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From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. See's engrossing novel set in remote 19th-century China details the deeply affecting story of lifelong, intimate friends (laotong, or "old sames") Lily and Snow Flower, their imprisonment by rigid codes of conduct for women and their betrayal by pride and love. While granting immediacy to Lily's voice, See (Flower Net) adroitly transmits historical background in graceful prose. Her in-depth research into women's ceremonies and duties in China's rural interior brings fascinating revelations about arranged marriages, women's inferior status in both their natal and married homes, and the Confucian proverbs and myriad superstitions that informed daily life. Beginning with a detailed and heartbreaking description of Lily and her sisters' foot binding ("Only through pain will you have beauty. Only through suffering will you have peace"), the story widens to a vivid portrait of family and village life. Most impressive is See's incorporation of nu shu, a secret written phonetic code among women—here between Lily and Snow Flower—that dates back 1,000 years in the southwestern Hunan province ("My writing is soaked with the tears of my heart,/ An invisible rebellion that no man can see"). As both a suspenseful and poignant story and an absorbing historical chronicle, this novel has bestseller potential and should become a reading group favorite as well.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From School Library Journal
Adult/High School–Lily at 80 reflects on her life, beginning with her daughter days in 19th-century rural China. Foot-binding was practiced by all but the poorest families, and the graphic descriptions of it are not for the fainthearted. Yet women had nu shu, their own secret language. At the instigation of a matchmaker, Lily and Snow Flower, a girl from a larger town and supposedly from a well-connected, wealthy family, become laotong, bound together for life. Even after Lily learns that Snow Flower is not from a better family, even when Lily marries above her and Snow Flower beneath her, they remain close, exchanging nu shu written on a fan. When war comes, Lily is separated from her husband and children. She survives the winter helped by Snow Flower's husband, a lowly butcher, until she is reunited with her family. As the years pass, the women's relationship changes; Lily grows more powerful in her community, bitter, and harder, until at last she breaks her bond with Snow Flower. They are not reunited until Lily tries to make the dying Snow Flower's last days comfortable. Their friendship, and this tale, illustrates the most profound of human emotions: love and hate, self-absorption and devotion, pride and humility, to name just a few. Even though the women's culture and upbringing may be vastly different from readers' own, the life lessons are much the same, and they will be remembered long after the details of this fascinating story are forgotten.–Molly Connally, Chantilly Regional Library, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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I AM WHAT THEY CALL IN OUR VILLAGE "ONE WHO HAS NOT yet died"-a widow, eighty years old. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Madame Wang, Beautiful Moon, Madame Gao, Temple of Gupo, Master Lu, Wife Wang, Auntie Wang, Catching Cool Breezes, Plum Blossom, Diamond Sutra, Letter of Vituperation, New Year, Old Man Zuo, Expel Birds Festival, Getan Village, Great Hunan Army, King of the Afterworld, The Women's Classic, Tiny-Footed Maiden New!
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445 Reviews 5 star:  (314) 4 star:  (97) 3 star:  (21) 2 star:  (9) 1 star:  (4)           Average Customer Review (445 customer reviews)		New! Amazon has customer video reviews     It's easy to shoot video reviews or life's everyday moments with the Flip Video camcorder.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   207 of 225 people found the following review helpful: Sympathy with Both Women and Men, July 10, 2005 By  Virginia J. Tufte (Beverly Hills, CA USA) - See all my reviews    This review is from: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: A Novel (Hardcover) Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: A Novel is surely intended for any reader who likes a compelling, historically-set, moving, suspenseful story. I have been a fan of Lisa See's mysteries, and her sympathies with, and skill in creating characters of both sexes, are apparent in both the mystery plots and the present book. This plot is beautifully woven, with two women at its center, but there is compassion for both the women and the men in the nineteenth-century Chinese society the author re-creates so vividly. Lisa See obviously LIKES her characters, and she develops some understanding of and compassion for ALL of them. Her natural sensitivity, vast research--including visits and interviews in the remote region she is writing about--make her work fully convincing. Tender, celebratory, joyous, painful, heart-breaking at times-- this is a memorable, glorious book. After reading it, I found myself thinking more and more about some of the power, motivations, love, violence, and ways of communication in our twenty-first century societies. I will pass my copy along to a friend or two, but I will say "Be sure to return it."   136 of 144 people found the following review helpful: Engrossing Story of Women's Friendships, August 14, 2005 By  Elizabeth Hendry (New Jersey USA) - See all my reviews       This review is from: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: A Novel (Hardcover) Lisa See's Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is an engrossing and fascinating story of women's friendships in nineteenth century rural China. This is an excellent, well-written novel--fascinating on so many levels. Lily, the narrator of the novel is in her eighties, looking back on her life. She shares the stories of her foot binding, nu shu, the secret women's writing, and the various formally women's friendships that society enforced. Lily's sister participated in a sworn sisterhood, where a group of young women formed a friendship that was to last until marriage, but Lily is paired with one girl, Snow Flower, her laotong or "old same." Lily and Snow Flower have a love that is stronger than all of her other relationships--and it causes them both more heartbreak. The novel is really the story of their friendship, its depths, its deceits, its strengths--and it is a fascinating read about a society so different from our own. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan reminds me in many ways of The Red Tent in that it explores female friendship in a setting much different than any contemporary one. A fascinating read.   47 of 53 people found the following review helpful: Great Examination of Rural 1800s China and Women, March 10, 2007 By  Lisa Shea "LisaShea.com" - See all my reviews    There are certain books you read that make you really think, "Thank goodness I wasn't living in THAT culture!" Snow Flower and the Secret Fan definitely falls into that category. This story traces the life of Lily, a young farmer's daughter in a very rural area of China, born in 1823. The book was very well researched, and does do its best to explain that while this life was not as free as modern culture is for women, it was in some ways "not as awful" as it could have been. Lily explains that in some areas of China, women were worked brutally hard, treated like pack animals. In her region, women were treasured. You might think this is a great thing :) However, by treasured, this meant they were isolated in a room with lattice windows, so that some light would get in but they could not be seen. This kept them safe - but trapped. To make matters worse, their beauty was determined by how tiny their feet were. This isn't just the tiny-waist of a corset. Young girls actually had their feet broken and squished, over a period of 2 years, so that an adult woman had a foot about the size of a thumb. All that was left of the foot was one big toe to balance on. It meant their gait was slow and delicate. In essence, they could never run away - and they could barely walk around to do minor chores - cooking, cleaning. So on one hand, this was a very restricted life for women. They were hidden away in an isolated room, and their broken feet were tiny and barely functional. On the other hand, a hard-working peasant woman might look on this as the life of luxury. Why couldn't *She* laze away in peace and quiet, doing embroidery and weaving? Why couldn't *She* have the excuse of tiny feet instead of slaving in the hot sun all day doing field work? So into this world of hiding-away, Lily is hooked up with a 'laotong' - or lifelong best friend. The two talk with private women-only writing, mu shu. It gives them a way to discuss the problems with their lives. There are of course misunderstandings, changes as the girls mature into women, jealousies, issues with children, and so on. I love reading books about other times and cultures, and have read many books that detail the "life was awful for women back then" situations. Foot binding was awful, and I'm certainly glad they don't do it any more. The rigid order of "boys are better than girls" and "wives are subservient to husbands" is also not a wonderful one, but this was pretty common in most cultures around the world. Both of these points were hammered a bit heavily in the book. It was fine the first five times - but re-reading it every 5th page made me really long for more details. For example, we hear hardly anything about how birth was handled, what children wore, the details of the marriage ceremony, what the various festivals mentioned were like, if they had any instruments, if they had books, pasttimes, toys, hobbies, styles of embroidery, etc. etc. These important features of life are glossed over with a mention of tassles or a comment about shoes. Instead, we hear over and over again that girls are worse than boys. We hear that husbands must be obeyed. We hear about the pain of footbinding. I think most of us readers really did understand the basics after the third or fourth mention. That's not to say the book isn't a great read. But I think with just a little more time, it could have been stellar. The book is clearly all about 'women', but even so, the men mentioned are vague stereotypes - the wife-beater, the distant father, the weakling son. Even women who are in restrictive cultures can form relationships with males. The heroines in this story seem not to like guys, not to like girls, and to care for each other in a sort of shallow way. Lily "loves" Snow Flower instantly - but doesn't really want to listen to her problems. Snow Flower lies to Lily pretty much constantly, wanting to maintain the illusion she has. I'd love to read another novel, set in this same world, but with more complex characters. Share your thoughts with other customers:  › See all 445 customer reviews...		Most Recent Customer Reviews What a Great read!!! This book is a great read. A delightfully composed tail of two best friends. Read more Published 18 hours ago by S. Ramnarine GREAT! If you like Memoirs of a Geisha and Amy Tan novels you will love this book. Beautifully written. I can't wait to read her others! Read more Published 1 day ago by SarahG What could have been... "What could have been" is both a theme of this novel and a summary of my opinion of it. Despite other glowing reviews, I was disappointed by this book. Read more Published 1 day ago by T. Hudson Snow Flower and the Secret Fan Very good insight into 19th century women and their world in China. Some of the information on their footbinding customs and treatment of women is difficult to read, but it is... Read more Published 3 days ago by L. Jean I hated it I wanted to like this book. It seemed like I would like this book, but I didn't like it at all. I put it down halfway through and didn't even finish it. Read more Published 6 days ago by C. Callahan Snow Flower and the Secret Fan Fascinating story about the life of a young girl in 19th century China. Wonderful insights about Chinese customs, life and values. Great selection for our Book Club! Read more Published 6 days ago by Nancy Drew Love & struggles I recently chose Snow Flower and the Secret Fan for a book club. All the ladies seemed to enjoy this pick as it demonstrated in detail the culture and helped us be grateful for... Read more Published 7 days ago by J. O'Bomsawin fantastic story I loved this book - I am a fan of novels that weave historical information, or cultural information thru the story, and See did a fantastic job with both. Read more Published 12 days ago by CHF Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: What an amazing book! My favorite book in my 2 year book club. I love the way she writes and describes a world and lives of strong women who have no choice, no love, no life but yet have each other,... Read more Published 13 days ago by Angelica M. Silvero It makes me want to burn my bra! I thought this book was very well written and the story was very interesting. However, it doesn't change the fact that it infuriated me to no end. Read more Published 14 days ago by Kelly Erickson Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews ›  See all 445 customer reviews...

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