Skip to main content

Book Review: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See


Lily is the daughter of a farmer in a remote county of China in the 19th century. As she arrives at the tender age of six, she receives a visit from a diviner and then a matchmaker from another area of the county. It seems her feet, which are so important in this culture, have potential to be what people of this time consider perfect, so she is given the opportunity to be paired with a laotong, or "old same." In her lower status as a farmer's daughter, she would not normally have this opportunity, so she is naturally excited.

Lily and her laotong, Snow Flower, begin their relationship at this young age, and throughout Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Lisa See shows us how their lives intertwine and diverge over the years. This is more than just a story of friendship, though. What Lisa See presents is a clear picture of the culture of the time. The traditions explored in this book are both fascinating and disturbing; the chapter on footbinding is particularly painful. I learned a great deal about 19th century China, and I am certainly glad I didn't grow up in that time and place ~ especially as a woman.

I've had this book on my shelf for some time now, and have continuously heard from people who loved it. I did enjoy it. It was interesting, engaging and enlightening. I'm just not as excited by it as I thought I would be. And perhaps that's because it was as good as I expected it to be based on the comments I've received from others. I think I would have enjoyed it even more if I hadn't heard so many good things about it first.

My Rating: 4/5

Reading group guide and discussion questions for Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
Read my review of Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

This review was written based on a copy of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan that I received from PaperbackSwap.com.
Labels:

Comments

  1. LindyLouMacSeptember 23, 2010 at 1:36 PM

    At least it met your expectations even if it did not excite you.I loved this, you might be interested in what I had to say here
    http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/5168858/?page=2

    ReplyDelete
  2. BookQuoterSeptember 23, 2010 at 6:49 PM

    Sometimes I wonder if we expect too much when we read such great reviews.
    I liked it because I thought it was so informative of something (foot binding) I didn't know anything about. It was such a different culture!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sheila (Bookjourney)September 27, 2010 at 11:56 PM

    I have heard great things about this book. Thanks for the review!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by! I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Popular posts from this blog

Banned Books Week: Junie B. Jones by Barbara Park

This is the end of Banned Books Week and unfortunately, I haven't had a lot of time to write about banned books this year. But I did want to include at least one post about it, so today I wanted to share one of the book series that it seems most people are surprised to find on the list: Junie B. Jones by Barbara Park.

According to Wikipedia:
The Junie B. Jones series came in at #71 on the American Library Association's list of the Top 100 Banned or Challenged Books from 2000-2009. Reasons cited are poor social values taught by the books and Junie B. Jones not being considered a good role model due to her mouthiness and bad spelling/grammar. This is an interesting example of a banned book. Many times there are serious, controversial topics featured in books that are challenged. Things like homosexuality, drugs, vulgar language, etc. You can actually understand why people may not want their children to read those books, and why they may challenge their inclusion in school libra…
10 comments
Read more

April Reading Review

Where exactly did April go? I swear it was just the middle of March and now it's May. Once again, I'm going to provide a quick review of each of the books I read last month. For the last two weeks of the month, I participated in the Spring Into Horror Readathon hosted by Michelle at Seasons of Reading. The only rule was that you had to read at least one book that was horror, thriller, etc. I read one book that qualified. With the exception of the first book in my list, the books I mention below were read during the readathon


My book club's May selection was Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson. I had started reading this nonfiction book about the author's work representing men, women and children who were on death row in March but finished the book in April. This is an eye-opening story that everyone at my book club discussion agreed should be required reading for law schools and police officers and even legislators who are making the laws related to judgements. I learned to…
3 comments
Read more

Book Review: The Darkest Corners by Kara Thomas

Title: The Darkest Corners
Author: Kara Thomas
Genre: Young Adult Mystery
Published: May 9, 2017
Format: Paperback
Source: Random House Children's Books
Buy on Amazon (affiliate link)


Tessa Lowell left Fayette, Pennsylvania, when she was just 9 years old, moving to Florida with her grandmother. Now she's a recent high school graduate and heading back to town to say goodbye to her dying father. With no family in town anymore, Tessa stays with the family of her former friend Callie, which is pretty awkward since she and Callie haven't spoken since they were little. Being with Callie also brings up questions that Tessa has held onto for the years since she's been gone. Questions about the testimony the young girls gave that sent a man to death row. 

I don't read many young adult novels, but The Darkest Corners by Kara Thomas was touted as "the next twisted psychological thriller," so I decided to give it a try... and I'm glad I did. While the story moves r…
1 comment
Read more