I was hoping this book would be like an Amy Tan book. I had a hard time getting through it though. I was disappointed. It's not that good.

This book was very interesting and a real eye opener on ancient Chinese culture. It brought about a lot of great discussion at my book club.

I received this book later than usual. It was mailed on October 10th, but was not delivered until October 21st.

I HAVE PURCHASED 2 OTHERS FOR FRIENDS, THIS IS A GREAT BOOK. LISA SEE IS AN INCREDIBLE WRITER, I AM ON HER 3RD BOOK NOW, I HIGHLY SUGGEST THIS BOOK FIRST.
THANK YOU

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan was a wonderful, loving, and tragic story of friendship and betrayal that teaches the reader much about compassion and forgiveness. We felt that Snow Flower and the Secret Fan was a book that truly transcended time and culture. This plot, with two women at its center, encompasses the hurt, pain, anguish, and undying compassion two women felt for each other. The author's ability to paint `true and clear' pictures of her characters allows you to see into their soul; thus developing a deeper understanding of both the men and women portrayed in the book.

This is a memorable piece that allows you to experience feelings that you have faced either through your own life or the life of a loved one. After reading it, many of us were forced to rethink the experiences we've had in the 20th century and how they are reminiscent of the events shown in the book: dishonesty, betrayal, a desire to survive, illness. All of these ultimately ending up with a common denominator of devotion and forgiveness.

Many of us cried as we completed the book because we came to the realization that this would not be a happily ever after tale. "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" was a great story with twists and turns you might not anticipate. Through this book many can better understand how far women have come since the days of foot binding; it also shows us how far we have not come from sharing a sisterhood of secrets, compassion, betrayal, and unconditional love as sisters. This was an excellent story and we highly recommend it.

My readining group discussed "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" and the consensus was overwhelmingly positive. However I recently read another novel steeped in Chinese Culture which rivals "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" and actually surpasses the breadth of Chinese cultural insight. "Rabbit in the Moon" by Deborah and Joel Shlian, both physicians, offers the reader an in depth look at Chinese culture in the guise of a medical thriller. Quite extraordinary. I recomment both these insightful books.

I'm not sure about some of the cultural accuracy, but this was a really good story. The women in it are also great. There were some truly sad and moving moments. I'll keep this author in mind for the future.

I have been interested in Chinese history for many years and am still reading various works on Chinese history. When NPR recommended this book as a good fictionalized account of an early dynastic period, I was eager to read it. I have not read any of the author's other works.

I have to say I was very disappointed in this. I never felt very connected to any of the characters and most of the details of everyday life seemed to be superficially laid into the plot.

The author's description in the back of the book on how she obtained her historical information provided the evidence that she was not much more than a reporter who dallied for a short time in China, getting translated interviews from an elderly woman. It would seem incumbent on her to have read a great deal of other factual history of the times, but there is little indication from the story of this and she provides no bibliography - something I think would be more helpful to young readers than the list of "study questions" at that back.

As for the lesbian element. I am not Chinese, nor lesbian for that matter. I've never been to China. My understanding has to be based on a number of historical writings and evidence. I've read that gay and bi-sexual interaction did exist in historical Chinese culture, especially in the more prosperous classes. It may not have been promoted, per se, but it was often over-looked. The higher classes had a great deal of idle time on their hands. As long as one produced male offspring, it often didn't matter how one got thru the day otherwise. Check out the quite well-written entry about homosexuality in China at Wikipedia.

I have to take with a large grain of salt any protestation by present-day Chinese that no lao tong relationship was ever lesbian or that this was an "impossible" situation based on Confucian or Taoist laws. Homosexuality was not a "sin" under those rules. Political social conservatism in China will, (as in the US, and Middle East) repress any historical facts that don't fit into certain biased agendas.

Snow Flower is obviously aimed at young adult readers. This would be fine if it was a better written story. It just appears that the author is capitalizing on her Chinese antecedents without doing her homework or having adequate writing talent. I can't really recommend this book.

Rich in detail and exquisitely crafted, this is an excellent book which I highly recommend, though some parts are rather graphic (footbinding) and are not for the weak of heart.

I loved this book, it is set in China of a hundred years ago or so and gives a vivid and compelling portrayal of a woman of a certain class growing uo in China during that time. I wont re hash the plot in this review others have done that very well. The poignancy of this story stayed with me for a long time .
The description of the foot binding process was so detailed and graphic that my feet actually ached for days, that chapter is not for the squeamish.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is the story of two young women, Lily and Snow Flower, set in 19th century China. The two are bound together as "Lo Tung" (old sames) as young girls. This connection is their greatest triumph and later their cause for greatest shame.
Lisa See weaves a tale that engages the reader and brings a better understanding of what life was like for women in the 1800s in China, when a good life was considered spending of your days in a single room and nights producing many male offspring.
The descriptions of foot binding were compelling and disturbing. In the audio commentary she discusses meeting women who went through this procedure and how they viewed it. Also she enlightens the reader with discussion of the writing style of "nu shu". Nu Shu was used exclusively by women as a form of ornamentation, song, and written communication.
Overall this was a very moving and enjoyable piece of fiction. I look forward to reading/listening to more from Lisa See. My major disappointment was that the audio book was abridged. The book was concise enough that abridgment seems unnecessary and takes away from the flow of the book.

This book was gripping. I knew next to nothing about this period in Chinese culture, and the whole idea of foot binding made my stomach churn. Ms. See did meticulous research, and her characters were well developed. A great read!

I just finished this book and it filled a curiosity I always had about foot binding. I studied this ancient chinese practice many years ago in college but this book filled in alot of missing questions I had. I found myself wanting to return to my book every chance I could find. Good Read!

A story about fate, friendship, jealousy, culture, betrayal, respect, bitterness, suffering, loss, regret, and love. It was hard to put the book down. I needed to know what happened to the laotong friendship of Lily and Snow Flower, the "same olds" who were bound together for life...through deceit. These girls spent their whole lives together through visits and nu shu (the secret language written by women for women)...they experienced footbinding, arranged marriages, and becoming mothers. Lily was considered blessed because of her good fortune and Snow Flower was not. Depsite the lies that were told Lily loved her laotong so much she wanted to help her by reminding her the customary rules to follow. Snow Flower loved her laotong so much she tried them all but her life became more and more unbearable. Their friendship took a turn in the wrong direction when Lily read one of Snow Flower's nu shu writings out of context and eight precious years were lost. Sometimes it takes eighty years of living to know what you should have done...regret can be heart breaking.


All in all I was very pleased with this novel. It is a facinating insight to the nineteenth century Chinese culture.

This book was chosen for my book club and I am so glad it was! I enjoyed every word. I have already bought her next book- Peony in Love.

My wife read this book first, loved it and recommended to me because of my long time interest in China and things Chinese. I avoided it at first because I considered it a book that would only interest women. A friend of mine, who is an old China hand, highly recommended it and so I finally read it. It is one of the most engrossing books I have ever read. It very effectively takes the reader back to the mid 19th century for a view of rural society at that time, particularly in relation to the role of women. Lisa See is not just a brilliant writer, but an exceptionally talented and thorough researcher as well.

Set in 19th century China, this book has several themes the most infusive being the role of women and another is the entrenchment of the culture that enforces it. The author demonstrates how the quest for a small foot was fundamental to both role of women and the culture of this time and place.

Mothers, to assure any kind of "chance" for their daughters, over the course of 1-2 years impose a reign of pain and terror on little girls who will no longer run and play. Daughters can and do die in the process. While small feet was a prerequisite for marriage, the quality of that marriage was not assured.

Friendship, family, social structures and social pecking order are themes. Women, by default are allowed some privacy. At bottom of any pecking order, they find some relief in formal bonding structures, be they pairs or sworn sisters that can communicate in secret writing.

I was struck at the foot binding procedure, how long it took, what it involved and the total aquiescence of parents to it. I was also surprised that having bound feet was no protection from daily drudge. Snow Flower works hard, and on her feet. Lily looks at feet, admires small ones, notes how women of good breeding sway when they balance on properly bound feet.

I was also surprised at the fluidity of class in this rural area. Lily, by dint of her golden lillies, could "marry up", and so could the butcher because he had steady work. The Lu's, though wealthy, have some vague work that seemed to be in the fields, and famine and disease could strike them just as it could the poor. While the Lu's have servants, Lily's mother in law finds plenty of work for Lily to do.

It's hard to see how Lily could be so judgmental of her mother and her friend. Her mother's portrait is not so cruely drawn that the reader can agree with Lily. It's also hard to understand Lily's reaction to Snow Flower. How did she expect Snow Flower respond to her circumstances? This can be suspended because the novel is powerful, and, the larger wonderment to the modern mind is how Lily, Snow Flower and everyone else buys into a culture so dependent on footbinding.

Very interesting to get a glimpse of Chinese life in the 1800s - footbinding and family customs. A little slow at times with a good ending.

I could not put this book down! The story draws you in from the start. Watching Lily grow from a little girl who undergoes the barbaric foot binding process all the way to an old woman with all her memories is fascinating. She is completely human, doing good things and bad things. That is what makes this book so good, you cannot put her soul/psyche in a box or label her. Lisa See is a very gifted writer and I look forward to reading her other books now that I have found her.

It's not every book you come across that so completely sucks you into a world you knew nothing about. Historical, culture novels aren't really my genre, but I'm glad that I read this one. I'm not sure how accurate the historical details are, but then again, it is a work of fiction. It entertained me, and at the end it made me think - what more could you ask for? I can't wait to discuss it at my next book group meeting!

Rarely have I come across a book that so completely immersed me in a world of the author's creation. Back in my reading heyday (when summer vacation meant three full months of leisure time) I would have finished it in a night; as it was, it took me a few sittings, but I always hated putting the book down. I picked up this book because of the reading requirement for a book group I'm joining at my local library, and I wasn't disappointed. Lisa See's usage of style and language fit in beautifully with her historical Chinese setting. A word of warning, though - the book gets a bit graphic in some of the scenes, so just be prepared. I have a somewhat weak stomach myself, but I thought those scenes really made the book, and I appreciated the author's candor in not sugar-coating them. I'm not sure how accurate the historical details are, but then again, it is a work of fiction. It entertained me, and at the end it made me think - what more could you ask for? Definitely a must-read!

I have some facination for diferent cultures and lately I have beeing facinated with oriental culture and traditions. Lisa See has opened my eyes to study farther the Chinesse culture. Americans love beauty and fiction, its easier to read than history. This has help me to understand the beauty of woman sufering and how, even in a culture so diferent friendship can be everything for two woman. They live there lives as all of us, but there friendship is the center of there real love and there only escape from reality. Its amazing. I have read the Peony Pavelion. I was more facinated by Japanesse culture.... but now.. I am all about learning about chinnesse culture...

I borrowed this novel from the library with very low expectations. I doubted that I would enjoy it, because I did not think that I would find it intriguing to read about the Chinese experience for women. Was I ever wrong!!!!!!!! As a high school English teacher, I must admit that this is perhaps one of the best novels I have ever read. It is a beautiful and sometimes shocking story that I read in less than one day. I was mesmerized by the experiences of Lily and Snow Flower, I was shocked by the numerous & unexpected turn of events, and I cried at the end. Everyone should read this compelling and beautiful novel. FANTASTIC!!!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and thought it was a beautiful tale that was well written. I'd recommend this book to most women - guys might be a little flustered with it.

I enjoyed learning about the culture and the women of China. This book was inspiring and gave light to a rather hidden life of a Chinese woman and her BFF.

this book came on a recommendation and it was a good book and i'm glad that the price was cheap

A wonderful book for women about the meaning of friendship and loyalty. It offers a view into what life was like in China before modern times, and insight into the rituals, priorities and struggles of girls and women who lived under the ruling class: men.

Highly recommended and a great gift.

Amazing; bravo! A must read for anyone who has any interest in love, compassion and friendship. Truly astounding.

Not to be redundant with all the other positive reviews, but simply put, this was a beautiful story of two women -- raised together as "same sisters" and the tale of their trials, tribulations, joy and happy moments as they go through life in mid 1800s China. The historical information about the culture, customs (especially the details about foot binding), language, etc were wonderfully woven throughout the book. You will think about this book and these two fictional woman long after you have turned the last page. Highly recommend!

The first book I read by Lisa See was Peony in Love. I truly loved that book. I bouth this one in hopes that it too would captivate me like Peony in Love did, but no such luck. I was bit bored half way through the book... It wasn't a bad read, but it just wasn't what I was expecting.

The back copy will have you believe that Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is an enriching tale of female empowerment, when in fact is is just the opposite. It's the story of female knuckling-under and backbiting, the greed of women who have so little power that they will clutch at everything they can get, even to the point of destroying someone they loved.

The narrator, Lily, is a remarkably undeveloped character; she's really nothing more than a mask that the author/reader puts on for a time to get a look into nineteenth-century China.

Lily's defining characteristic, stated early in the book, is that she "wants to be loved." The author goes to great lengths to demonstrate how Lily tries to find love and then destroys what she loved when she perceives herself rejected. This is supposed to be the theme and plot of the book. However, despite See's constant reiterations of how the bond between the two girls is supposed to be stronger than marriage, I found the narration too flat and unemotional to allow me to care.

The early parts, the accounts of the girls' childhood and everyday lives, are interesting for their cultural insight. The prose tends to be a bit maudlin, however, with frequent references to bad times ahead that felt very manipulative. When the bad times come, they are sudden, random and not really related to the inner conflicts of the characters. Yes, in real life tragedy can strike without warning, but the narrative flatness became almost ridiculous during these scenes--Lily reports on the emotions of everybody else with the detachment of a TV camera. Furthermore, nobody learns or changes anything as a result of the bad times. Everybody pretty much goes on as before.

This made the disasters feel sprinkled-in, as if the author or editor felt the need to inject some excitement into the book. There is a really grueling section in which the army is invading and everyone flees to the hills,. While camping out under the elements, we get treated to murder, child abuse, spousal abuse, sexual deviancy, greed, theft, starvation, filth, betrayal, and bloody miscarriages, but then the army retreats, everyone goes home and pretty much never mentions it again--our narrator doesn't even suffer any lasting effects. It's as if the whole invasion was a device to introduce the women who would come between Lily and Snow Flower.

By the time I reached the end of the book, I felt as if I had just been treated to an outline of the author's notes. She had done her research and she wanted us to see every bit of it. I can understand why she used the devices she did--Lily was looking back on 80 years of her life and it made sense that she would be somewhat emotionally divorced from the worst of it. Furthermore, the cultural "voice" and training not to indulge in self-pity were appropriate and consistent. The problem was it robbed the novel of any personal attachment to the characters. Their problems did not seem important enough to deserve more attention than all of the political and social craziness going on around them. See tries to justify this by mentioning, repeatedly, how a good wife would never seek to involve herself in the outside world, but her need to explain away these shortcomings in her plot made me suspect that she just didn't have the skill to convey anything but the most literal parts of the story. There is no subtext here other than what she spoon-feeds to the reader.

The end result, for me, was a book that seemed very manipulative and catering to a narrow audience of masochistic post-feminist sinophiles. I guess that's who it's intended for: Women who want to wallow in the simultaneous romance and horror of a time when a woman's highest ambition was to be a beautiful, mutilated possession--a time far enough removed from ours that it can seem like a fantasy, something to wring your hands over instead of taking action against. Something like that, anyway. Footbinding happened. It sucked. But for a modern American audience to cry over it seems self-indulgent to me.

I personally would have preferred to see more about the secret language and seen it used to enrich the women's lives. There are allusions to this early on in the book, but they were not picked up and expounded upon. Some positive spin, some notion of triumph under adversity, would have been a nice counterpoint to all the gloom and despair and guilt.

THE DEPTH OF THESE TWO WOMEN'S FRIENDSHIP MADE FOR A GREAT DISCUSSION IN OUR BOOK GROUP. I DON'T KNOW IF I WEPT MORE FOR THE DAUGHTERS' FOOT BINDINGS OR THE MOTHERS WHO HAD TO WATCH!

In this novel Lisa See gives us a harrowing and compelling insight to the secret inner realm of women's world in China during the early 1800's. See assures us repeatedly that the women of this book do not take on an adventure full of action and daring but is an emotional and heart wrenching story of the silent and understated life that is woven delicately in the ladies upper chamber.

Not since my reading of Kite Runner had I encountered a youthful relationship of such loyalty, depth and affection that it seems to transcend the normal boundaries of life. The two women Lily and Snow Flower are laotong, a special arranged relationship that composes a "deep heart love." Lily, the narrator is writing this story in the twilight years of her life in preparation for her funeral but more importantly to pay homage to this most treasured friendship.

Through her story we see through the eyes of a willful but obedient girl who dedicates herself fully to the ways of her culture. Although we have heard of foot binding, the urgency that women tried for male babies, and the subservience of the women in the house to their husbands, reading about Lily's experience with it brings a much fuller and deeper understand of what these women truly endured. While all of this adds to the flavor and significance to the novel, it is the kinship that develops between Lily and Snow Flower that truly captivates the reader.

It becomes one of those rare books that you can't put down, learn from and recommend to all of your friends. Read it and you won't regret it.

This book is just not well written. It feels flat and one dimensional. You do not get an emotional attachment for any of the characters in the book. One thing that stood out for me is that it was more like a dumbed down happy ending type book that we in the American culture prefer. Life was hard for women in ancient china, thought of as worthless until they could bear sons. "Love" as we know it didn't really exists between the men and women. It was an arrangement a way of extending the family but in this book all the men "love" their women even when they are beating them senseless. Don't get me wrong some couples may have become affectionate to each other after the years had pass but is was not the same notion of "love" as we Americans understand. Life and Deaths in this book happens so quickly to characters you don't really know so it has little impact on you. I didn't feel like I was transported to this time period and got to know the culture or the women. I felt more like a passerby speeding along getting little bits and pieces of the landscape. Lily and Snowflower never became real people but a representation of the culture of women the author wanted us to view. I think this book is lack in showing the true meaning of what it was like having to live only by obligations, honor and rituals that was the mainstay of Chinese culture.

I originally read this about two years ago and absolutely adored it. I found myself revisiting the novel for a book club and was just as enthusiastic about experiencing the lives of Snow Flower and Lily a second time. It is a sweeping tale of two girls who are bound as "old sames" in rural 19th Century China. Its main focus is about women's culture and explores the customs of the inner world, from foot binding to the secret women's writing of nu shu to arranged marriages. These women know that their place in life is strictly to bear sons and obey, obey, obey. The friendship between Lily and Snow Flower is often tumultuous as they deal with life and status changes, hardships, and betrayals. Theirs is a story that transcends time and culture.

I looked at some of the other reviews before writing this. I saw that there were 2 or so out of the 20 or so total that I looked at which were negative. I can't believe anyone wouldn't find this book to be incredible. I know we all have different tastes and all but please- it is just one of those amazing stories that anyone could relate to- life, love, the bonds of friendship, struggles, and family. Lisa See tells this story in a way that unfolds like her fan in the story. She is a highly skilled writer who lets the words melt in our mouth as we savor what we read. This is truly a beautiful story.

After having read and LOVED Memoirs of a Geisha, I was eager to dive into this novel in hope of finding a work of similar breadth.
I won't say this was a disappointing read, as it was very well-researched, but this book cannot compare to Memoirs of a Geisha in terms of emotional depth. Personally, I did not feel involved at all the entire time I was reading. There's a distinct sense of distance and dryness in the writing, and I'm not sure if it is simply Lisa See's style, but it took a great deal away from the experience for me. I couldn't get into the characters' griefs and triumphs and felt disconnected.
It simply isn't a masterpiece. However, still very much recommended for those interested in asian culture. It is an interesting and unique story, there's no denying that, but it is not as full and affecting as it could have been.

Other recommendations: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, The Mercy of Thin Air by Ronlyn Domingue, The Thirteenth Tale by Diana Setterfield, The Color of Water by James McBride

"For my entire life I longed for love. I knew it was not right for me - as a girl and later as a woman - to want or expect it, but I did, and this unjustified desire has been at the root of every problem I have experienced in my life." (pg. 3)

This is a line among the opening passage of "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" that begs to be noticed, for it is a glorious summation of - and explication for - the story's many woes. Author Lisa See has crafted a beautiful and exotic tale of ill fortune, dashed hopes and the brittle foundations of friendship and family. The tale centers around two women from youth to old age, the story told with bittersweet rumination by Lily, a widow in her 80's known as Lady Lu, matriarch of the house of Lu. Once the daughter of a lower-class farmer in the village of Puwei, Lily's fortune begins to change as she and her sisters go through the painstaking process of foot binding, a common practice up until the early part of the 20th century in China that horribly disfigures the feet. Despite the pain and suffering, the practice made the feet diminutive and alluring to men, thereby ensuring a larger dowry and a more marriageable girl depending on whether she had golden lotuses (feet no larger than 3 inches) or silver lotuses (feet no larger than 4 inches).

While Lily's feet are being bound, the family receives continual visits from an important matchmaker named Madame Wang. Much to their surprise, M. Wang informs them that not only has Lily has been sought by the prosperous Lu family as a wife for their son, but she is also eligible for a laotong ("old same"). The laotong relationship will involve Lily and a girl from another village that will last their entire lives and bond them on a level more intimately than their respective spouses. As complies with Lily's sign (horse), element and several other important characters, she is introduced to Snow Flower by their first communication on a delicate fan adorned by nu shu, a secret writing that Hunan women have used exclusively for centuries. These communications, as well as meetings in person, will continue throughout the years, through marriage, children, war, famine and death. Though their souls entwine, their bond threatens to break apart when Lily discovers that Snow Flower has been hiding a terrible secret.

The portrayal of women in this novel can be a bit irksome for someone with moderately feminist views: they are viewed as property, with many ideals to reinforce this view (the Three Obediences - "When a girl, obey your father; when a wife, obey your husband; when a widow, obey your son"). They are also bred to the be consummate ladies while waiting hand-and-foot on their husbands and the rest of the household into which they marry, at mercy to the matriarch (mother-in-law). Lily, ever practical, makes it clear that her golden lilies were her prime objective in seeking approval from her mother, her matchmaker and her husband. It is described in shocking detail:

"...my goal was to achieve a pair of perfectly bound feet with seven distinct attributes: They should be small, narrow, straight, pointed and arched, yet still fragrant and soft in texture. Of these requirements, length is the most important. Seven centimeters - about the length of a thumb - is the ideal. Shape comes next. A perfect foot should be shaped like the bud of a lotus. It should be full and round at the heel, come to a point at the front, with all weight borne by the big toe alone. This means that the toes and arch of the foot must be broken and bent under to meet the heel. Finally, the cleft formed by the forefoot and heel should be deep enough to hide a large cash piece perpendicularly within its folds. If I could attain that, happiness would be my reward." (p. 26)

This desire to seek approval is only reinforced during the foot binding process when Lily's mother tells her over and over, "A true lady lets no ugliness into her life. Only through pain will you have beauty. Only through suffering will you find peace. I wrap, I bind, but you will have the reward."(pg. 30) (WARNING: HERE BE SPOILERS) It is this same desire to please that compels her to expose the deepest recesses of her heart to Snow Flower, only to feel betrayed in the end by Snow Flower's inability to be forthcoming, her seeming lack of emotional reciprocation. Even the torment of the Taiping Rebellion and their struggle to survive together does not soften Lily's steely judgment and in aiming to expose Snow Flower for her duplicity, Lily exposes her own weakness in her inability to forgive and mends both of their broken hearts nearly too late. (END SPOILERS)

See's prose is languid and rich throughout, keeping the reader thoroughly ensconced in the life and loss of Hunan women and their familial duties. One can almost see, feel, taste, touch and smell everything due to See's attention to detail and the agony, melancholy and perseverance of her protagonists is felt deep within. If you enjoy a well-written tragic novel on occasion as much as I, you can't go wrong with "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" - it will steal your heart but earn your forgiveness when the last pages are turned.

Beautifully written. You get immersed in the lives of the characters. Great read.

My friend recommended this book and it sat on my bedside table for a while. Finally picked it up and started reading. It got me from the very beginning. I read it in two nights. Loved it! Its a beautiful story about friendship and the ties that bind it. Had me boo hooing...

Good, fun school, if you are a reader of great fiction...read this. Lisa See takes you back to rural China in the 1800's. Unless you have a time machine available this will be your best bet to go back and see how women lived during this time. The characters were all presented so the reader felt like they were old friends..at times I wanted to talk to Snow Flower and tell her not to do what she was doing. At time this book will break your heart;but it will also show the incredible strength the women of this region of the world overcame and still found many happy times. Most Americans have no idea of the hard times of our earth neighbors....wonderful read.

This is a great book which gives you a lot of insite into a culture from the past that still has some of the same traditions being carried down today. I loved this book.

I picked up this book per recommendation and was pleased with the read. I was a bit intrigued by the whole foot binding thing and was a bit dissapointed that there was not more detail involved with the process of it. The story was quite warming, and allowed insight into the relationships between women in china during those times. Overall a good read.

I have to admit I'm surprised at the largely positive reviews this book has garnered. The topic is certainly fascinating with its focus on the "laotong" (lifelong friendship between two women) relationship in 19th century China with a backdrop of foot binding, ancient customs, political rebellion, and the insinuation of a forbidden eroticism. As I read the opening paragraphs of the book (one of few passages that I thought did attain poignancy), I nestled into a comfortable position in my sofa looking to be swept away by an exotic time and place. A couple of hours later, however, I was still waiting for that engagement, that feeling of experiencing life with greater intensity that accompanies the reading of quality literature. After slogging through the book (it was selected for my book club so I had to complete it), I had to conclude that the book has that fatal flaw: It didn't make me care about the characters. The author strives for poignancy and there are a few beautiful passages in the book but in the end, there are too many thinly drawn characters and situtions to truly touch the reader.

Snow Flower & the Secret Fan was chosen by my book club and I am glad for this, otherwise I might have missed out on this treasure. This is a beautifully written book about the strength of women during a period of time that they were believed to be as weak or important as a family pet nowadays. Nor were they treated much better! However, this novel does a fabulous job at illustrating that while the Chinese society and the men who ruled it thought this, there was nothing farther from the truth!

Mainly this book is about a life-long friendship between two women who are of different classes. But things are not always as they seem. Nor is life ever as simple as you'd wish. This novel spans these women and their families lifetimes. There is tragedy and mixed with carefree days; anguish mixed with preserverance and loyalty mingling with betrayal.

Overall this was an amazing novel, one that I will not soon forget. I learned many things about Chinese culture and footbinding that I did not know. This is one of the best books I've read this year-top 5- and I will soon be reading more of Lisa See's books!

"Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" is a fictional account of two 19th-century Chinese women who, as youngsters, swore to be "laotong" or eternal friends. This bond, we're told, is stronger than that of child to parent, wife to husband, and is sustained over decades by writing each other in the stylized and secret language of nu shu (women's writing). The story is structured as the reminiscences of an eighty-year-old Lily who, after forty years of regret over a misunderstanding, is recalling the joys and heartaches shared with her laotong, Snow Flower. The backdrop of this story is the highly-stratified and insular China of the 1800s, specifically the Hunan Province where nu shu was practiced.

Stories like this have vast potential to fascinate simply on the strength of their subject matter. Who wouldn't be captivated by the China of centuries past, the sequestered and indentured women of a patriarchal and feudal country, the barbaric foot binding of little girls, and the beginnings of political rebellion? If a film, it'd be positioned as an epic or a sweeping saga; I can almost picture Gong Li as Lily. However, try as it might, the book doesn't quite reach that epic level.

Its most apparent shortcoming is its shallow characterization. For a novel that is exclusively about two women, this failing becomes magnified for there are no other elements that can be relied on to fill the gap. Simply, a character-driven story will live or die on the strength of its characterization. I've had to ask myself if I felt anything toward Snow Flower and/or Lily, whether it's anger or sympathy and frankly, even in their bleakest and most dramatic moments I was hard pressed to care. Obviously, in a book only words will make a reader believe that these are flesh and blood women, and when those words fail, one is merely a passive observer.

The remainder of my discontent is based on curious decisions the author made. Early in the story, Ms. See writes of a pseudo-sexual encounter between Lily and Snow Flower, alluding to a stirring of lesbian feelings. Later, it's evident that what Lily feels for Snow Flower is more than that of a laotong. This is not explored in any way. If you're to introduce it, why not develop it then? If anything, it would have added depth to their relationship and clarity to the perceived betrayal felt by Lily later on. In the same vein, this scene of erotica is described unabashedly and the portion on foot binding was detailed graphically, but the "bed business" of husband and wife was curiously Victorian in its primness given that a woman's bound foot was supposedly an aphrodisiac to the Chinese male. I'm not seeking gratuitous sex, but the author's hesitation in the latter half is obvious and creates a detachment from the frankness in the first half.

Ms. See obviously likes Lily. However, I'm one of those readers who prefer authors who do NOT like their main characters. It results in more tension and fiercer writing, making for more interesting reading. (Think Hatsumomo in "Memoirs of a Geisha.") In this story, Snow Flower's perspective would have been far more engaging compared to the static Lily's. SF was the riches to rags girl, the abused wife, the more intelligent of the two, the one more interested in the "outer realm of men" and the one capable of honesty beyond the poetry of nu shu.

Lastly, am I the only one who thinks that the misunderstanding, which underpins this entire story, was so benign? Am I to believe that two women who have been laotong for nearly thirty years would have their sisterhood disintegrate over such a harmless mistake? Was Lily that vacuous? Reading the jacket blurb, I had anticipated a misunderstanding of earth-shattering proportions, especially with all the foreshadowing of the earlier chapters. Setting aside this impetus for the melodramatic ending, I have to say that the last chapter was done well. At least I hoped that if Lily were real that she would find the redemption she seeks. However, a strong ending maketh not the good story. A reader in the Comment section likened Lily's story to that of Cinderella's. Fine, if it's billed as a fairy tale for little girls. For this grown woman, it's insubstantial writing of an insubstantial story that I bet will be a movie soon enough.

This is one of the best books I've read in years. A truly different kind of story of a different place and time than I knew much about. It was engaging and unforgettable!

This was a book club pick for me. I thoroughly enjoyed it! I loved learning about the lifestyle and traditions of China in the 1800-1900's. It is a sad, touching, beautifally written story.

Every once in awhile, I read the first page of a novel and know that I am reading something truly awesome. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See is an unbelievably powerful and moving book about friendship in 19th Century China.

Lily is the daughter of a common farmer in Puwei province in China. Her family lives in a house with a dirt floor and a room for their animals. As a young girl, it is discovered that Lily is not only beautiful but that she has exceptional feet. If they are bound correctly, she can be married into a wealthy family. To smooth that path, matchmaker Madame Wang proposes that Lily take on a laotong relationship with Snow Flower, a girl her own age from a more prosperous family. Madame Wang believes that Snow Flower can teach Lily some of the refinements she'll need for her marriage. The girls have a special fan, on which they write secret messages using nu shu, a language used only by women.

See takes the girls through their childhood, their foot-binding, their engagements, their weddings, their childbearing and beyond. After many decades, a misunderstanding threatens their relationship. They must learn when it is acceptable to withhold the truth, and when is it better not to do the correct thing. They also learn that Lily has as much to teach Snow Flower as the other way around.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan gives the reader a fascinating look at life for women in 19th Century China. Women are considered nonpersons whose only worth can be attainted through the birth of sons. The process of foot-binding, the contracting of marriages, the wedding customs, the subservience to mothers-in-law, having to live with concubines, etc., are all very interesting and often times alarming. Women had to seek support through their relationships with other women, especially through natoang friendships. A natoang relationship was as "significant as a good marriage" as it was a "relationship made by choice for the purpose of emotional companionship and eternal fidelity."

Lisa See is a talented and beautiful writer. Written in the first person through the eyes of 80 year old Lily, she reflects back "For my entire life, I have longed for love. I knew it was not right for me--as a girl and later as a woman--to want or expect it, but I did, and this unjustified desire has been at the root of every problem I have experienced in life."
See reminds me of Amy Tan, and I will definitely be looking for more of her books.

This is a readable story and a window to the oppressive nature of pre-19th century pagan culture in China. Highly recommended.

It was a great story, though which I learned so many new things about the Chinese culture. Very much appreciated the book.