Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

The Basics
Book Info: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See.

Genre: Historical Fiction

Plot Overview: Lily and Snow Flower are sworn sisters for life in ancient China.  This book details their friendship- through young footbinding years, each of their betrothals, marriages, and eventually their old age.        

Jumping In:

Importance of the Title:  When Lily and Snow Flower first correspond, Snow Flower sends her a fan asking Lily to be her laotang (or sworn sister for life).  This secret fan has nu shu characters on it.  Nu Shu was a secret Chinese writing style for women.  This was how they shared their true feelings with other women.  They passed the secret fan back and forth throughout their lives, chronicling the events in them.

Point-of-View/ Style: This work has an interesting point of view- it’s written in first person through Lily’s eyes.  However, she writes as an old woman recording her “true autobiography”, and offers the perspective that only age and hindsight can deliver. 

Themes: The most prevalent theme in the book is friendship, but it really focuses on the relationships that a woman has throughout her life.  It’s divided into the “daughter days”, “hair pinning days”, “rice and salt years” and finally, “sitting quietly”- the stages of life that every woman goes through, not just women in China.   

While friendship is the dominant theme, this work also considers the relationships we have with our mothers (”mother love” in Chinese translation is really “pain love”), fathers, and husbands.  It also considers the status of women in general.  Women, considered worthless by this society, are in reality the backbone of the culture, but repressed by men.

My Notes:

Likes & Dislikes: This book was really well written and just a terrific read.  Lisa See writes in a descriptive voice and her characters are believable.  I enjoyed everything about it- I do recommend this as a book club read.  I feel it needs to be dissected to be fully enjoyed.     

What questions I’m left with: We are left to debate one major question in the story.  When Snow Flower and Lily have a misunderstanding, I wonder why Lily doesn’t question her more.  I suppose that as a female in ancient China that she is taught not to question anything, so she just makes her own assumptions and carries on with life, not matter what kind of heartache that may bring. 

What this book makes me think about:  When I’m old, I wonder what I will look back on as my greatest mistake.  I wonder what I’m doing now that’s really a misstep, even though I may not feel the consequences until later.  Will I regret choices I’ve made?  Are there people I’ve alienated, but could have tried harder to keep relationships going with them?  It would do me good to remember the two girls in this story who were sworn sisters for life, closer to each other than they were to their husbands, yet unable to reconcile a misunderstanding between the two of them.  I hope I have the courage to forgive, and to continue forgiving throughout my life.