About this title: From the author of the bestsellers "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" and "Peony in Love" comes a stunning new novel about two sisters who leave Shanghai to find new lives in 1930s Los Angeles.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING PLC Country = UNITED KINGDOM
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780747597384ISBN:0747597383
Description: BRAND NEW PAPERBACK. 336 pages. The epic and heart-wrenching new novel from the bestselling author of snowflower and the secret fan and peony in love (Paperback) read more
Edition: Large type / large print.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Random House Large Print Publishing
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780739328255ISBN:0739328255
Description: New. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 513 p. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Random House
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9781400067114ISBN:1400067111
Description: New in new dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 336 p. Audience: General/trade. 30% off retail. Prompt shipping from a reliable bookseller. read more
Binding: Hardback
Publisher: Random House Inc
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9781400067114ISBN:1400067111
Description: From the author of the bestsellers "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" and "Peony in Love" comes a stunning new novel about two sisters who leave Shanghai to find new lives in 1930s Los Angeles. read more
"First of all, I have to get something off my chest. The previous Lisa See books I've read have not had a picture of the author on the jacket. This is her third book with a Chinese setting and Chinese characters. Her last name sounds like it could be Chinese, right? So I've been picturing a Chinese author all these years. This book jacket has a picture, and guess what? Not Asian. Not a huge deal, but interesting nonetheless.
Shanghai Girls is the story of May and Pearl, two spoiled and educated girls living in Shanghai in the 1930s. When their father's business fails, he sells them off to marry the sons of a rich American merchant. The girls, raised to be intelligent and independent, try to get out of the situation, but get caught in the Japanese invasion of Shanghai and see escaping to their American husbands as the best alternative. For the next twenty years, they try to adjust to life in America, which is not at all what they expect it will be.
As a story? Meh, I liked Snow Flower and the Secret Fan a lot better. May's character is fairly unlikeable. Pearl's was more complex-- her transformation from fashionable "beautiful girl" in Shanghai to a scared first-generation immigrant was realistic and interesting. But the story's ending seemed flat and rushed, and the book as a whole didn't move me."
"Lisa See never fails to fully engage me in her stories! May and Pearl were young, beautiful and they lived in the Paris of Asia, known as Shanghai. They were members of the borgeois class, with seven servants attending to the family's needs. War changes life for most in China, but May and Pearl experience disappointments and terrible tragedies, not only in China, but in America as well. The reader experiences the ups and downs and "acceptance" of every situation of both sisters in different ways throughout the story.
When Pearl reflects upon her life near the end of the story, it moved me to tears:
"I remember how I felt about Shanghai in the days after our lives changed-how streets that had once seemed exciting suddenly stank of nightsoil, how beautiful women suddenly were nothing more than girls with three holes, how all the money and prosperity suddenly rendered everything forlorn, dissolute, and futile. The way I see Los Angeles and Chinatown during these difficult and frightening days couldn't be more different. The palm trees, the fruits and vegetables in my garden, the geraniums in posts in front of stores and on porches all seem to shimmer and shiver with life, even in the heat of summer. I look down streets and I see promise. Instead of smog, corruption, and ugliness, I see magnificence, freedom, and openness. I can't bear that the government is persecuting us with its terrible- and God help me, true-accusations about our citizenship, but I can bear even less the thought that my family and I might lose this place. Yes, it's only Cinatown, but it's my home, our home."
The sisters' relationship is quite remarkable throughout the story as well. The thoughts they keep close to themselves from childhood shape who they are as adults.
Again, Pearl shares her powerful thoughts at the end of the story:
"For every awful thing that's been said and done, she is my sister. Parents die, daughters grow up and marry out, but sisters are for life. She is the only person left in the world who shares my memories of our childhood, our parents, our Shanghai, our struggles, our sorrows, and, yes, even our moments of happiness and triumph. My sister is the one person who truly knows me, as I know here. The last thing May says to me is 'When our hair is white, we'll still have our sister love.' "
Many authors' writing lose strength over time; Lisa See's writing continues to grow."
"Lisa See tells the story of two girls growing up in 1930s China, earning extra money as "beautiful girls" or models for artists to use in commercial advertisements. The girls' father, a rather spineless and idiotic businessman, gambles away his family's money as well as business, he sells the girls (who, until that point, expected to marry men of their choice, as was typical for many Chinese girls who were born after the fall of the last emperor) to a Chinese businessman living in America so that they could be brides to his sons. While the marriage went through, Pearl and her sister May don't depart on the ship with their husbands, their family intending to trick the businessman and the gang into letting them stay in China.
The Japanese attacks on China interfere with their plans, and the girls and their mother flee from their home, trying to get to Pearl's father's family who might take them in. On their way they face unspeakable horrors, and, with the death of their mother, must change their plans and head to America. The novel takes the reader through Pearl's new life in America, marred by secrets and lies as well as intense discrimination. Pearl and her sister forge ahead, and their new family grows closer together because of mutual fears.
The characters in the novel are wonderfully round, their complexities making them very relateable to those who are immigrants or first-generation Americans of non-white races. The struggle Pearl faces with her daughter, worrying whether she will be too American versus too Chinese, is something I'm sure my own mother worries about with me.
The one thing I didn't like was the cliffhanger ending. It was very unsatisfactory, and honestly, with the brilliant pacing of the novel, I wouldn't have been opposed to reading another 100 pages outlining what happened next."
"This is Lisa See's latest novel and having not read the others, but going on favorable reviews...I am truly pleased. Rumor has it that this wasn't as strong as the others, with dialogue that's slightly stiff and contrived, but not worth noticing.
Imagine two lovely, but deeply spoiled sisters living in Shanghai, deemed the Paris of the East. Despite the aching division that exists between poor and privileged, Asian and foreign, they trollop through life completely unaware. Shopping, nights out and work as models...the live the life of "beautiful girls".
The second Sino-Japanese War breaks out and wrecks havoc in their very shallow lives. The book chronicles the transformation these two make in order to survive, not only the war, but arranged marriages, self-expectations and discrimination. Yea, there are a lot of themes running amok and moments in US history that should make us cringe. And this depth of topic matter to chew elates from a beach tome. It's easy reading, but it truly mirrors the flow of life, tragedy and joy may happen, but they are just another day. No 100 pages to watch the heroine wrestle with love lost and pain. Nope, home girl must pick herself and keeping moving because life goes on.
Well worth the read and I can't wait to get through more of her works,"
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