I'm sure was a very real situation for many Chinese women.
Like her previous novel, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, the main theme of this story is really women's relationships in very difficult cultural circumstances. As usual, See does a great job of twining in some mystery and surprises, in a very interesting way that teaches you a lot about the history during this time period. The novel is written in the same, somewhat distant, tone of a first-person narrator (Pearl) that See seems to employ in all her books. This, combined with Pearl's actions, makes you unsure if you're completely on her side, but she is likeable nonetheless. Another main theme of this novel is what it is to be a "modern Chinese woman." It is interesting to watch how deftly See brings this theme to a lot of the women's relationships throughout the novel, particularly for Pearl, who is constantly pulled between modern ideals and ancient Chinese attitudes about cultural norms. Through her eyes you find yourself viewing the Chinese womanhood of her mother (very traditional), sister (very modern) and finally, her very Americanized daughter. Throughout the novel, Pearl is on the very fine line separating modernity and ancient ways, and she constantly struggles with the right path to take.
The story is mostly about two sisters who start life as "Beautiful Girls" (essentially models, but given the conservative Chinese society they live in, this is controversial to their family) in Shanghai. Pretty much immediately their world is shattered when their father announces he has lost all of their money gambling and can only save their family by marrying the two girls off to the sons of a rich American Chinese. At first this doesn't seem terrible, but the sisters are immediately against it, believing they are "modern women" who shouldn't have arranged marriages. The situation just deteriorates from there, as war breaks out, they find out their father's debt is much more serious than described and that they'll be forced to move to the US with their new husbands. Circumstances lead them to end up in the US, despite their wishes, and you watch them go through the immigration process and then end up as very precarious US citizens (there is a lot of interesting detail about how Chinese immigrants came to the US during this time, and the shady paperwork and racist attitudes involved). The story continues through the difficulties presented by WWII, surviving as an outcast and unwanted member of American society, the Korean War and the Red Scare in the 1950s.
I will add one warning -- there is a somewhat graphic depiction of rape during the first part of the novel as the sisters and their mother attempt to escape the Japanese in China. For whatever reason, it really stuck with me for a few days and I found it very disturbing. Perhaps because it is based on what I'm sure was a very real situation for many Chinese women.
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