Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
A Novel
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Lily is haunted by memories–of who she once was, and of a person, long gone, who defined her existence. She has nothing but time now, as she recounts the tale of Snow Flower, and asks the gods for forgiveness.
In nineteenth-century China, when wives and daughters were foot-bound and lived in almost total seclusion, the women in one remote Hunan county developed their own secret code for communication: nu shu (“women’s writing”). Some girls were paired with laotongs, “old sames,” in emotional matches that lasted throughout their lives. They painted letters on fans, embroidered messages on handkerchiefs, and composed stories, thereby reaching out of their isolation to share their hopes, dreams, and accomplishments.
With the arrival of a silk fan on which Snow Flower has composed for Lily a poem of introduction in nu shu, their friendship is sealed and they become “old sames” at the tender age of seven. As the years pass, through famine and rebellion, they reflect upon their arranged marriages, loneliness, and the joys and tragedies of motherhood. The two find solace, developing a bond that keeps their spirits alive. But when a misunderstanding arises, their lifelong friendship suddenly threatens to tear apart.
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is a brilliantly realistic journey back to an era of Chinese history that is as deeply moving as it is sorrowful. With the period detail and deep resonance of Memoirs of a Geisha, this lyrical and emotionally charged novel delves into one of the most mysterious of human relationships: female friendship.
BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Lisa See's Peony in Love.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Lisa See’s emotionally powerful novel paints a fascinating and vivid portrait of women’s lives in 19th-century China. Lily and Snow Flower are close childhood friends who share their most intimate thoughts in a secret written language only women know, but headstrong pride leads to a catastrophic misunderstanding. See’s research is impressive—a scene depicting the foot-binding procedure is horrifyingly detailed. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is a compassionate story about the value of women’s friendships in an oppressive society that treats them like property.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A starred review indicates a book of outstanding quality. A review with a blue-tinted title indicates a book of unusual commercial interest that hasn't received a starred review.SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FANLisa See. Random, (272p) See's engrossing novel set in remote 19th-century China details the deeply affecting story of lifelong, intimate friends (laotong, or "old sames") Lily and Snow Flower, their imprisonment by rigid codes of conduct for women and their betrayal by pride and love. While granting immediacy to Lily's voice, See (Flower Net) adroitly transmits historical background in graceful prose. Her in-depth research into women's ceremonies and duties in China's rural interior brings fascinating revelations about arranged marriages, women's inferior status in both their natal and married homes, and the Confucian proverbs and myriad superstitions that informed daily life. Beginning with a detailed and heartbreaking description of Lily and her sisters' foot binding ("Only through pain will you have beauty. Only through suffering will you have peace"), the story widens to a vivid portrait of family and village life. Most impressive is See's incorporation of nu shu, a secret written phonetic code among women here between Lily and Snow Flower that dates back 1,000 years in the southwestern Hunan province ("My writing is soaked with the tears of my heart,/ An invisible rebellion that no man can see"). As both a suspenseful and poignant story and an absorbing historical chronicle, this novel has bestseller potential and should become a reading group favorite as well.
Customer Reviews
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
If you are culturally inquisitive and have an interest in the Asian persona, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan opens a new world for the reader. While I thought of this, in many ways as a "women's book", I learned so much from reading it and I am grateful to my wife for recommending it.
The author's style is transcendental and actually puts you in the world of Lily and in a time that Westerners, like myself, have yet to fully comprehend. This is truly an extraordinary work.
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
I am a fan of Lisa See and this is the fifth book of hers that I have read. She communicates well through her characters and is always a learning experience.
Happy Reading!
Amazing book
My mom recommended this book to me to read at the beach. I read it in two days!! Great story!! I felt this book in my soul... a must read!