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A review by danajoy
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See, Lisa See
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
4.0
I am conflicted as to how to rate this book but I did find the story moving and interesting. I consumed it as an audiobook which definitely aided my experience. The vocal performance by Janet Song was fantastic. The writing was quite beautiful and sensitive but also evocative and at times confronting.
I chose this as my first novel of #asainreadathon as a book featuring an Asian character or written by an Asian author who you can relate to. Lily's womanhood is integral to this story but after completing this story I wonder if it would be more appropriate to cover the 'different' prompt. The historical nature and our cultural differences meant I cannot relate to any of her experiences other than those of close friendships becoming complicated and murky over time. It is so humbling to think about what prior generations faced and how much has changed.
This is the story of Lily's life growing up a girl in 19th century China, learning nu shu (the unique women's language) and sharing her life with her laotong, "old same", Snow Flower. It spans the women's lifetimes from their pairing as young children, through their years of foot-binding, losses of loved ones, their marriages and motherhood. It was fascinating. The bond between the girls is beautiful, they are devoted to one another.
A few content warnings that I feel I should highlight are the presence of a lot of abuse, miscarriage and mentions of suicide. I must say that my timing for this read wasn't quite ideal, in light of the current world events it was particularly difficult to hear about the outbreak of Typhoid so if you are considering reading this now and have not been handling the Covid19 situation you may want to delay it for a while.
Overall I found it a very interesting read, highly evocative of a bygone era filled with archaic traditions.
I chose this as my first novel of #asainreadathon as a book featuring an Asian character or written by an Asian author who you can relate to. Lily's womanhood is integral to this story but after completing this story I wonder if it would be more appropriate to cover the 'different' prompt. The historical nature and our cultural differences meant I cannot relate to any of her experiences other than those of close friendships becoming complicated and murky over time. It is so humbling to think about what prior generations faced and how much has changed.
This is the story of Lily's life growing up a girl in 19th century China, learning nu shu (the unique women's language) and sharing her life with her laotong, "old same", Snow Flower. It spans the women's lifetimes from their pairing as young children, through their years of foot-binding, losses of loved ones, their marriages and motherhood. It was fascinating. The bond between the girls is beautiful, they are devoted to one another.
A few content warnings that I feel I should highlight are the presence of a lot of abuse, miscarriage and mentions of suicide. I must say that my timing for this read wasn't quite ideal, in light of the current world events it was particularly difficult to hear about the outbreak of Typhoid so if you are considering reading this now and have not been handling the Covid19 situation you may want to delay it for a while.
Overall I found it a very interesting read, highly evocative of a bygone era filled with archaic traditions.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, and Suicide