Shanghai Girls

Several months ago, my friend Emily had to cancel her book club meeting because she just didn't have time (she is a graduate student as well, so this is completely understandable). She had selected Shanghai Girls by Lisa See as her book, and because I'm overzealous in my purchasing (and I have Amazon Prime so I can buy with one-click and it seems "free"), I ordered the book immediately, and has been lying on my bedside table ever since. I finally picked it up a few weeks ago (took a hiatus to devour The Book Thief, but returned to it last week). The book was a lot better, and a lot more interesting than I thought.

I've read another of Lisa See's books (Snow Flower and the Secret Fan), and while I remember enjoying it, I don't remember a thing about it other than it taking place in China. Even though I knew I liked the book, I anticipated not liking Shanghai Girls. The title and the cover (yes, I judged a book by its cover... what are you going to do about it) led me to believe that the story was going to be a fluffy record of the adventures of two sisters. Instead, what I found was an incredible story of survival, self-discovery, and growth. While I don't typically find myself relating to traditional Chinese women, I feel that the hopes and fears and horrible struggles of the narrator Pearl, and her sister May were universally understandable. I felt their pains, and I craved for freedom and happiness along with them.


Without spoiling any of the plot, I would also like to say that this book also offered an incredibly interesting perspective of both Shanghai, and Los Angeles in generations past. Both cities were characters themselves in the novel, dealing with their own struggles between good and evil, fortune and despair.

I am wishing that this book club meeting was not canceled, because I would really love to hear the point of view of the other Eat, Drink, and Be Literary members. After scanning the list of books that we have read, I realize that though we have read a few books from the point of view of female characters, we have only read one other book by a female author. Lisa See reminded me in this novel how different a women's voice is when written by a woman. I look forward to selecting a book written by a strong female author next time it is my turn to choose-- I feel like this is a point of view that our club is lacking.