Hide this

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
Loading...

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: A Novel

by Lisa See

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations
4,715190428 (4.06)276
Info:

Random House Trade Paperbacks (2006), Paperback, 288 pages

Member:DevourerOfBooks
Collections:Uncollected, Your libraryRating:****
Tags:LT-inspired, ARC, China
Loading...
won't like will probably not like will probably like will like will love

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

English (186)  Danish (2)  Catalan (1)  Spanish (1)  All languages (190)
Showing 1-5 of 186 (next | show all)
Our last meeting of the school year-June 09-was held in a Chinese restaurant. Several of us enjoyed this title enough to read the author's other book. Several of us have lived in Asia and better understood the cultural values and beliefs governing the character's actions and events. ( )
  Bibliofemmes | Nov 7, 2009 |
Excellent, excellent, excellent! The history, the story, the saga, her prose and writing - all wonderful! A must read! ( )
  HoladayB | Oct 18, 2009 |
This story of Lily and Snow Flower in rural China follows their lives from childhood to old age. The two girls become close friends - like sisters they make a life commitment (laotong). For me, the most feeling moments came with the author's description of "foot-binding." I am familiar with this old practice but her graphic descriptins sent chill up my spine. Breaking and rebreaking the feet every few weeks was not only painful but also a cause of death in about 10% of the girls. The object of all this suffering was to have small feet which would be sexually attractive to highly placed men whose control of their women was absolute and often cruel. Not a pretty picture of that culture.

The story follows the two lives thru marriage, childbirth and motherhood, and a revolt in this part of China which caused starvation and illness thruout the region. The girls learned a form of women's writing called "nu-shu" and wrote messages and private thoughts to each other from their isolated rooms on the second floors of their houses. Snowflower's father was a butcher which put him on the lowest social rung and Lily's father, while he had a good position in Federal service, was a gambler and an alcoholic and eventualy put his family in severe straits. In mid life the girls had a falling out and didn't resolve their relationship until Snowflower was on her deathbed.

This was a moving story with beautiful description of the countryside and revealing fact about the customs of Rural China ( )
  Dragavon | Sep 30, 2009 |
I enjoyed the novel (I'm a huge historical fiction and Chinese history buff), but it wasn't as good as I'd hoped. I may be unfairly comparing it to Amy Tan's novels, which leave you feeling both emotionally raw and touched. ( )
  colleengreene | Sep 16, 2009 |
Starts right in, great read, kept me turning pages to the very last. ( )
  Liltuscany | Sep 11, 2009 |
Showing 1-5 of 186 (next | show all)
This book was recommended to me by an overseas friend.
I was expecting a warm story of enduring female friendship but I discovered so much more.
Heart-warming and heart-wrenching in equal measure. A friendship that survives personal and social differences and distances. Characters that turn out to be so different from what you first expect.
added by wodfest | editwodfest, wodfest
 
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Series (with order)
Canonical Title
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Awards and honors
Epigraph
Dedication
First words
I am what they call in our village "one who has not yet died" -- a widow, eighty years old.
Quotations
Last words
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Canonical titleSnow Flower and the Secret Fan
Original publication date2005
People/CharactersLily, Snow Flower
Important placesChina
Important eventsTaiping Rebellion
Awards and honorsCommonwealth Club of California Book Awards (Fiction, Silver, 2005), Book Sense Book of the Year (2006.7 | Adult Fiction Honor Book, 2006), New York Times bestseller
First wordsI am what they call in our village "one who has not yet died" -- a widow, eighty years old.
Last words(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
BlurbersTan, Amy, Golden, Arthur
DescriptionSnow Flower & Lily's friendship blossoms amoung the rocks of a high mountain. Very enjoyable!
Book description
Snow Flower & Lily's friendship blossoms amoung the rocks of a high mountain. Very enjoyable!

Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0812968069, Paperback)

In nineteenth-century China, in a remote Hunan county, a girl named Lily, at the tender age of seven, is paired with a laotong, “old same,” in an emotional match that will last a lifetime. The laotong, Snow Flower, introduces herself by sending Lily a silk fan on which she’s painted a poem in nu shu, a unique language that Chinese women created in order to communicate in secret, away from the influence of men. As the years pass, Lily and Snow Flower send messages on fans, compose stories on handkerchiefs, reaching out of isolation to share their hopes, dreams, and accomplishments. Together, they endure the agony of foot-binding, and reflect upon their arranged marriages, shared loneliness, and the joys and tragedies of motherhood. The two find solace, developing a bond that keeps their spirits alive. But when a misunderstanding arises, their deep friendship suddenly threatens to tear apart.

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:01 -0400)

(see all 3 descriptions)

The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details.

LibraryThing Author

Lisa See is a LibraryThing Author, an author who lists their personal library on LibraryThing.

profile page | author page

Popular covers

 

Help/FAQs | About | Privacy/Terms | Blog | Contact | LibraryThing.com | APIs | WikiThing | Common Knowledge | 45,448,978 books!