Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

I found this book hard to read in many ways, not because of poor writing, but because of the unrelenting sadness in the life of Lily, a 19th century Chinese girl from a poor country family. It begins by describing in great detail her foot binding at age seven. After that, her life narrows, mostly limited to a second story "women's room". She longs for her mother's love but is told daily she is worthless, her only value that of obedient daughter and wife. She is married off and leaves her home for that of her husband, where she is the lowest member of the household. The redeeming grace in her life is her friendship with Snow Flower, in a formalized relationship called a laotong which is intended to be more emotionally intimate and show more lasting than marriage. How this relationship transcends the other areas of her life, and is threatened by a misunderstanding, forms the core of the book. Lisa See is a very skilled writer and is able to clearly conjure a physical place and society so alien to ours. The reader is left pondering why a woman's beauty and value in that culture depended upon the smallness and shape of her feet. I was struck by an obvious parallel with breast size, and implants to achieve it, in our society. show less

In 1800s China, 80-year-old Lily reflects back on her life, specifically focusing on a lifelong friendship she shared, starting as young child, with another girl named Snow Flower.

This was a beautifully written book exploring gender roles, the patriarchy's long reach, and the power of female friendships. The text hooked me almost right away, and Lisa See created such interesting characters that I kept wanting to see what would happen to them next. At times, the plot points could be difficult and heart-wrenching, with many hardships and deaths of friends and family members across Lily's long life, but it was always engaging. The author also intersperses key facts about the culture of the time, without it ever seeming didactic.

For the show more audiophile, Janet Song was a gifted narrator who brought life to all the characters and appropriate emotion to the text. show less

I have a serious foot-phobia, and I was not sure I could get through this novel. The writing was lovely and lyrical and sounded exactly the way I imagined Lily would speak.

But I was constantly twisting and turning and fidgeting my feet. I felt the excruciating pain those women must have went through to snare a rich husband. How inhuman! How could mothers possible subject their 6 or 7 year old daughters to the same torture they experienced as young girls? I know, I know, it was the society, and to prosper in that society, all women, who wanted a good match for their daughters, had to force foot-binding those poor children. I guess stiletto heels, make-up and pantyhose are not quite as bad.

The capacity of human beings to inflict pain show more and suffering on the most vulnerable members of society is an unspeakable tragedy. With a death rate of ten percent, you would think women would rise up and put a stop to that barbarity.

I have always admired Chinese culture -- the calligraphy, the poetry, the porcelain and pottery, the food, of course, but I was not truly aware of this dark side of Chinese history.

What women put themselves through for men! Men truly do not deserve women, and some day, they will wake up and realize what they have done -- just as Snow Flower's husband did when it was too late. Hug a woman, give her a kiss and gentle touch. Remember, as the Chinese proverb says, "Women hold up half the sky." Three-fifths, I think.

--Chiron, 2/7/08
I have a serious foot-phobia, and I was not sure I could get through this novel. The writing was lovely and lyrical and sounded exactly the way I imagined Lily would speak.

But I was constantly twisting and turning and fidgeting my feet. I felt the excruciating pain those women must have went through to snare a rich husband. How inhuman! How could mothers possible subject their 6 or 7 year old daughters to the same torture they experienced as young girls? I know, I know, it was the society, and to prosper in that society, all women, who wanted a good match for their daughters, had to force foot-binding those poor children. I guess stiletto heels, make-up and pantyhose are not quite as bad.

The capacity of human beings to inflict pain and suffering on the most vulnerable members of society is an unspeakable tragedy. With a death rate of ten percent, you would think women would rise up and put a stop to that barbarity.

I have always admired Chinese culture -- the calligraphy, the poetry, the porcelain and pottery, the food, of course, but I was not truly aware of this dark side of Chinese history.

What women put themselves through for men! Men truly do not deserve women, and some day, they will wake up and realize what they have done -- just as Snow Flower's husband did when it was too late. Hug a woman, give her a kiss and gentle touch. Remember, as the Chinese proverb says, "Women hold up half the sky." Three-fifths, I think.

Four stars (I took one away for what this book did to my foot phobia -- made it worse!)

--Jim, 2/7/08 show less

My friend, Lori, sent me the novel, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See, quite a while ago. I put it in my to-be-read pile without even glancing at the book description. I already had so many books to read, I just didn't know when I'd have time for it. Every time I saw it in the pile, I felt an urge to read it. When I finally did, I knew exactly why Lori sent it to me... I soon found myself immersed in nineteenth-century Chinese culture as well as the friendship of Lily and Snow Flower. Their deep connection and even their misunderstandings reminded me of the deep friendships, including the one Lori and I share, I've had in my life. See's descriptions of the foot binding process had me rubbing my toes and arches. Knowing the pain show more of ill-fitting shoes, I couldn't even begin to imagine how these young girls survived the foot-binding process. I cringed as I read passage after passage of the treatment of women of those days juxtaposed against the strength the women exhibited in trying times to keep their families from totally disintegrating. The hardships of life lead to a heartbreaking misunderstanding between Lily and Snow Flower that causes painful betrayal and a complete break in communication. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan pushed me to open communication in my own friendships and to search for ways to make the lives of the women of my day better. show less

Set in China in the early to mid -19th century, this book tells of a deep friendship between two women, Lily and Snow Flower. Their relationship, known as a laotong, is intended to last a lifetime. It begins when they are children and is arranged by a matchmaker. The girls learn and communicate in a secret women’s-only written language, nu shu, which differs significantly from men’s writing. Snow Flower and Lily inscribe messages on a fan and send it by courier to each other, similar to a pen pal, at major milestones in their lives. At age eighty, Lily is looking back on her life and recording their stories for a specific reason, which will eventually be revealed.

The book is a deep examination of Chinese culture of the era through show more the eyes of its women at a time when women were expected to be subservient to men and to produce sons. This story includes the horrors of foot-binding, which was seen as a sign of beauty – the ideal was seven centimeters. I had heard of foot-binding but had no idea of what it entailed. Other cultural aspects include social classes, official ceremonies, traditions, and storytelling.

This book is beautifully written and provides a sense of a real relationship between these women, filled with love, conflict, and heartbreak. As with the best historical fiction, it transports the reader to a time and place and feels authentic. I was able to picture the region in my mind’s eye through Lisa See’s detailed descriptions of the food, weather, clothing, and landscapes. I gained an appreciation for the arduous lives of the women of the time and what they endured. This one will stay in my memory for a long while. show less

I read this in a few days, as I found the story compelling and fluid. I learned so much about the rural Chinese culture and the lives of the women in these days; so full of heart-ache and swallowed tears. It was a delight to learn about nu shu and a horror to see footbinding up close and the hallmark it left on the women who went through it. It's truly amazing how different a culture can be half a world and a century or so ago. The extended family living is not surprising, but the progression of a young girl from betrothal, through early marriage to "falling in" to her husband's house, when she becomes pregnant is an alien concept to me now, but it makes sense in the context of a rural existance when famine & uprisings and infant show more mortality were facts of life.
The position of daughters in this society is so sad. I don't blame Lily for her treatment of her "laotong", I think she misunderstands and is hurt, she innocently misses the accurate context and perceives herself to be rejected-wronged. There is so much beauty and sadness conveyed in this book, and a little stolen joy, happily. The songs, especially that surround marriage, childbirth and death are fascinating. And I had to go immediately to see what nu shu characters look like. Bird's footprints was a good description.
Although there was a hint of eroticism at one time between the two young girls, I don't believe there was anything homoerotic in their friendship, although it may be that Lily loved Snow Flower more than she did her husband, while the same was not neccesarily true in reverse.
I would give this book 8 out of 10. It makes me want to read Shanghai Sisters. show less

Amazing. Reading this made me feel so profoundly grateful to be a woman in present-day America--big feet and all! The women in this story seem not to have experienced any true happiness at all, only lesser degrees of misery and suffering. I believe they loved deeply but could never fully admit it, even to themselves. That seems to me to be the underlying reason for the grave misunderstanding between Lily and Snow Flower. The women were so bound by convention--literally and figuratively--that they could not speak freely of their true emotions. That is what was most heart-breaking to me. What a fascinating story.