Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - Lisa See
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.
Buy Snow Flower and the Secret Fan from Amazon.com
Modern Book Reviews
Top Selling Books of All Time