Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - Fiore di neve e il ventaglio segreto

Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Fiore di neve e il ventaglio segreto by Lisa See, Federica Oddera

39 reviews

midwifereading's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I genuinely liked it quite a lot, but I wouldn't say I *loved* it. However, it's such a well-written story that 3 stars doesn't cut it.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is a window into a culture I am not remotely familiar with, and yet there are universal human truths that I recognize. The struggle between pleasing and helping your family, or throwing it all away isn't something most of us in the U.S. have to worry about. Especially in the 21st century. Yet, the struggle to be SEEN is still very familiar. It hits close to home.

Most of all, the misunderstanding between lifelong friends connects like a solid right hook. These friends are akin to what Anne Shirley means when she calls Diana her "bosom friend." This friendship is serious. And it all falls apart over a single sentence. 💔

The resolution comes too late in some ways, and is a reminder never to take for granted that you know anyone's intentions without asking them.

I want to read it again at some point. Beautiful book.

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bookaddictlt's review against another edition

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emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Lily is willfully stupid and selfish.

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amanda_reads89's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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emcat591's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book was not at all what I thought it was, but that wasn't a bad thing. I feel like it could have been titled "Experience the Horrors of Being a Woman in Historical China - Now in High Definition." There is very little positivity in this book. It's quite sad. Please know that going in. I know it's not my right to judge another culture, but there is so much abuse in this book. Some of it was hard to stomach, particularly the footbinding and the domestic abuse later on. It's true that the book is about women navigating through the hardships of their society, but the suffering that the characters go through is so tremendous that to put it that way feels like a euphemism.

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steveatwaywords's review against another edition

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dark sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

See has her fans; she is undoubtedly quite popular for this particular brand of storytelling: sad stories of old China. And true enough, if you have not read anything of the world of "privileged" women in pre-modern East Asia, this will offer some fairly graphic insights. Equally, the author's own learning of an historical secret writing for women makes for an interesting premise for storytelling.

But I'm afraid that neither of these historical premises (foot-binding and other suffering by Chinese and Japanese women for the sake of beauty nor the language of nu shu) are nearly sufficient to sustain a good novel. I found myself frustrated at two levels:

First, the characters and their own growth itself: we might hope to see the development of their ideas, of their relationship, of their understanding of their own condition, etc. But these fundamentals to storytelling take a far backseat to outside events (many beyond their experience or understanding) which impact their fortunes. What political drama which exists within the female community itself is also resolved through time and death, not through the actions or understandings of our protagonists. In other words, our characters are long-suffering from start to finish. And yes, this might be "historically accurate," but this is not a history; it's a novel. The final conflict/complication around the secret language (the sustained conceit for the story) arises from such a simply elementary misunderstanding as to be unreasonably ignorant even from this white male reader's immediate response. Is <i>this</i> really what we have been building towards?

My second concern is a bit different, and I admit that I believe reading writers like James Clavell (Shogun) and Arthur Golden (Memoirs of a Geisha) is problematic. I kept asking myself not just why I was reading this (it came recommended), but why it was written. It's a bit like writing about an idealistic sheriff in the mythological American Old West and saying, "I wrote a story of the United States!" Truly, are there no other stories to write of China than of this world of silks and tea? If we want to stay with historical fiction of China, are there no other eras of classes from which to draw across its thousands of years of history? Reading this felt oddly voyeuristic, so focused through this single misaligned peephole into a vast and complex culture.

It's true that I have also been recently reading contemporary writers from China, and so perhaps the comparison isn't entirely fair. But there it is, a comparison. There are far better choices into literary China, and I don't see what this book in that light has to offer.

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