Lisa See

A Novel

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

A story of friendship set in nineteenth-century China follows an elderly woman and her companion as they communicate their hopes, dreams, joys, and tragedies through a unique secret language.

shequina 

Lily is the daughter of a humble farmer, and to her family she is just another expensive mouth to feed. Then the local matchmaker delivers startling news: if Lily's feet are bound properly, they will be flawless. In nineteenth-century China, where a woman's eligibility is judged by the shape and size of her feet, this is extraordinary good luck. Lily now has the power to make a good marriage and change the fortunes of her family. To prepare for her new life, she must undergo the agonies of footbinding, learn nu shu, the famed secret women's writing, and make a very special friend, Snow Flower. But a bitter reversal of fortune is about to change everything.

altlovesbooks

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. (view spoiler)[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. (hide spoiler)]

Colleen

2 Stars
 
I’ve had a copy of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan for quite a while but never got around to reading it. After I read Lisa See’s most recent book,  The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane , I was so excited to read her most well-known book. I was intrigued by the synopsis of the life-long friendship between two women and nu shu – the only language in history created by women and exclusively used by women. After the excellent way See portrayed the relationships of women in  The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane , I had high expectations for Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. But those expectations were utterly dashed.
 
The two books have some commonalities. They both focus on in-depth exploration of Chinese culture. They both have female-centric stories. Perhaps it isn’t fair to hold an earlier work up to the standard of a later one. But since Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is her most famous book and has high ratings, I hate equally high expectations.
 
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is told as a first-person narrative from Lily’s perspective. It is a mock-memoir written by her in her eighties. This led to one of my biggest literary dislikes – when the narrator gives away what is going to happen then takes forever to actually get around to those events. There was some vague foreshadowing, but more often Lily would outright say what was going to happen. Then she would go on and on about the minutia of her life before finally getting around the things she had already spoiled. It takes all of the suspense and emotional involvement out of the story. And the conflict between Lily and Snow Flower – the one big thing that she kept referencing without outright spoiling – ended up being so anticlimactic, I literally said, “That’s it?!”
 
As off-putting as the self-spoilers were, there were other issues with this book. The historical details and cultural exploration often turned into long infodumps. Rather than making the culture and customs come alive, it was coldly dumped into the story in long-winded chunks. There was some a lot of information about foot binding. I find it interesting to explore cultural images of beauty. It’s hard to imagine a permanent disfigurement with a 10% chance of mortality as a sign of beauty. But then again, it’s currently common for women to get breast implants to appear sexier or inject botulism into their skin to hide wrinkles. Although those practices aren’t quite as extreme as foot binding, it is important to understand that they are still classified as body mutilation done in the name of beauty.
 
It was also interesting to look at the societal parallels between China and Europe from the same time period. Although there were many cultural differences, I could not help but compare the roles that women to which were relegated. Both enforced the view that women are meant to be wives and broodmares with little to no power over their own lives. Both sequestered girls and often had arranged marriages where the girl had little to no say in who her husband would be. Both tried to force women to be subservient. But those comparisons were in my head. The book stays wholly engrossed in its own bubble, and Lily was determined to be the perfect wife. It was hard to read from a twenty-first century viewpoint, because all she did was reinforce that women should stay in their prearranged role of lesser being. I was expecting some sort of feminist thread in the story. The showcasing of a friendship that was supposed to transcend their marital bonds as well as the focus of nu shu left me with the expectation an empowering story.
 
Speaking of nu shu, that was another major disappointment of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. That is something really cool from history that has been largely forgotten. But although nu shu is frequently mentioned throughout the book, it is really put down. Rather than being empowering, Lily says that of course men were aware of nu shu; they just overlooked it so women could have their little bit of fun. So instead of being empowering, it is curtly dismissed as women grasping at straws because of their own lack of education. And instead of the strong emotional involvement I experienced in her other book; I was complete turned off by all of the petty drama. This felt like a terrible soap opera set in feudal China.
 
I didn’t love the characters and was never truly engaged in their stories. Lily is an unreliable narrator, and everyone else is seen through her eyes so you can’t believe anything you read. The only person I liked at all was Lily’s aunt, but she was barely in the story. Lily herself was obnoxious both as a character and a narrator. I was disinterested in her at the beginning, but I outright hated her by the end. She was nasty and narcissistic. She mastered the humble brag. Even when she claims to have learned so much and matured, at heart she is clearly still the same selfish, manipulative hag. (view spoiler)[It really pissed me off when she got the three concubines for her husband. She made such of big deal of claiming she did it out of maturity and magnanimity, but it was just another manipulation on her part. She wanted to be viewed that way by others as well as wanting to show off her husband’s wealth and virility. (hide spoiler)] And since the entire book is about Lily and told from Lily’s own perspective, I could never move past how irritating a person she was.
 
My hopes were quickly extinguished once I started reading this book. At first, I clung to the mildly interesting bits. But as Lily became nastier, I had such a hard time continuing. If I hadn’t loved  The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane  so much, I might not have even finished this book. Between the format, the characters, and all of the pointless drama there was no way I could like this book. It was extremely anticlimactic and melodramatic. If I hadn’t already read a different book of See’s and liked it, I would be unlikely to ever try her work again. As it is, I probably will read something else by her at some point, but I much more hesitant to do so.
 

RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 3 Stars
Writing Style: 2 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 1 Star
Plot Structure and Development: 2 Stars
Level of Captivation: 2 Stars
Originality: 2 Stars

Stephanie Honour

I am still suffering from the book hangover this story gave me. Amazing.

Ofelia

** spoiler alert **
            Per diecimila anni saremo due fiori nello stesso giardino.

<< Ritengo che nella vostra casa viva una fanciulla di buon carattere, esperta nelle arti femminili. Lei e io siamo nate nel medesimo anno e nel medesimo giorno. Non potremmo essere la stessa l‟una per l'altra? >>

Ultimamente mi ritrovo a leggere sempre libri tristi, e io purtroppo sono fin troppo emotiva. Questo libro spezza il cuore, e fino alla fine speravo in un finale più dolce ma già ero riuscita ad intuire come sarebbe andata. Sono comunque soddisfatta del finale, perché non poteva finire con un lieto fine dopo tutto quello che era accaduto, non sarebbe semplicemente stato credibile. 
E' incredibile quante informazioni ci siano in questo libro, quanto si possa capire della Cina di allora anche solo leggendo quel poco che la protagonista riesce a vedere (non uscendo praticamente mai di casa). Ho voluto anche scoprire qualcosa in più su questo nu-shu, perché dopo aver studiato cinese per anni ero davvero curiosa di sapere quanto e come questa scrittura femminile potesse essere differente. 
In effetti è vero, è proprio come la descrive all'inizio del libro: sembrano impronte di uccelli lungo la sabbia, ricorda qualcosa di intimo e segreto. Carina anche la parte finale dedicata al nu-shu, un pò troppo lunga forse da risultare un pò noiosetta ma comunque interessante.


<< "Tu che hai sempre conosciuto il mio cuore ti libri ormai, oltre le nubi, nel tiepido sole. Spero che un giorno voleremo insieme.” Mi sarebbero rimasti molti anni per riflettere su queste righe e per sforzarmi di rimediare alle sofferenze inflitte alla persona che più amavo al mondo. 
Seduta in silenzio >>

Jaymie Lemke

Cassidy

Fraser Simons

The historical aspects were very interesting, and seem well researched. The characters aren’t as convincing, and the writing is serviceable, but far from stand out, giving this book a serious case of middle book syndrome. I’ve also read another of See’s books and felt similarly, so I think this is just a case of not getting on with the author. 

Plot wise, this book requires investment in the friendship component between Snow Flower and our narrator, as the plot is very slow and not as interesting as their interactions and overall arc. The machinations of their lives aren’t as vivid or interesting - but this, I think, is by design. Her internal, micro world is a source of her strength when facing wild misogyny and system sexism, patriarchy, etc. Having a small silver of agency clearly means the world to these two women. But if you are looking for the drama to be propulsive for the A plot and B plot, you’d be mistaken. Which is why this is quite a struggle sometimes. It would have made a very good short story, in my opinion.

Stefanie Sugia

"So here I am alone with my thoughts and this fan before me. When I pick it up, it's strange how light it feels in my hands, for it records so much joy and so much grief... Memories tear across my eyes. These last forty years, I have read it so many times that it is memorized like a childhood song."

 
 This story is told by a woman named Lily, when she was eighty years old. She looks back on her life, starting when she was just a five year-old child during her Daughter Days. Lily was born as a child of a farmer; and as a child who was born in 1823, Lily had to go through painful experience of foot-binding at age 7. At the same time, she met her laotong, which means sworn sisters; a relationship closer than husband and wife. And so, this story tells the life of Lily, along with her laotong, Snow Flower. Lily was only a daughter of a farmer, while Snow Flower was known to come from a prosperous family. They became laotong, in hope that Snow Flower will be able to change Lily's life....

Read the full review here:
http://thebookielooker.blogspot.com/2...

Antonella Romani

Beautiful story about the importance of "worthless" women and the powerful strength of friendship. Bonds that last lifetimes with all the joy, sadness, beautiful, ugly, forgiveness, and mistakes that come with them.
Beautifully written, with exquisite imagery, and emotion. 
I reccomend this book.

Amber Laha

This books only interesting point is the Chinese culture that I was able to learn through this. The story itself is boring and lagged. I found the characters to be pretty drab themselves and I couldn't force myself to continue with a story that couldn't hold my attention.

Jeni Enjaian

This book was hauntingly beautiful. See's narrative captured the painful grace and beauty expected from a Chinese woman of this era. This painful grace cast a depressing tone over the entire novel. These sorts of books are not my favorite to read.
The depressing nature along with the following point resulted in my 4 star rather than 5 star review. The biggest problem with the book, in my opinion, is the intense reproach and blame heaped upon the protagonist for what ultimately turned out to be just a huge misunderstanding. Things were kept from her as a child. Then, when an adult, she conforms to the strict social morays of her culture, somehow she had treated her laotong horribly. Then, she spends the remaining decades of her life using works to make up for the supposed wrongs she has committed. The utter futility of Lily's life radiates from the page and calls into question the purpose of the protagonist's "writing" this book. What sort of lesson is she supposed to teach her reader?
See crafted a superb narrative. I cannot wholeheartedly recommend it though for the reasons that I have described above. This book does provoke thought and would be worth a read for that reason alone.

Deborah Baker

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this book. Lisa See writes with beauty and finese. The characters are enduring and the story is epic. I fell in love with this book. Probably one of the top reads of the century! Classic and beautiful. Poetic!

Excellent book. I thoroughly enjoyed it... minus the in-depth description of foot binding. That, I could have lived without.

Carla Aquino

Wow...I'm at a loss for words! So many emotions flowing through me right now. To reviewers that might have negative comments you don't need to understand any of it, just have some respect for the culture and the lost art in which was once embraced by that culture.

Rebecca Light

I have to admit that I was not immediately in love with this book. The first third definitely kept my attention as I read it more as a history book than a novel. It was fascinating to gain insight into the process of foot-binding, and all of the customs that Chinese women were held to for so many centuries. Fascinating and heartbreaking. This book immediately confirmed why historical fiction is my favorite genre. Somewhere in the middle of the book it started to lose my attention, to be honest. I was frustrated that I didn't seem to care very deeply for any of the peripheral characters that had been introduced to our narrator's life such as her husband, her in-laws, her children. I found myself thinking "I don't care about these people. Why would the author keep the reader at such a distance?" Then as we entered the last third of the book, it all came together and I could not put it down. I quickly realized that Lisa See did this very intentionally, so as to highlight and focus on the relationship between Lily and Snow Flower. Don't get me wrong, I could tell from the beginning that that's what the book was about, but man it really delved deep into their "deep heart relationship" to the point that I truly could not put it down the last 40% of the book. It was a completely beautiful and heartbreaking illustration of the importance of the relationship between two women, and how they had to depend on each other in a world of men. To me Lily and Snow Flower represent two different but equally heartbreaking examples of how women tried to survive during that time. I would definitely recommend this book.

Janet Doré

A favorite of mine. It had all the perfect ingredients...great writing, intimate characters, compelling history, and a story that keeps the reader wanting more.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan A Novel

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