excellent

In 19th century China, when wives and daughters were foot-bound and lived in almost total seclusion, the women in one remote Hunan county developed their own secret code for communication - nu shu. Some girls were paired with laotongs, "old sames," in emotional matches that lasted throughout their lives. They painted letters on fans, embroidered messages on handkerchiefs, and composed stories, thereby reaching out of their isolation to share their hopes, dreams, and accomplishments. With the arrival of a silk fan on which Snow Flower has composed for Lily a poem of introduction in nu shu, their friendship is sealed and they become "old sames" at the tender age of seven. Much later, when a misunderstanding arises, their lifelong friendship suddenly threatens to tear apart. ( )

Sometimes the characters aren't the most loveable, but this is still an amazing story. I've read descriptions of foot-binding before, but this book definitely has the most graphic description of them all. That alone makes this a book for those with a strong stomach. ( )

It was a good book. Takes place in the 1800s in China. It's about a relationship between 2 women. Women in China would have special friendships/bonds with another woman, called a laotong "old same"..kind of like a sworn sisterhood between 2 women for life. This is about two women & their laotong..and all that women had to endure, including footbinding..ouch! ( )

2007 ( )

A story of two women surviving strict rules and ancient customs, a novel showing the detail of women's lives in a China of footbinding, nu shu ( a secret women's written language) and 'old-sames' (a more formal kind of kindred spirit) ( )

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. ( )

Excellent, excellent, excellent! The history, the story, the saga, her prose and writing - all wonderful! A must read! ( )

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 ( )

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. ( )

Starts right in, great read, kept me turning pages to the very last. ( )

his book was pretty much impossible to put down, I only managed to set it down, when I was too exhausted to read anymore. But what a fantastic read! Lisa See did a wonderful job at creating a beautiful friendship between the two characters of the book, filling it with emotional passages and a strong bond between these two girls, who grow together into women. The story is written in an autobiographic sort of way, so we only get to view things through Lily’s eyes, but the author did such a fantastic job in writing in the head of this woman, you almost want to believe she lived years and years ago, and these are her thoughts she left behind. The friendship, and how it was portrayed and written, is probably my favourite aspect of the book, and I was so involved with the characters, it drove me mad to see them hurt, to see them fight, to see them sick etc.

Another aspect of the story I enjoyed was the aspect of Ancient Chinese traditions, the ways woman were treated, the hardships they faced, and how they were perceived in society. Again, the author does a wonderful job at showing this to the readers, the foot-binding process it very, cringe worthy, and grotesque, but handle beautifully, in that it showed a very real out look at what woman had to go through during these times. Lisa See easily is able to paint a very realistic picture in her readers heads, in every scene of what is happening, what our characters is feeling emotionally and what they’re thinking, with words.

One issue I had, was sometimes it moves a little slower then I would have liked it, it moves slow, because it needs to build the relationship up to what it is and how it ends, but at times, I felt like I just wanted to move on with the issue already. Overall, a beautiful read, and another author who I look forward to reading more works by her, this book has quickly become one of my favourite of the year, and the characters in it and their friendship, one that will stick with me (and likely other readers) for a while.

Review also posted at my blog: http://juliebooks.blogspot.com/ ( )

Wonderful portrayal of female friendship in 19th century China. Beautiful and moving. ( )

A powerful and fascinating story of two friends in 19th Century China and the traditions that affect them. ( )

I really enjoyed this book and everything about it. I learned a lot about foot binding traditions and how cruel it was to be a woman then, I fully enjoyed the whole story it was very sad and a little slow at times but I did go and get the authors other books after finishing this one. ( )

I loved this story and it's views into a culture I know little about. Wonderfully paced. I'll recommend to our book club. ( )

See this review on my blog: http://histficchick.blogspot.com/2009...

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is a touching, heart-breaking book about love, loyalty, friendship, honesty, and betrayal. I loved this book, the story really resonated with me as a woman, and I think freethinking ladies of the modern era will find this book both compelling and brutally honest in describing a tragic and very inhibiting time and place in history for our sex. Women in 19th century China found solace in each others company sitting in the “upstairs chamber,” learning from each other to stand firm in their traditions and to obey all lifelong protocol and filial obligations. Here in the upstairs chamber, protected from the outer realm of men, women shared their difficult lives by telling stories, singing sorrowful songs, creating symbolic embroideries, and composing writings in their secret women’s language, nu shu.

I almost found myself getting angry and frustrated at points with some of the misogynistic customs and assaults against women mentioned throughout this book. Every time the narrator, Lily, talked about how women were considered “useless branches” of the family tree who must quietly resign themselves to relatively unhappy lives, I wanted to reach through my book into her world and embrace her in a bear hug, explaining that we are so much better than that sad, insulting description. Women just had no idea of their own self-worth, and throughout her life, Lily tries to help other women realize that even though they are trapped in their sheltered bubbles of conformity and harsh customs, they can find little ways to make their lives bearable if they walk the line and follow all the “right” rules, ultimately choosing their battles wisely and winning the ones which truly matter most.

The book’s detailed, graphic descriptions of foot binding make this novel not one for the faint of heart. If you can stomach the chapter on this ancient Chinese practice, you will love the rest of this book. The pains these women went through, for fear of being sold off by their families as sex slaves if they did not obey, were excruciating. After reading further into the novel, I realized that the chapter on foot binding was completely necessary in order to lay the groundwork for what follows, as well as to outline the extreme bravery and stoic disposition these women had to acquire and internalize in order to continue on arduously trekking through their demanding lives.

I highly recommend this book; it was very much enlightening for me, as I have never read a hist-fic book on China. Based on this amazing novel, I think Lisa See is a fantastic writer, and I will definitely add her books Peony in Love and her latest Shanghai Girls to my wishlist. She paints such a clear picture of Chinese culture and its emphasis on themes such as duty and honor; I walked away from this book feeling as though I had a better understanding of a world wholly different from my own, yet her writing is so clear I could feel the characters pains and misfortunes as though they were my own. Lily and Snow Flower’s story of lifelong friendship presents a touchingly human perspective on the trials faced by the human heart, and tells a tale of love and devotion that is certainly not to be missed.

http://histficchick.blogspot.com ( )

I rather liked the truthfullness of the setting, and the obvious research behind it, but the character and the story lacked depth, imo. Not bad, but not a novel to read and reread.
Nonetheless, a good point for historical coherency : the character don't act, talk or think like XXth century occidental people, but are in keeping with their time and place.

Not for the squeamish...the section on footbinding goes into more detail than I needed. ( )

The life of women in early 20th C. China. Bound feet are beautiful and their house is their world. Great writing. All loved. Good discusison. ( )

Set in rural China about a million years ago, Lisa See writes this novel as if it were truly the autobiography of young girl throughout her life. I think that anyone who is even mildly interested in culture differences, feminist issues or friendship would enjoy this book, and and someone who enjoys reading about all three, I'm sitting her telling all of ya'll about it.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is has power equal to East of Eden, and the texture of both Joy Luck Club (Amy Tan) and Memoirs of Geisha (Arthur Golden). It's one of those books that really questions how selective my annotations are- I wanted to highlight about 90% of the book, *that's* how good the writing is. SFatSF is personal on a very human level that made me feel for the characters like they were my own friends and you hate the mistakes you make even as you're making them. (By 'you' I mean the main character, but I also mean the reader. It's the same mistakes just a different setting.) Unfortunately, happy books are never that good, so like always, SFatSF is pretty depressing but definitely worth the read if you don't get bogged down in it.

I think that any book that's this intense and interesting is worth praise, however there are some books that really do broaden your understanding of the world and that of the past. I think this is one of them. SFatSF is your classic historical fiction that no one gives enough credit for it's well researched outline. I think Lisa See did an excellent job of illuminating the reader to the issues of the time so you could fully understand what's really going on for the characters instead of simply grabbing the surface.

Can you imagine having to break your feet to the size of a thumb? Or having to leave your family forever during your adolescence to move into a strangers house where you will be thought of as less than a work animal? What about being raped daily by your husband or having to watch all of your children die in your hands? I think the biggest thing for me was losing Snow Flower. I was talking to Grace about this earlier, but I honestly don't think that most people are as big of assholes as we suspect, I think the biggest problems come from a misinterpreted or lack of communication and that both parties are normally sorry it happened. I hated losing Snow Flower because it reminded me of friends I'd already lost.

Wait, maybe I should talk about the plot? Maybe a little? So basically life sucks because you're a girl and no one loves you except your laotong. You get your feet bound so you can have perfect golden lilies so maybe your parents can marry you off and get rid of you. Then your life sucks some more because you're still a worthless girl and still no one loves you except for maybe your laotong who is your forever friend. But then there's a misunderstanding and your laotong leaves and then you're all alone and you're miserable and again, no one loves you. You watch your children, your family, your husband and your friends die off one by one until finally you're the only one left. Only then do you realize your mistake, but it's too late because your laotong's already dead. The one person you truly loved is dead and you feel responsible.

I think that the best books don't just reflect the life we know (and a lot of books don't even accomplish that, but merely show a weak shadow of the world), but expand upon it and show us areas of the horizon that perhaps we've never known or considered. It really is an amazing thing to be enlightened to new circumstances that you'd never considered and to be able to understand just a little bit more. Four and a half stars! SFatSF is fiction so look under SEE (author's last name). Much love!

Oh, and I think SFatSF is a little bit lesbian, but reading other reviews, most people disagree. See what you thinkkkkk. ( )

I'm not a writer, eloquently describing a beautiful passage or story. I don't think i would do justice in my review of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See.

The story is set in the 19th century China, during the reign of Emperor Daoguang. Lily talks about her growing up during this time. The beginning she starts by saying she is a widow, 80 years old and in the 'Sitting Quietly' part of her life.
The Chinese during this time was all about traditions. They live each day with a routine in every minute and hour of their life. Lily starts her story as a 6 year old child who must go thru the agonizing tradition of feet binding . From there she tells of learning nu-shu, meeting her Laotong, preparing and marrying her husband and goes on to tell about her life after marriage.
The author Lisa See states that after doing a review about Nu Shu, doing some research, chatting with a fan she decided she needed to go to Jianguong to further her research and to learn more. She did awesome in her book, describing the details of the Chinese history and the Nu Shu writing.

Like i said i'm not a writer and i wouldn't be able to write a review thats worthy of this book.

Set in 19th century China, this is a tale of two friends and the impermeable social divide that separates them and the ingenious way they connect with each other. An underlying theme that was so fascinating to me to the point that I was compelled to do more research, is that of the Chinese art of footbinding. (Fun fact: not only was this being done for over 1000 years, but did you know that it was done as little as 40-50 years ago?!?) The author's prose truly transports you to another time and place. ( )

Good book about the culture...a little slow at times, but interesting. The foot binding was a little too much...I do believe I read that has been outlawed at this time. ( )

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan was just a pleasant diversion for me. Maybe would have been more gripping if this was the first book I had read about a woman's life in China pre-revolution, including the gory details of footbinding. So, it wasn't shocking, but always sad to think about the difficult lives and lowly status of women--even now--in many places in the world. I enjoyed this book, but wouldn't read it again, so no stars.