Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is a novel that explores the lives of two women growing up in China in the 19th century. Before reading this novel, I was largely unaware with many of the ceremonies that marked coming-of-age, marriage and death in the culture of the villages in this particular part of the world. Moreover, I was completely unaware of the actual foot-binding process that I've always heard much about. The novel was both fascinating and infuriating, but all-in-all a good read.
Snow Flower and Lily are two girls brought together by a matchmaker at the tender age of seven. Because Lily possesses qualities (foot size, birth year, etc), like Snow Flower, that predict her success, Madame Wang matches the two as Old Sames (a term that signifies a bond of friendship resembling marriage). The two document their lives through a secret women's language, nu shu, which consists of characters that hold several different meanings. A silk fan is passed between the two that documents their foot-bindings, marriages, the death of loved ones and the dissonance that drives them into the mountains with no shelter or food. The story is told as Lily reassess her long life and the relationship she had with Snow Flower. Truly heartbreaking, the novel displays the strength of the women in these villages, and the hardness of heart they were forced to develop to survive and prosper.
My thoughts: After reading the novel, I was a little dumbfounded. Let me be clear: I had never heard of a way of life in which women were so disregarded to the point of dehumanization. From the beginning, we understand that women are a curse to the household, a sad acquisition that will hopefully lead to death, before the breathing thing takes anymore resources from the family share. Women's position in society places the processes in life in context. Lily begins by describing her desire to be loved by her mother, which is never satisfied, and remains a strong theme throughout the book because she never really feels loved by anyone except Snow Flower. However, Lily, so caught up in filling her roles as an esteemed woman in a wealthy province, develops the same demeanor she so detested in her mother and ends up neglecting Snow Flower when she needs her most.
There's so much to discuss with this novel and I honestly wish I could flesh it out here better. I definitely recommend the novel for those of you that have considered the title before. I felt that the writing perfectly conveyed the memories of a women with regret looking back on so many years of her life.
Read Snow Flower and the Secret Fan? Please share your thoughts, I'd love to hear!
This book was fascinating to me - as is the Chinese culture. The foot-binding descriptions were horrifying - all I had known was that it produced "small feet". I didn't realize what they looked like, nor what the girls went through to achieve them. I've also read Peony in Love by the same author, and want to read even more! Someone also suggested Wild Swans to me, and while it is on my shelf, I haven't read it yet.
ReplyDeleteThis one has been sitting on my shelf for a while. I just haven't been ready for such a heavy read. Sounds like the author didn't shy away from writing about the truly horrific things that took place, which to me attests to the novel's strength.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit, when I saw the "foo-foo" trailer for this movie the first time a few weeks ago, I literally laughed out loud. But you make the book actually sound way more interesting than the trailer made the movie look. It's always interesting learning about different cultures in different time periods. Nice review!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds really interesting but I've got to be honest - the foot-binding process really creeps me out. There isn't much that can make me shudder and feel weird, but descriptions of foot-binding is definitely one of them. I'm even having a hard time writing this comment thinking about it...
ReplyDeleteSarah- The footbinding process was really painful to read. I had no idea what the entire process meant either. It's almost insane that it put into practice as long as it was. I'll have to look into those titles.
ReplyDeleteJenna- Yes, it's certainly not a light read, but not incredibly bleak either. Let me know when you do!
Greg- I'm never a fan of some books as movies, and as soon as I searched for cover images I saw it had been turned into a movie that looked like it would probably be really cheesy. There were too many scenes that I felt would be butchered by a studio. Oh well, the book is good. It's not one of my favorites, but it prompted me to research elements of the culture, which I learned from.
Brenna- Yes, it is pretty disgusting. And I had a hard time reading parts of the novel because of it.
ReplyDeleteI read this one when it was first released and loved it. Definite reread potential there for me.
ReplyDeleteI read this one pre-blog and really had a difficult time processing it. Even to this day I can't really say that I exactly enjoyed it, though the writing was good and the portrayal of Chinese culture was interesting... but the footbinding thing really got me. I had no idea!
ReplyDeleteThis book has gone straight on my wishlist, it sounds remarkable.
ReplyDeleteHave you read Wild Swans by Jung Chang? It's autobiography but there's a section at the beginning where she tells the life of her grandmother, who had her feet bound. It was really interesting.
And thanks for the honeymoon tips! I'm glad we should have plenty of time, and will be buying a sat nav to help with journey planning. I think the empty space will be a shock as everything is so crowded and on top of each other here.
This sounds like a truly brilliant book. I have it on my TBR. Thanks for your review!
ReplyDeleteI cried my eyes out at the end of this book. I loved it, and love Lisa See's work and had the pleasure of attending an event for her at our local independent bookstore. Her background is fascinating and I'm excited to read Shanghai Girls, too, which now has a sequel. I'd recommend also to you Peony in Love as well.
ReplyDeleteThe movie for Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is to be released this summer - I so hope that it has the same magic that the book has.
I ordered this last week, since I found a very cheap used copy and your review made it sound like a worthwhile read. I haven't read any Chinese lit in quite a while. Did you read this for your book club?
ReplyDeleteCat,
ReplyDeleteNo. I actually picked it up after finding it for cheap at Goodwill. I'm not sure what persuaded me to pick it up before others, but I enjoyed it for the most part. I'm interested to see what you think about it.