"SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN is a brilliantly realistic journey back to an era of Chinese history that is as deeply moving as it is sorrowful. With the period detail and deep rsonance of MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA, this lyrical and emotionally charged novel delves into one of the most mysterious of human relationaships: female friendship."

RELEASE NOTES:

on my way to fellow bookcrosser, istop4books. Enjoy and have a happy holiday season!

Arrived safe and sound -- this is my January book club read and from what I've heard, it should be a great one!! Thanks so much cafekat for the RABCK!!

*******SPOILER*******This is the story of Lily, an old woman in her eighties, who reflects back on her life in China in the early 19th Century, her family, her laotong or "old same" Spring Moon, and most of all, her one big regret in life. Lily starts off as a young girl of 5, a useless daughter,almost a non-entity in her own home, who is soon to have her feet bound and her life restricted. She will endure years of unimaginable pain and hardship from the binding of her feet. Having the perfect 7 cm foot in Imperial China was an aspiration that all well bred girls (indeed any girl who was not a servant or field worker) desired. The feet were bound for many reasons, as things of beauty (which from pictures I looked at on the internet, didn't seem very attractive to me), and as a pleasure point for a husband, bound feet were expected of any girl who wished to be married.

At about this time, Lily is paired up with Spring Moon, a young girl from another village who was born on the same day and year as Lily. This pairing is almost a marriage, in that parents are involved, there are various ceremonies, gifts are exchanged and a contract of friendship, trust and loyalty is signed. The union is called a laotang and lasts for life. These girls spend a good part of their childhoods together, going through the excruciating pain of having their feet bound, which is also explained in detail and is not for the fainthearted. The binding is done by each girl's mother. Lily's mother seems to be one of the most uncaring, heartless and cruel creatures I've ever read about. This process of binding and of the girls' bonding through their childhood years takes up quite a bit of the book and is interesting in that it seems as though the lack of love and approval that the "useless" daughter received through her own home, is channeled into the affection given to the laotang. The girls develop a strong bond and love towards one another and grow to depend on one another for their emotional needs. The novel takes us through Lily's marriage to a family of a higher class, and to Spring Moon's marriage to one of the most despicable of families - that of a butcher. Over the years the girls maintain their friendship through nu shu, a secret form of writing developed by women for women. It is a variation on men's writing, but used only by women, often telling stories in the creases of fans, or added to a bit of embroidery on shoes or handkerchiefs or articles of clothing. Over the years the girls send each other many forms of secret messages, poems and songs of friendship and hardship. But over time, Spring Moon's unfortunate circumstances and Lily's good fortune in both husband and all-important mother in law relationship, cause a rift that will be difficult to surmount. From Lily's place of entitlement, she loses her ability to emphasize with her loatang and ultimately jeopardizes the friendship. This novel is as much about the miserable history of women in China as it is about the ability to love, the power of a true friendship and redemption. All in all, not an easy read in that the circumstances of these women, bound to a second story room for years due to their inability to walk on 7 cm feet, bound to the harsh words of mothers-in-law and higher-ups in the family, this was all so foreign and unpleasant, that while I'm glad I read the book, I can't say I enjoyed it.

It did, however, force me to think about the plight of women all around the world, about the seemingly never-ending ability of men to demean women, to keep them limited in what they do and say in one way or another. The arranged marriages, loveless lives, the hierarchy of boys and men over women and daughters is not limited to China, but in one way or another, has been seen the world over, from India to the Middle East to Churches of just about all faiths around the world. Why has man had the intrinsic necessity of containing women and demonizing them? That question was not addressed -- maybe the author will in another book.

This book will soon be passed on to another couple of readers.