Header PromotionSnow Flower and the Secret Fan
I find this a difficult book to write about. Set in rural China in the 1800s, it is the story of women and their lives in that society. It is sad and a bit depressing to hear of the restrictive ways they had to live, being considered inferior to men.
The story is about two girls paired up as "pen pals", writing back and forth in womens secret characters on the same paper fan for over 30 years. They were more than pen-pals, this was the way women supported each other throughout their lives in the world they existed in. We hear much of their marriages, children and other women in their lives, less about their husbands everyday lives. This is mostly a story about Lily (the narrator), her life, and Snow Flower, her lifetime friend.
Lily is from a farm family and marries into an upper-class family in another county, eventually becoming the reigning Lady of the county. Snow Flower's well-educated upper-class family has fallen on hard times and she marries into a lower-class family.
It does not have a happy ending. Lily wants to be proper at all times and be a good example to other women in the community, but is not very supportive of Snow Flower when Snow Flower needs compassion and not a lecture to tough it out and be better. That is putting it VERY simply, but is the overall tone of Lily's life for many years.
I have been listening to audio books since 1999 during my daily commute to work, and the reader of this was very nice to listen to. There were no sound-effects but the reader did various voices (young girls, older women) extremely well. It is probably one of the top 3 books that I have listened to! My #1 favorite is On The Road (Matt Dillon reading) and #2 is Holy Cow (had music and voice accents that really gave a flavor of India).
As a side note, I tried to read On The Road by Kerouac over 30 years ago and never finished it. It was hard to read, but the narrator of the audio book gives this story so much energy and a feeling of excitement in the right places that it is awesome!
I would recommend Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, but be prepared for a book that will leave you a bit sad.
AKA Glenn
Family Challenge Team: The Spine Breakers with my lovely wife Merri AKA Paisley
Print version
I have this book on my shelves and it is one of my goals this year to read it. I wish we had the audio at our library but since we don't, I'll go with the print version. Some books just work better for me in audio, you know?
The D2K Paranormal Junkies 2008 Challenge
Hi Glenn
this is in my TBR, but I'm not sure it is actually calling my name
it'll be interesting to see whether I make space for it in the 2008 challenge
Hugs and happy reading
Sadhbh
Dream Team 2008 Challenge blogs
No more excuses, just READ!
I ordered this one for me
I ordered this one for me and look who read it first!
Merri
Hildie's blog: http://blog.hildie.net
LOL Merri
DH would say "il faut savoir défendre ton bifteck"
He can keep his steak,
I
prefer to defend my books, and given that I read faster than he does,
I've always first dibs on a book, whether he likes it or not
Dream Team 2008 Challenge blogs
No more excuses, just READ!
LOL, Sadhbh! We do share
LOL, Sadhbh! We do share most things ...even the last bite of some favored food but books I can read faster too. Of course, I don't get up quite so early so I have the luxury of reading late when the pets are finally quiet. As our dog gets older, he gets more and more hyper at night. I think Glenn will get first dibs on the new Jason Pinter book coming out ....unless of course I can get my historicals read quickly.
Merri
Hildie's blog: http://blog.hildie.net
I'm listening...
to this one right now and wow, it is a tough story. The parts about the foot binding were almost too painful to listen to! The things these women endured....
The D2K Paranormal Junkies 2008 Challenge
Tradition vs reason?
It really is a different culture, isn't it! I worked with a woman from China who is an Electrical Engineer, and she said that even today the people living on the north bank of a particular river get a much bigger ration of coal to heat their houses than the people on the south bank, the river is an administrative boundary. No matter that the weather is the same! Our culture seems to be slow to change and we only have a couple of centuries of traditions to deal with, I can't imagine a few thousand years :-)
AKA Glenn
Family Challenge Team: The Spine Breakers with my lovely wife Merri AKA Paisley
I really want to read this
I really want to read this one. I really do like sad and-non HEA reads (just not too many at once) but I definitely need the print version. The foot binding descriptions however might be intense. I have broken toes by accident and just cannot imagine the pain. It's really scary to think of some of the things done in the name of beauty then and even today in all cultures, including our own. The footbinding is really scary.
Merri
Hildie's blog: http://blog.hildie.net
Finished...
I finished this one last night. I actually felt bad for Lily... I think she is too hard on herself. How else could her training, could the training Snow Flower helped her in, allow her to act? I have some spoiler thoughts on this as well but I can't put those here. I'll email Merri later with those thoughts.
The D2K Paranormal Junkies 2008 Challenge