I'm going to start this out like a church talk: For those of you who don't know me, I'm Emily, Erin's friend. I finally finished a book, so I finally get to blog about it! (yes, I accidentally blogged about not a book the other day, if you saw a phantom blog post in your feed)
Shanghai Girls is about two sisters who grow up in China and emigrate to the United States. The story goes from the 1930s to the 1950s. I would say that the book is primarily about the relationship between the two sisters and their families, but it also is really interesting historically. Overall I loved it, but I would warn anyone who doesn't like sad stories- China, immigration and communism are no picnic! It's not a very happy book, but a good one that makes you thankful. (Or as The Costco Connection said, "A powerful new story!")
I'd also warn that it gets pretty graphic at one point, which it pretty important to the story, but if you want to skip over it you'll still get the gist. There were some pretty annoyed ladies at the teacher book club who didn't like it, but it's not romance novel graphic, it's "horrible, awful, things happen to people and I feel bad for them" graphic.
4 comments:
This sounds interesting. Did you even see Memoirs of a Geisha? Does it at all remind you of that?
PS I really liked the last post you put up about the talks. And I went and read all of the ones I hadn't already read and LOVED them. So thanks for that!
Is Memoirs of a Geisha a book and a movie? I haven't seen/read either so... I don't know! I just know that I'm usually not a huge fan of Asian history and such (nothing against the people), but I was this time.
And... I'm glad you liked the talks :)
Emily, you forgot a joke about dodging a member of the bishopric in the hallway, but then they called you anyway! Hilarious!
I've not read Memoirs of a Geisha, but I did see it. It's beatiful, like literally, a beautiful movie visually, but I wasn't too enthralled with the story.
Emily, I feel you on the not-that-into-Asia thing. But I do like history, so maybe I'd be into this "powerful new story." Sometimes sad books are good. They remind you of how your life is actually 100% easy.
I like Lisa See but I agree with the warning, all her novels seem to have something graphic in them at some point. I liked "Peony in Love" and "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" as well.
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