Snow Flower + Twilight

What to say about Snow Flower? First is: Loved this book. 'Why?' you may ask? Good question. Much of it was very sad, but I guess what makes any "good" read is not whether or not the story is sad/happy/depressing/humorous, but how mentally and emotionally engaging it is. And for me, this one worked. I cared about all the characters and got very involved in their lives. AND it prompted so many interesting discussions between Jenn and I about culture, feminism, women's roles, I think even cooking and food (but then again - I can pretty much bring just about any conversation around to food. I'm not even kidding: I was recently at a wake and ended up talking Turkish recipes. Sick.).

Anyhoo..

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is the story of a lifetime friendship between two girls in 19th-century China. Footbinding was still practiced and both girls go through he process. It is described pretty early on in the book in excruciating detail. (Excruciating being the operative word there.) The friendship of the little girls is so warm and lovely, and as they grow the complications were real and sometimes familiar - which is so interesting. I've never been a woman in 19th century China with my feet bound, but there are just some universal truths about women and friendships. But as Jenn and I discussed a lot - there were many parts of the story that were so alien to us it was difficult to relate - like the hierarchy of the households determined largely by which women bore sons in which order and the near total separation of a woman from her birth family once she married.

Ahhh.. I could really go on and on, but I won't I'll just chuck in my serious thumbs-up on this one. And apologize for the delay in posting. We actually finished this book a few weeks ago. And we're not on to anything new just yet, because I asked Jenn to let me finish Twilight. Which I did last night. And now, I am going to cowardly ask Jenn here on the blog if she has any interest in whizzing through it so we can read the next one in the series together. It's silly and a little goofy and very strange, but I LOVE THIS BOOK TOO!! What do you say Jenn?