Customer Reviews

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

5 star:		(545)
4 star:		(188)
3 star:		(54)
2 star:		(23)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

Lisa See's Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is an engrossing and fascinating story of women's friendships in nineteenth century rural China. This is an excellent, well-written novel--fascinating on so many levels. Lily, the narrator of the novel is in her eighties, looking back on her life. She shares the stories of her foot binding, nu shu, the secret women's writing, and the various formally women's friendships that society enforced. Lily's sister participated in a sworn sisterhood, where a group of young women formed a friendship that was to last until marriage, but Lily is paired with one girl, Snow Flower, her laotong or "old same." Lily and Snow Flower have a love that is stronger than all of her other relationships--and it causes them both more heartbreak. The novel is really the story of their friendship, its depths, its deceits, its strengths--and it is a fascinating read about a society so different from our own. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan reminds me in many ways of The Red Tent in that it explores female friendship in a setting much different than any contemporary one. A fascinating read.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: A Novel is surely intended for any reader who likes a compelling, historically-set, moving, suspenseful story. I have been a fan of Lisa See's mysteries, and her sympathies with, and skill in creating characters of both sexes, are apparent in both the mystery plots and the present book.

This plot is beautifully woven, with two women at its center, but there is compassion for both the women and the men in the nineteenth-century Chinese society the author re-creates so vividly. Lisa See obviously LIKES her characters, and she develops some understanding of and compassion for ALL of them. Her natural sensitivity, vast research--including visits and interviews in the remote region she is writing about--make her work fully convincing.

Tender, celebratory, joyous, painful, heart-breaking at times-- this is a memorable, glorious book. After reading it, I found myself thinking more and more about some of the power, motivations, love, violence, and ways of communication in our twenty-first century societies.

I will pass my copy along to a friend or two, but I will say "Be sure to return it."

The lifelong story of Lily and Snow Flower broke my heart on so many levels. I cried for them as little girls enduring the traditions they were born to. I cried some more as their fates unfolded and it became evident it would not be a happy ever after tale. "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" was an unexpected surprise for me, a great story with twists and turns you might not anticipate. It is fast moving , almost from the first page and by mid book, I wasn't able to put it down. I just had to know what happened and couldn't wait for the ending. Teen girls should read "Snow Flower" to better understand how far women have come since the days of foot binding and arranged marriages. This was an excellent story and I highly recommend it.

This 2005 novel is about the friendship between two Chinese women in mid-19th century rural China. What was so wonderful about it was that I actually felt I was part of their world and totally accepted their view of life as my own.

Snow Flower and Lily are friends, but their friendship was not random. When they were only seven years old, a marriage broker arranged a contract in which they agreed to be friends for life. They did not live in the same town and Snow Flower came from a more prosperous family than Lily, but Snow Flower visited Lily often, and learned to do household chores as well as the complicated embroidery that all young Chinese girls did in preparation for their future marriages. Yes, both of these girls, as well as the other girls in their households had bound feet. The pain must have been awful. Yet, it was an accepted part of being a woman in those times, and mothers who wanted their daughters to marry well had to force their young girls to go through the agony.

A woman's world was completely different from the world of men. Their lives were that of isolation. In order to communicate, they actually had a secret written language. This language has been documented and really did exist. It is the only known language in the world to have been developed exclusively by women for women. The two girls would write to each other in this language on a fan which they sent back and forth to each other. Both of them hoped for a bright future.

As the girls grow up we share their experiences of marriage. They didn't meet their husbands until the wedding day. And their function in their new households was only to bear sons. Mothers-in-law were usually hard taskmasters and were always critical of them. But if they were married to the eldest son, they would, one day, become a mother-in-law themselves. And so their lives were that of stoicism and acceptance. This was the only way for them to live.

Lily was lucky. Her marriage was good. She produced boy children, and, through the years, she and her husband got to know each other and accept each other. However, the person she was closest to in the world was Snow Flower and they communicated throughout their lives. In contrast, Snow Flower's life was harsh. I shudder to think of it. And I even shudder more when I think of the rift between them when they were in their thirties. Lily does something that she regrets for the rest of her life. The book, in fact, is told in the first person through the eyes of Lily, who lives on to old age.

The author, Lisa See, is part Chinese and has researched this novel impeccably. She even traveled to rural China and interviewed many people, including experts on the secret writing. Times have changed and Chinese women no longer bind their feet, but interviews with elderly women regarding this practice as well as marriage rituals and food preparation add the essential authenticities that are the basic building blocks of this book.

I absolutely LOVED this book. And although I know that it will appeal mostly to women, I know it would add to everyone's understanding of a culture that is no more, and a lifestyle which once defined China.

"Nu Shu" is the only interesting element in the story. The rest of the story is very lame, very funny and make us laugh when we read. My family, my friends and I all read this book in Hong Kong, and we don't think this is a good story whether it's in English or in Chinese translation. We Chinese feel this story is like a Chinese Stir Fry Hamburger cooked by McDonalds, and then be called "Chinese Food". Poor farm girl could never marry up regardless of her feet! Marriage was dominanted by social status at that time, "Bamboo Door To Bamboo Door", "Wooden Door to Wooden Door" were the undefying rules for arranged marriages, which was never to be violated!!! Well-to-do Chinese Han (Majority Ethnic Chinese) families bounded their daughters' feet so they didn't have to marry down!!! There are many other stupid and laughable things in the story I don't have enough space here to name all!! Powerful, Royal and Rich Ruling Manchurians and a lot of other ethnic groups and poor Han Chinese didn't bind their women's feet!!! Qing Dynasty actually had an imperial ban for feet binding, but was unable to enforce it like the way they enforced the men's dress code!! Han Chinese did it also as a defiance against the ruling Manchurians, because it was the only victory they could hold after China was occupied by a non-Han Chinese ethnic group!

Lily sounds too detached to me in the story. The writer's American voice is too strong in the story, reads more like an American journalist trying to make sense of what she observed and the little she understood in Chinese culture, making whatever she knew Chinese look as exotic as Americans would like to see by adding acts of lesiban scenes (absurd how Lily and Snowflower got naked and lick their finger and write Nu Shu on each other's private parts in Qing Dynasty! They were supposed to be deeply influenced by Confusious teaching and yet doing that!!) Why don't Americans just re-write "Pride & Prejudice" so Elizabeth could do a little dirty lap dancing on Mr. Darcy during their first meeting?

What if the Chinese write a novel about Pre-civil war Georgia in America, e.g. "A Native American Navajo girl Pocahontas O'hara, dressed in a puffy lacey ball gown, wearing a necklace adorned by feathers and danced in a New Year ball hosted by her father, a plantation owner. She danced waltz with a very handsome Mr.Katz, who was an orthodox American Jew and he was wearing a Yamaka...During the whole dance, Pocanhontas was humming her melodic Navajo prayers into Mr. Katz's ears "

What will the American people think of the Chinese if we write something like that?? We will be booed on the "O Reily Factor" every night! Will you call this a good story about the American culture and diversity? But we will never venture into writing stories like that. We respect other people's culture so we just play safe and never write fiction of another culture, cause no matter how much we read about it, there are still things that we will never comprehend becaue we think differently with our Chinese minds! This "Snowflower" book is as silly to the Chinese pepole, as the above book idea to the Americans. Yes, there were some true elements in the book like the Nu Shu, but all mixed up and became very silly together, like a wierd stry-fry.

There are certain books you read that make you really think, "Thank goodness I wasn't living in THAT culture!" Snow Flower and the Secret Fan definitely falls into that category. This story traces the life of Lily, a young farmer's daughter in a very rural area of China, born in 1823.

The book was very well researched, and does do its best to explain that while this life was not as free as modern culture is for women, it was in some ways "not as awful" as it could have been. Lily explains that in some areas of China, women were worked brutally hard, treated like pack animals. In her region, women were treasured. You might think this is a great thing :) However, by treasured, this meant they were isolated in a room with lattice windows, so that some light would get in but they could not be seen. This kept them safe - but trapped. To make matters worse, their beauty was determined by how tiny their feet were. This isn't just the tiny-waist of a corset. Young girls actually had their feet broken and squished, over a period of 2 years, so that an adult woman had a foot about the size of a thumb. All that was left of the foot was one big toe to balance on. It meant their gait was slow and delicate. In essence, they could never run away - and they could barely walk around to do minor chores - cooking, cleaning.

So on one hand, this was a very restricted life for women. They were hidden away in an isolated room, and their broken feet were tiny and barely functional. On the other hand, a hard-working peasant woman might look on this as the life of luxury. Why couldn't *She* laze away in peace and quiet, doing embroidery and weaving? Why couldn't *She* have the excuse of tiny feet instead of slaving in the hot sun all day doing field work?

So into this world of hiding-away, Lily is hooked up with a 'laotong' - or lifelong best friend. The two talk with private women-only writing, mu shu. It gives them a way to discuss the problems with their lives. There are of course misunderstandings, changes as the girls mature into women, jealousies, issues with children, and so on.

I love reading books about other times and cultures, and have read many books that detail the "life was awful for women back then" situations. Foot binding was awful, and I'm certainly glad they don't do it any more. The rigid order of "boys are better than girls" and "wives are subservient to husbands" is also not a wonderful one, but this was pretty common in most cultures around the world. Both of these points were hammered a bit heavily in the book. It was fine the first five times - but re-reading it every 5th page made me really long for more details.

For example, we hear hardly anything about how birth was handled, what children wore, the details of the marriage ceremony, what the various festivals mentioned were like, if they had any instruments, if they had books, pasttimes, toys, hobbies, styles of embroidery, etc. etc. These important features of life are glossed over with a mention of tassles or a comment about shoes. Instead, we hear over and over again that girls are worse than boys. We hear that husbands must be obeyed. We hear about the pain of footbinding. I think most of us readers really did understand the basics after the third or fourth mention.

That's not to say the book isn't a great read. But I think with just a little more time, it could have been stellar. The book is clearly all about 'women', but even so, the men mentioned are vague stereotypes - the wife-beater, the distant father, the weakling son. Even women who are in restrictive cultures can form relationships with males. The heroines in this story seem not to like guys, not to like girls, and to care for each other in a sort of shallow way. Lily "loves" Snow Flower instantly - but doesn't really want to listen to her problems. Snow Flower lies to Lily pretty much constantly, wanting to maintain the illusion she has.

I'd love to read another novel, set in this same world, but with more complex characters.

Having traveled to China in 1986, the first year the Chinese were allowed to be tourists, too, I was overwhelmed by the beauty every where I turned. Everything seemed to be turned into art: bamboo had a thousand uses, buildings with windows whose views were artistly laid out with purpose, museums filled with truly old things (California raised I have a very new perspective I realized!). Every now and again I glimpsed something that told me there was a price paid for all the beauty. I believe Lisa See captured the undertone I'd felt. A woman walked past me and I realized her feet were bound. What did that mean? It was outlawed much earlier but here she was. She walked funny. Her feet looked shorter. But how? Lisa shared in vivid detail the pain and torture the Chinese women experienced. I glimpsed a new level for the word "worthless". I finished the book with a renewed sense of appreciation for my freedoms. The book is not only well written, the characters compelling, but it is a beautiful piece of art unto itself! I will keep my copy for that reason. I highly recommend this book.

From the first page when Lily, the narrator of "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan", introduces herself as an elderly widow -- "one who has not yet died" -- Lisa See expertly pulls you into the world of 19th century China with an engrossing and heartfelt story. Lily's recollections of growing up in a small village with few hopes for the future beyond marrying and producing many sons paint a vivid portrait of the rigid class structure of the time without for a moment feeling like a mere history lesson. The story's human elements are far too captivating for that to occur. As a daughter Lily is unimportant and unwanted by her family, until a fateful intervention by a scheming matchmaker saves her from obscurity and shows that her destiny will lead her to much greater things. Possessing beautifully formed feet that are molded into "golden lilies" through the painful process of footbinding gives Lily the opportunity to move up in the world. She is betrothed to the eldest son of the highest-ranking family in the county, and is allowed to form a laotong match with the beautiful, enigmatic Snow Flower -- a friendship thats intensity will consume the two girls for the rest of their lives. Through thick and thin they are bound to each other and come to love each other deeply, though as they grow up and marry out of their families it becomes more and more difficult for them to see each other. At Snow Flower's wedding Lily uncovers a hidden truth about her laotong which further complicates their relationship as time goes by.

"Snow Flower" is an excellent novel about the beauty and hardships of a lifelong friendship -- a relationship that teaches them the nature of joy and love, the pains of betrayal and abandonment, and what it means to face your destiny with courage and integrity. Lisa See guides the reader through their ups and downs with effortless ease in an expertly crafted narrative that won't fade from your memory after you have turned the last page. One complaint: I felt that Lily is burdened with an unnecessary portion of the blame for the misunderstanding that occurs between the laotongs. But this is really a nit-picky detail on my part, and doesn't take away from one's enjoyment of the novel at all. Highly recommended.

I was quickly taken with this book. I never knew about all the different customs others had, but get a rare glimpse of Nineteenth century China, where men are in charge and women are treated so differently. Two young girls are paired, as "laotongs". Lily feels as if she is the lesser of the two, but grows and becomes a beautiful woman and discovers much.

The footbindings had me cringing and yet I couldn't put the book down. The bond they made and as they went through life, even stuck up in the hills freezing, made me long for the book to go on and on.

I wish there were more books out there like this one!

I've read several books that take my breath away or for some reason are placeholders in my life. Hermann Hesse's "Siddhartha" (which I've read each year around my birthday since 1978) is one of those. The "Samurai's Garden" by Gail Tsukiyama and "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker are others.

The latest is Lisa See's "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan". As a man, the first thing you have to do is divorce yourself from your maleness, e.g. find your feminine side. While I don't particularly like period pieces in the movies, the good thing about a book is that you can bring your imagination to the table.

The men in this book are generally (with some exceptions) not good people. The fact is it is not about men. The book is about women in a particular place and time. It is a fascinating world. I hung on every word and found the book to be nothing but enchanting, enlightening, and with ideas and thoughts worth exploring further. I would recommend it to any man who can find his feminine side or can at least see things from the another gender's perspective. I would highly recommend it to nearly all women.

A great novel set in a very interesting period of Chinese history.