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Loading... Shanghai Girls: A Novelby Lisa See
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.  blackdogbooks | Dec 24, 2009 |  I loved the first 100 pages, and the last 50 or so pages. The middle part wasn't as interesting, for a few reasons. I felt very aware of the author trying to teach me about Chinatown, instead of just experiencing it. Although it was interesting, it detracted sometimes from the story. (  ) bwoodreader | Dec 21, 2009 | This is my first Lisa See novel, and it made a very favorable impression. Her writing is both lyrical and captivating - painting a lush tapestry of periods and places. The novel begins in 1930's Shanghai - a cosmopolitan city like Paris - and the home of two wealthy, beautiful young women, sisters Pearl and May. They aren't exactly ignorant, but they are young, naive and spoiled and have some hard lessons to learn about reality. The first shock comes when they learn that their father has lost the family fortune and sold them to Chinese-American businessmen looking for wives. Pearl and May are strong willed and independent, and have no intention of being sold off to strangers like chattel, or of leaving their beloved city - they throw their tickets in the trash and trick everyone into thinking they've joined their new husbands on the boat for Los Angeles when they haven't. Unfortunately, their troubles have only begun. Their beloved Shanghai is invaded by the Japanese, their father is threatened by the mob, and in attempting to flee to the surrounding countryside, Pearl and her mother are caught and raped by a group of Japanese soldiers while May hides. Pearl and May end up coming through this horrific experience and, with no where else to go, end up boarding a ship to take them to America. The two sisters join their husbands' family in Los Angeles' Chinatown with painful memories, trauma and a very big secret between them. As well, they have their shared memories of their childhood, their parents, and the city they loved to tie them together. The relationship between Pearl and May is central to the book, and very beautifully realized. Neither girl is perfect, both has her own flaws and shortcoming, but each has her own strengths and nobility, and they both sincerely love one another. As mentioned earlier, See's writing is absolutely gorgeous - poetic, descriptive and enchanting. It will transport you to another time and place. Pearl and May face many, many challenges, even after reaching Los Angeles they must face discrimination, and their new lives as wives to strangers in a family that at first seems rude and hostile, but they are both strong and deeply endearing heroines. I will definitely be hunting down the rest of See's novels. They are sure to become classics. 4/5 (  )1  catfantastic | Dec 14, 2009 | I loved this book. During the first few chapters, I didn't think I was going to like it much, or at least, not like the characters much. But about a quarter of the way through (and I can't point to what exactly), my opinion changed and I fell in love with the story and the characters. The novel begins in 1930s Shanghai, and I am really drawn to this time period in China's history. The sisters, Pearl and May, live a charmed life as beautiful girls and the daughters of a wealthy father until their father's gambling issues cause arranged marriages and leaving their carefree lifestyles behind. The girls husbands live in the US, and they leave China to join them there, just as the Japanese bring their fight and occupation to Shanghai and surrounding areas. I didn't know much about the Chinese American experience in the US during the 30s - 50s, but I learned enough reading this historical novel that I want to read and learn more. Also, I was really engaged in the story of Pearl and May and their extended family and the life they created in the US. The book definitely points to a sequel and I can't wait. (  )1 xuesheng | Dec 12, 2009 | I tried all of Lisa See's other books and just couldn't get through them. This book had better characters, pacing and plot lines. (  ) lmcclain | Dec 4, 2009 | 
 Lisa See’s “Shanghai Girls” is much loftier than its cover art’s stunning portrait of beautifully adorned Asian women. The author of “Snow Flower and the Secret Fan” has written a broadly sweeping tale...
Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0739328255, Paperback)Book Description For readers of the phenomenal bestsellers Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and Peony in Love--a stunning new novel from Lisa See about two sisters who leave Shanghai to find new lives in 1930s Los Angeles.May and Pearl, two sisters living in Shanghai in the mid-1930s, are beautiful, sophisticated, and well-educated, but their family is on the verge of bankruptcy. Hoping to improve their social standing, May and Pearl’s parents arrange for their daughters to marry “Gold Mountain men” who have come from Los Angeles to find brides. But when the sisters leave China and arrive at Angel’s Island (the Ellis Island of the West)--where they are detained, interrogated, and humiliated for months--they feel the harsh reality of leaving home. And when May discovers she’s pregnant the situation becomes even more desperate. The sisters make a pact that no one can ever know. A novel about two sisters, two cultures, and the struggle to find a new life in America while bound to the old, Shanghai Girls is a fresh, fascinating adventure from beloved and bestselling author Lisa See. Amazon Exclusive: Lisa See on Shanghai Girls I’m writing this on a plane to Shanghai. For the last couple of weeks I’ve been thinking about all the things I want to see and do on this research trip: look deeper into the Art Deco movement in Shanghai, visit a 17th-century house in a village of 300 people to observe the Sweeping the Graves Festival, and check out some old theaters in Beijing. But as I sit on the plane, I’m not thinking of the adventures that are ahead but of the people and places I’ve left behind. I’ve been gone from home only a few hours and already I’m homesick! This puts me in mind of Pearl and May, the characters in Shanghai Girls. This feeling--longing for home and missing the people left behind--is at the heart of the novel. We live in a nation of immigrants. We all have someone in our families who was brave enough, scared enough, or crazy enough to leave the home country to come to America. I’m a real mutt in terms of ancestry, but I know that the Chinese side of my family left China because they were fleeing war, famine, and poverty. They were lured to America in hopes of a better life, but leaving China also meant saying goodbye to the homes they’d been born in, to their parents, brothers, and sisters, and to everything and everyone they knew. This experience is the blood and tears of American experience. Pearl and May are lucky, because they come to America together. They’re sisters and they have each other. I’ve always wanted to write about sisters and I finally got my chance with Shanghai Girls. You could say that either I’m an only child or that I’m one of four sisters, because I have a former step-sister I’ve known for over 50 years and two half-sisters from different halves who I’ve known since they were born. Is Shanghai Girls autobiographical? Not really, but my sister Katharine and I once had a fight that was like the flour fight that May and Pearl got into when they were girls. And there was an ice cream incident that I used in the novel that sent my sister Clara right down memory lane when she read the manuscript. I’m also the eldest, and we all know what that means. I’m the one who’s supposed to be the bossy know-it-all. (But if that’s true, then why are they the ones who are always right?) What I know is that we’re very different from each other and our life experiences couldn’t be more varied, and yet we have a deep emotional connection that goes way beyond friendship. My sisters knew me when I was a shy little kid, helped me survive my first broken heart, share the memories of bad family car trips, and were at my side for the happiest moments in my life. More recently, we’ve begun to share things like the loss of our childhood homes, the changing of the neighborhoods we grew up in, and the frailties and illnesses of our myriad parents. My emotions and experiences are deeply entwined with the stories I write. So as I fly over the Pacific, of course I’m thinking about May and Pearl, the people and places they left behind, the hopes and dreams that kept them moving forward, and the strength and solace they found in each other, but I’m thinking about myself too. As soon as I get to the hotel, I’m going to call my husband and sons to tell them I arrived safely, and then I’m going to send some e-mails to my sisters.--Lisa See (Photo © Patricia Williams) (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 12 Jun 2009 10:15:39 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
LibraryThing AuthorLisa See is a LibraryThing Author, an author who lists their personal library on LibraryThing.
 LibraryThing Early Reviewers AlumnShanghai Girls by Lisa See was made available through LibraryThing Early Reviewers. Sign up to possibly get pre-publication copies of books. |
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Wikipedia in English (1)
Individual identity is a tricky thing. Are we the product of an ethnicity? A nation? A family? A sign of the Zodiac? A name? Can a collection of personal traits, from appearance to abilities, adequately define a person or direct their path in life?
From one angle, See’s novel is obviously a reduction of the Chinese experience, from the streets of Shanghai at its pinnacle as the Paris of Asia, to the Japanese invasion of China, to an immigration camp on Angel Island in Northern California, and, finally, to the spread of Communism and its shadow on Chinatown in 1950s Los Angeles. All of these places and events, as viewed by Pearl, the story’s narrator, are like prisms in a constantly shifting kaleidoscope, and with each twist she finds a new perspective on her place in the world.
With its colorful packaging and feminine title, some readers might pass over this novel, pigeonholing it as vapid chick lit. But [Shanghai Girls] is a rare novel, offering something for a wide range of readers. Like Margaret Atwood’s [The Handmaid’s Tale], [Shanghai Girls] manages true feminist values without overdosing on estrogen. See calmly tells Pearl’s story in the context of a broader, more complicated world, where women and men alike struggle to establish and maintain their identities.
5 bones!!!! (