Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

A Tale of 2 Women

By Lisa See

USA, 2005

Historical Fiction 

Main Attractions  

1. Love/Hate Reaction 

2. Poetic descriptions

3. Linkage of 2  women

4. Secret Language

5. Raw love of all kinds

6. Coming of Age

7. Daily Life of the Exotic

8. Gripping & Unforgettable

9. Many goosebump memories

10. The ending! Wow!

Cuisine & Delicacies

Ranked as: Ice Cream & Gelato

Spoiler free, I promise: There is a part near the beginning where I tossed the book across the room.  I was so enraged by what See did with one of the characters.  I left it alone for months on end.  But I was so damned curious, that I turned the page.  That very 1st paragraph, See justified herself.  From that point on, I couldn’t put the book down.  It was so compelling.  I’d be very interested if you had the same experience.

Off the Beaten Path

Beautiful Video about a modern Orchestra trying to preserve this language.  It explains what the language is and where it came from.

Just one little old lady singing, during a short documentary.  So cute 😃

Travel Advisory:

This book has some graphic descriptions of the Ancient Chinese Foot Binding practice.  Reading these passages will never leave you.  They are gritty and difficult to read.  You can skip over them and still enjoy the exquisite story.  I’m not good at reading these difficult passages, I do skip over them if they are too much.  I still highly recommend this book because it’s such a moving story that is so well crafted.  

It’s a book that clearly displays the struggles of women; past and present.  We are still held to a different standard then men, complete with our own set of social rules to follow.   This book reminds us that women of a far a way land faced some of the same things that we still face today.  See crafts her story with exquisite writing skill and her story is unforgettable.

Packing List 

✓ Map of China

✓ Google for Nushu

✓ History book of 19th century Hunan, China

✓ Foot Binding Documentary 

✓ Confucius’ ancient book, The Analects

Recommended Resources:

Alternate Books

✓ Sky Burial - Compelling love story in an exotic land.

✓ A Thousand Splendid Suns - Gritty women’s world from 2 points of view

✓ Lisa See’s other books including her newest: The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane

✓ Of Human Bondage - Epic life long story about one man

✓ Gone with the Wind - Tangle of love, well-known American story

Film Adaptation:

✓ 2011, Directed by Wayne Wang 
I’m not a fan of injecting a modern story.  It threw off the story for me.  I loved the historical parts of the movie.