katreadsalot's review against another edition
4.0
Really enjoyed this story, it was heart wrenching and thought provoking. May and Pearl are so realistic. I loved reading about Shanghai and California during the war years. My feelings about these characters are so complicated, I feel like I know them. I couldn’t put it down. It was beautifully written. The ending was hard to read. This was a great story about the immigrant experience.
alvic3's review against another edition
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.0
mka0204's review against another edition
4.0
Another wonderful novel from Lisa See, although I didn't enjoy it as much as 'Snow Flower'. Once again, her meticulous research about experiences of Chinese people during the era of the novel (in this case, the first half of the 20th century) have added legitimacy and color to her touching tale. By following the lives of two sisters, See lets us experience history from different perspectives and subtly examines the effect of personality and personal choice on each sister's life. For me, this novel did not have the same mystical qualities as 'Snow Flower'; primarily, I think, because about half of the novel takes place in 20th century America - a place that is much more familiar than 19th century rural China. Her recounting of the sisters' early lives was a bit difficult for me to believe, and the result was that the story's drama was less intense than I believe See intended. Overall, a very good read that would be a great selection for book clubs as there are plenty of discussion points within the book.
murphyem05's review against another edition
2.0
This book had so much potential!!!! The ending just KILLED it for me. Its like she just got tired of the story and ended it as quickly as she could.
artyemis's review against another edition
2.0
Un 2.5 più che un 3 che tradotto suona come un: che noia!
Pearl è una piattola, si lamenta tanto ma effettivamente chi diavolo ti aveva chiesto di uscire allo scoperto quando tua madre ti aveva detto di NON muoverti? e poi fai pesare per tutta la vita che ti hanno stuprato quando in quel momento non ha aiutato di sicuro la madre (visto che è morta comunque) e nemmeno la sorella (che ha dovuto assistere la madre morente e poi portare la sorella all'ospedale solo perché ha una sorella altamente imbecille). Si lamenta a 35 anni che i genitori preferivano May a lei quando è con lei che parlavano dialetto (come cavolo fa a pensare che sia per 'proteggere' May? che razza di discorso è? è logico che stessero escludendo May parlando una lingua che lei non poteva capire!) ed anche se May ha fatto delle grosse cavolate (consegnare Sam è stata una cazzata ma farsi il pittore è stata la cosa peggiore) è Pearl la piaga insopportabile. Anche se è chiaramente Joy il personaggio peggiore di tutto il libro.
La cosa peggiore? che non finisce! si perché c'è una seconda parte che non leggerò mai di questo passo visto l'andazzo.
Pearl è una piattola, si lamenta tanto ma effettivamente chi diavolo ti aveva chiesto di uscire allo scoperto quando tua madre ti aveva detto di NON muoverti? e poi fai pesare per tutta la vita che ti hanno stuprato quando in quel momento non ha aiutato di sicuro la madre (visto che è morta comunque) e nemmeno la sorella (che ha dovuto assistere la madre morente e poi portare la sorella all'ospedale solo perché ha una sorella altamente imbecille). Si lamenta a 35 anni che i genitori preferivano May a lei quando è con lei che parlavano dialetto (come cavolo fa a pensare che sia per 'proteggere' May? che razza di discorso è? è logico che stessero escludendo May parlando una lingua che lei non poteva capire!) ed anche se May ha fatto delle grosse cavolate (consegnare Sam è stata una cazzata ma farsi il pittore è stata la cosa peggiore) è Pearl la piaga insopportabile. Anche se è chiaramente Joy il personaggio peggiore di tutto il libro.
La cosa peggiore? che non finisce! si perché c'è una seconda parte che non leggerò mai di questo passo visto l'andazzo.
dr_manuela_reads's review against another edition
4.0
Took me forever to finish this book but not because I was not enjoying. There are some difficult scenes that made me stop. I don’t like the ending as it’s a cliff hanger. I’m glad I’m reading when I have the 2nd in this series ready to go.
nakedsushi's review against another edition
2.0
There's a phrase in Chinese, chi ku (eat bitterness), which Lisa See's Shanghai Girls exemplifies perfectly. From one end of the book to the other, there's nothing but hardships and heartaches.
The first hardship I found is not actually in the story in the novel, but comes from the novel itself. See writes in the first person through the voice of Pearl, a girl growing up in Shanghai during the volatile Sino-Japanese war. Unfortunately, Pearl seems too self-aware of other people's thoughts, motives, and the world in general. Writing in the first person voice, but with an omniscient view of the environment makes Pearl's thoughts feel artificial and awkward.
Another thing I found difficult to overcome in the novel were the inconsistent choice of Chinese words. The author insists on using the Cantonese word cheongsam for the traditional dresses worn by women at that time, trying to give Pearl a continental and modern flare, yet uses the traditional and scholarly term 'wu dialect' instead of the modern 'Shanghainese.' I still think that if Pearl were a Shanghai girl, she would have said qi pao, the Mandarin word for cheongsam.
If one can get over the technical problems of the novel, it's easy to get sucked into the twists and turns of the two Shanghainese girls. But be warned, the book really is like vicariously eating bitterness. There are several graphic scenes that I found difficult to read as well as parts where I was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. See does a decent job of illuminating the difficulties women and the Chinese in general faced during that time.
At the end of Shanghai Girls, I literally sighed. The story has so much potential to be epic, yet falls slightly short of that because of technical difficulties I couldn't overlook. Maybe I'm just being snobbish because my hometown is Shanghai, but the novel could have been so much better.
The first hardship I found is not actually in the story in the novel, but comes from the novel itself. See writes in the first person through the voice of Pearl, a girl growing up in Shanghai during the volatile Sino-Japanese war. Unfortunately, Pearl seems too self-aware of other people's thoughts, motives, and the world in general. Writing in the first person voice, but with an omniscient view of the environment makes Pearl's thoughts feel artificial and awkward.
Another thing I found difficult to overcome in the novel were the inconsistent choice of Chinese words. The author insists on using the Cantonese word cheongsam for the traditional dresses worn by women at that time, trying to give Pearl a continental and modern flare, yet uses the traditional and scholarly term 'wu dialect' instead of the modern 'Shanghainese.' I still think that if Pearl were a Shanghai girl, she would have said qi pao, the Mandarin word for cheongsam.
If one can get over the technical problems of the novel, it's easy to get sucked into the twists and turns of the two Shanghainese girls. But be warned, the book really is like vicariously eating bitterness. There are several graphic scenes that I found difficult to read as well as parts where I was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. See does a decent job of illuminating the difficulties women and the Chinese in general faced during that time.
At the end of Shanghai Girls, I literally sighed. The story has so much potential to be epic, yet falls slightly short of that because of technical difficulties I couldn't overlook. Maybe I'm just being snobbish because my hometown is Shanghai, but the novel could have been so much better.
crlk's review against another edition
2.0
Finished reading Shanghai Girls last night. I have mixed feelings. I loved reading the beginning of the book when the girls were in Shanghai because it took me to a place I did not know and had never seen and the imagery and "sights & smells" were truly fiction for me. It forced my imagination to work and this is one of the reasons why I read fiction. Even after they landed in America, I still enjoyed reading about the challenges and struggles they faced because I could only imagine what it was like. To me, Joy was the calendar, the timeline, so that I knew how many years had passed on the pages. She was 2 then 5 then 10 then 16 then she was off to college. But from around the time she was 10 through the end of the book was extraordinarily hard for me to read because it was no longer fiction for me. It hit a little too close to home and it made me uncomfortable because I wasn't really in the mood to read historical fiction about the plight of my own family. Lisa See did a wonderful job as always in writing - don't get me wrong. I thoroughly enjoy her books and I plan on reading more of her work. But the words, the stories themselves were too hard for me to read - because these things - the racism, the exclusion from certain neighborhoods, the ridicule, the hurtful words that kids and teachers say in schools where "Chinese don't belong, the "go back to where you came from" - all Chinese immigrants like me and my family know all too well. They are words and actions that we try to push so far into the backs of our minds that we hope the pain never gets stirred up again.
So I raced through the last 50 pages or so, unfortunately, only because it was too painful for me personally to read.
The story could even be called "too far from home"- but then again, were the girls really too far from home? They brought with them to America pieces of Shanghai and their culture. They brought things that reminded them of their history and their past and they continued to practice customs from their culture to remind them of Shanghai and China. But I think what they only started to realize after many years of being in America was that they didn't need all those "things" they brought because they brought themselves. And they were their own best reminder of a culture and customs that were not to be forgotten.
Joy was like the catalyst, a first-generation Chinese American - almost a foreigner to May and Pearl - a reminder that they built a bridge to connect them from one culture to another, but that it was a one-way bridge. May and Pearl realized they could never really traverse back across the bridge again back to their home country. "Home" had changed - it was no longer the China they remembered now that it was Communist. Just like all immigrants, we redefine what it means to be "home."
I would recommend it - but if you are like me, a Chinese immigrant who lived through this experience - I would caution you to be in the right frame of mind so you can enjoy reading it.
So I raced through the last 50 pages or so, unfortunately, only because it was too painful for me personally to read.
The story could even be called "too far from home"- but then again, were the girls really too far from home? They brought with them to America pieces of Shanghai and their culture. They brought things that reminded them of their history and their past and they continued to practice customs from their culture to remind them of Shanghai and China. But I think what they only started to realize after many years of being in America was that they didn't need all those "things" they brought because they brought themselves. And they were their own best reminder of a culture and customs that were not to be forgotten.
Joy was like the catalyst, a first-generation Chinese American - almost a foreigner to May and Pearl - a reminder that they built a bridge to connect them from one culture to another, but that it was a one-way bridge. May and Pearl realized they could never really traverse back across the bridge again back to their home country. "Home" had changed - it was no longer the China they remembered now that it was Communist. Just like all immigrants, we redefine what it means to be "home."
I would recommend it - but if you are like me, a Chinese immigrant who lived through this experience - I would caution you to be in the right frame of mind so you can enjoy reading it.