Shanghai Girls: A Novel

To reviews check out Reading Rendezvous on MISS at [...]In the new novel Shanghai Girls by Lisa See we follow the lives and tales of two extremely heroic women. The story opens in 1937 as we embark on a whirlwind adventure of extreme highs and lows with Pearl and her sister May. These women are everyday beauties in China, constantly being painted by artists therefore having their faces litter the streets of Shanghai. These women are in love with all things foreign from their names to the things the artists advertise with their faces. At night after their rendezvous with various artists they parade around the international city of Shanghai in search of love. Compared to prior novels by Lisa See this book takes place in the 20th century where women no longer bind their feet or have arranged marriages. These women are aloof and do not interact with those deemed to be a lower class, unless they are discussing the cost of their rickshaw on their way to French Concession. As if the city is doomed from the start so are the girls. Against their wishes their father arranges marriages for his daughters in order to pay off his gambling debts. Yet being the defiant and strong women they are they attempt to disobey their father- this is short lived- as the city is bombed by the Japanese.This novel is different than its predecessors as the women are presented differently and attempt to fight against the men that bind them, well at least one sister. They become antagonists for each other: May the headstrong, selfish, and deviant younger sister and Pearl the loving, sacrificial, matriarchal older sister. These women are trapped in Shanghai paying off their father's debts as their husbands leave them after one night together bound for America; these sisters vow not to follow their husbands to Los Angeles. Yet their father's loan sharks come around to collect or destroy causing these women to escape with their mother. After a tumultuous path the women make it onto a boat headed to San Francisco; when they arrive they are immediately sent to California's Ellis Island -Angel Island- and sequestered. Following a long cycle of questions and months in prison May gives birth to a daughter, Joy, who can in no way be her husband's, -as they didn't do the `husband-wife thing'. The women are finally released from Angel Island into their husbands loving arms-at least Pearl anyway- into Los Angeles and the staged China City.What follows is an emotion cycle of ups and downs for each woman. Pearl and May are searching for something more something to sustain their wild spirits. For Pearl she has the Louie Family to take care of and for May she has everything else. Throughout the book the women are presented with obstacles, which they must overcome and surpass in order to progress throughout the story. Pearl eventually becomes her mother responsible and demanding of others while May embraces the Hollywood lifestyle and becomes increasingly selfish and self absorbed. After a lifetime of trials the novel ends with a difficult close, which focuses the readers thoughts on the next book.See's book is truly powerful and brings the reader on an emotional journey. The author intertwines her fiction with actual historical events that allow the reader to learn and become completely engrossed in these women's lives. Lisa See uses a similar theme of sisterhood and Americanization which at times is a tad trivial in comparison to her previous novels, which were an anomaly to every other piece of literature that is produced during their respective eras. However, every inquisitive mind should read this novel in order to gain perspective about not only about this unique culture but also their world during this time. See has a unique ability to intertwine historical facts into her literature, which educates the reader. Many other reviewers have criticized her for this writing yet I see it as strength that she is able to entertain and educate her audience. In the end of the novel we are presented with this question: Would you follow May or Pearl? Each has exhibited their unique characteristics and has the ability to thrive. Our only hope is that these characters continue to develop and blossom as they have in front of our eyes. If you were presented with this situation would you triumph as they had? Or would you crumble as so many others before them?Book Club Questions:1. While the story is told from Pearl's perspective the story is truly about May and her transformation through life. Do you think that May has changed or made any sacrifice by the end of the novel?2. Each sister harbors resentment against each other believing their parents have favoritism for the other. Who is right? Why do they argue about events that have no effect on their lives at present?3. While the author does not totally examine the issue fully there was a great prejudice against Asian Americans during this time. Discuss examples of this in the book and knowledge you have gained from other outside sources as well.4. Pearl's motherly instinct does not come easily, due to the torture she has received. Consider this and her relationship with her daughter, does it destroy or strengthen their relationship.5. Do you think it was right for Pearl and Sam to keep their history from their daughter? Do you think it adversely affects her? Or is it a benefit in forming her identity? Read more

Shanghai,1937. Another world, almost another century. The sights, the smells, the incredibly varied and intriguing cuisines and the lives of two beautiful Chinese girls intertwine and flow along in this beautifully written novel like an inexorable river. Lisa See can write and you're there in a Shanghai which will never come again, when women still tottered about on bound feet, when the wealthy had many servants and the poor had nothing. Shanghai was a little country unto itself, self-sufficient, snobby towards the rest of China which was considered backwards and primitive.The Shanghai girls are two beautiful sisters who lived remarkably uninhibited and un-chaperoned lives, posing for advertising posters, staying out most of the night with their friends. May is the younger sister, eighteen and the favorite of the girls' father. Shewas born under the sign of the Sheep. Pearl, the narrator of the novel, at twenty-one is also lovely but tall with cheekbones, born a Dragon, and not quite as much loved by her parents as her sister, because she is not quite as beautiful. The sign one is born under is very important to the Chinese, and indeed, May is as comfortable and obliging as a sheep and Pearl is a scrapper, brave and feisty, like a dragon. In 1937 the girls are carefree, cosmopolitan, secure in their father's wealth, and they are rather heedless like the American flappers of the twenties.Although the sisters seem yin and yang, their love for each other is forged in steel and this bond is very important although at times their opposite natures clash. The Sheep versus the Dragon. Waiving off tradition, the two girls revel in their youth and beauty until their father tells them he has lost their inheritance gambling and in order to pay his debts he must farm the girls out as husbands to two brothers who have traveled from Los Angeles in search of suitable Chinese brides. The girls meet their husbands briefly, Pearl's husband is Sam and he is her age, but May's husband, Vernon, is only fourteen years old and cannot consummate the marriage. Pearl sleeps with a total stranger, her husband, but hates the experience and incredibly the sheets of her marriage bed are examined by the man who arranged the marriages, as proof of the consummation and Pearl's virginity.In the meantime Japan attacks China and Pearl and May and their mother, (their father has disappeared) try to escape the bombs by sneaking into the country, sleeping in huts or on the ground, scrounging for food. They are brutalized by Japanese soldiers and Mama dies after the soldiers strip off the coverings of her bound feet and stamp on the tortured toes. The girls manage to across the Pacific in a decrepit ship and are held at the immigration office in San Francisco for weeks, where they suffer one indignity after another in this virtual prison. May secretly gives birth to a baby girl in the shower room. Since Vernon is too young to be the father, May and Pearl change places, Pearl stuffs her clothing with pillows and May hides her growing belly behind loose clothing. Pearl acts as midwife in the shower room, and the authorities are none the wiser. But from that day on baby Joy is the daughter of Pearl and her husband, Sam, will fully accept her as his child. May keeps the paternity of the real father hidden even from Pearl, but the identity of the father will be revealed at the end of the book and his identity will have a profound effect twenty years later when Pearl discovers who actually sired the beautiful girl who has always been accepted as her daughter.When the sisters are finally freed from the immigration bureau at Angel Island and travel south to meet their husbands, they become part of a cultural roller coaster ride. In China Town, LA, they are obliged to be crammed into a small flat where the two husbands and their tyrannical parents all live together. They are also trapped in another prison of sorts, a Chinese ghetto, living with husbands they hardly know, buffeted between American culture and traditional Chinese values. They try to balance the China of memories with the present, the now reality with golden memories of the past. Can one be an American but still be Chinese? "We raised our children to be Americans but what we wanted were proper Chinese sons and daughters." But in China the respect of parents and of ancestors has been replaced by worship of Chairman Mao. An FBI witch hunt for communist sympathizers infiltrates the Chinese community, and Chinese who simply want to send money to their families are branded with the mark of Cain: communists.Author See very deftly paints a vivid picture of the Chinese experience in America, her brush is filled with background color and the strokes of that brush are expertly applied. But the ending of the novel is rather a shocker and it absolutely guarantees a sequel. I am not sure the ending works, but her sensitive approach and beautiful writing style earn her five stars for this novel. Lisa See is a highly perspective writer and she will help you see inside the Chinese psyche and catch a glimpse of the Chinese heart.

After reading Snow flower and the secret fan (which I also enjoyed) I started reading this book and could not rest until I had finished it. Absolutely fascinating but also really tough at times. This is a story that will stay with me.

Amo Lisa See e ho letto molti dei suoi libri. Shangai Gilrs è coinvolgente e appassionante, un libro per chi ama i romanzi ambientati.

Un livre à dévorer que cette chronique tragique de la vie de deux sœurs de la petite bourgeoisie de Shanghai d'avant-guerre. L'invasion japonaise les lance sur la route et jusqu'en Amérique où elles subiront la tyrannie d'un patriarche chinois et les préjugés racistes des blancs. Jusqu'á un dénouement inattendu et tragique.

This book is a fantastic read. I struggled to put it down. Very heart warming story of 2 sisters going through hell but always having each other. Looking forward to reading the next one.

Woah, the last part of this book has left me breathless - the pace was upped fantastically and WOW I need to read the second book asap.I loved this book after the first couple of chapters and knew immediately that I'd need to read more of Lisa See's books. The character building was of top quality throughout and I really feel like I know Pearl. At times May really annoyed me, she wasn't serious enough for me, but I like that the sisters are opposites. This story wasn't about a happy ending; it was about telling the truth and about creating a realistic life for realistic characters - things would be great and then something would happen to make it not-so-great, which helped make the story seem so very, very real. I suspect there were people whose lives planned out how Pearl and May's have, and at times it honestly felt like I was reading a true story. There were so many surprises throughout and all of the characters surprised me at one time or another. This book has so many layers to it and, as I've said, it was written so well that it felt like real life... why hasn't this book been made into a TV show?!So, so much happened in this book and I'm hungry to read the sequel - I hate that I can't afford to buy it right this second and that I instead have to wait for it to be available at the library :( I want to know where the character's lives are going - although there is one particular character that won't be in the sequel and I am so sad, because I was in love with said character. I don't know what else to say other than I loved this book SO much and it's definitely going on my favourites list!