The opinions expressed herein and those of the author, and not necessarily those of The New Agenda.

I learned about Lisa See’s books when I saw them recommended on Alibris at the top of the generated selection “BOOKS, MOVIES, AND MUSIC YOU MIGHT LIKE” The first book was SnowFlower and the Secret Fan featuring two lifelong friends in 19th century China. I bought it and enjoyed it. I then purchased Peony in Love. I had thought it was a sequel because the name of a character at the end of SnowFlower was also Peony. I learned that flower names were overused in China; Peony actually occurred in the 17th century and had nothing to do with the first book I read. I just recently finished Shanghai Girls, which started in 1937 China and ended in California when Nixon was Vice President.

As far as I have read, Lisa See’s stories have always been in first person to give the reader a more intimate experience with the narrator and the issues of women. A problem I often find with first person stories is the lack of detail and no sense of setting. Fortunately, Lisa See circumvented this problem by focusing on the human aspects with a beautiful and flowing style; she lets the reader know that each place carries within it something of the humanity inhabiting it, and this adds to the beauty and depth of her writing. Lisa See and I share similar views toward history. Same as me, she “has always been intrigued by stories that have been lost, forgotten, or deliberately covered up, whether in the past or happening right now in the world today.” Here are the books I read, described in the chronological order of history.

Peony in Love is a spectral romance set in 17th century China. The title character was born after a devastating invasion, which had killed her grandmother and tossed her father (one of many) out of power. He spent his time playing games, watching operas, and encouraging his daughter’s literary talent. In this book, women were taught to read and write with the intention of later teaching their sons. Women were meant to write solely about butterflies, trees, and flowers. Peony’s poems were dull and uninspired. She seemed to have no talent at all. However, when her father featured an opera of her favorite story “The Peony Pavilion,” she met a young man and began to philosophize over the nature of love and romance. Her heart yearned to be free from her arranged marriage. Coming from her heart and soul, her literary talent soared. Even though her own talent revealed itself, she understood little about the significance of women’s voices; this gave way to brutality until a vengeful attack sent her away. Throughout the book, Peony discovers both the true nature of love and the ability of writing to preserve a person’s existence after death. Whenever she needed solitude, she rested with the Banana Garden Five – a literary women’s group that focused on politics among other things.

SnowFlower and the Secret Fan occurs two centuries later, 19th century China. Throughout the previous book, there began to loom a threat against women’s writing; in the previous book, men and women could read and write the same things. By this time, women were denied any education at all except for cooking, emboridery, etc. Women in a certain province had their own form of writing, which was considerably smaller in scope than man’s writing. This form of writing was also restricted between Lao-tongs or “old-sames”, which were meant to be best friends for life. Despite having their own form, women were denied education over politics, sciences and philosophy. After foot-binding, they were kept inside the house and in a few select rooms where they embroidered. Their culture kept them ignorant of the serious matters in life. SnowFlower and the Secret Fan details the lives of two Lao-tongs who were taught this special form. Throughout the course of their friendship, they suffer through the foot-binding process, the loneliness of their arranged marriages, and their duties as mothers. Of the three I am discussing, this book was actually written first and is the perfect book for readers to learn about the everyday life of two normal Chinese women in that time period. It focuses on mundane (for the time) topics that Peony does not – foot-binding, matchmaking, weddings, and so forth.

Shanghai Girls began in China in 1937 and ended in California at the time when Nixon was Vice President. Shanghai and in fact all of China has been experiencing cultural changes from the influx of western ideas. Two sisters, Pearl and May, were born at just the right moment when foot-binding was banned. They were both educated, Pearl having attended college, and determined to be independent women. Going through arranged marriages does not hinder their plans; their husbands live in California while they plan to remain in China. However, the Japanese invasion forces them to flee their beloved country, and their only sanctuary comes from a household in a foreign country they never visited. This book is amazing in that it is packed with just about everything. Nearly everyone in the book starts out with some form of prejudice. The white Americans are racist; the Chinese men are sexist; the two sisters are class elitists. So, the book deals with those three issues through the lives and experiences of Chinese immigrant women and the men they married. Some overcome their prejudices while others do not. It covered a diverse array of topics such as Chinese treatment in the USA during WW2, the double-patriotism Chinese men felt, Chinese women’s work toward the war effort, and later went into the communist era. Some of the Chinese immigrants never wanted to become citizens; they endured two decades of racism in the United States to save enough money for a comfortable life back in China. However, when they returned to China with their hard-earned wealth, the Communists decried them as Capitalists, confiscated their earnings, and attempted to imprison them. Many were trapped, their homeland transformed into something alien, while others returned to the United States where, as the Cold War progressed, they risked being labeled Communist traitors and subsequent deportation. The only thing I disliked about the book was the abrupt drama dispute at the end. I was disappointed at the pettiness at the end, neither side able to appreciate the strength and good fortune of the other side. According to wikipedia, a sequel is in the works. I am excited about the prospect of a sequel because Shanghai Girls had quite a cliffhanger. Taken together, I think both would become the perfect story to compliment Jung Chang’s Wild Swans.

I encourage everyone to check out the books by Lisa See. If not these, then she has at least four other books waiting for readers.