Genealogy Books - Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: A Novel

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Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating:

Summary: chinese culture insight
Comment: 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.

Customer Rating:

Summary: asian women's relationship
Comment: 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.

Customer Rating:

Summary: My few cents
Comment: 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.

Customer Rating:

Summary: One of the best
Comment: 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 can honestly say
that I am glad that I didn't have to go through the footbinding process!

Some people
complained about the nu-shu writing, and while I am not a scholar of China and therefore cannot say
if it was accurate or not, this book is good as a novel, and does teach you a few things about
Chinese society and how things were back then for women.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Memorable!
Comment: 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.

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