January 2018: Lisa See

We'll ring in the new year with some books by Lisa See.

I've never read any of See's works before so I'm excited! What does everyone plan to read? And what have you read before by See?

I have read 4 and enjoyed them. I don't have any on the shelf to be read so I will probably comment only. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan was my favourite.

>2 Yells: Nice. What were the other three titles?

Shanghai Girls, Peony in Love and China Dolls. I read them a while ago and remember enjoying the first two but don't remember much about the third. They all got 3-stars though!

Like Yells, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan was definitely my favorite of See's works. I've read the other three mentioned as well. I just finished China Dolls a month or so ago.

Anybody reading Lisa See this month? I'm terribly behind in my reading so I don't think I'll get to this one unfortunately....

I read Dreams of Joy a couple of months ago ... but nothing by her on the horizon for this month, I'm afraid.

I wasn't able to get to Lisa See back in January, but my face-to-face book club chose Shanghai Girls for our May read, so I'm listening to the audiobook now. I'm about a third of the way in, and so far it's well written and seems to be well researched as well. But, whoa, intense rape scenes...

I finished Shanghai Girls and neither loved nor hated it. Based on this book's merits, I would not have necessarily read the sequel Dreams of Joy, but I feel like the ending predicates reading the next title in order to complete the story. I'll start in on that one once I can obtain a copy through my library system.

I just finished listening to The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by See. As usual, I find myself both horrified at some of the practices (ie: killing human rejects) but also fascinated by the world that See creates and immerses the reader in. She makes me uncomfortable at times and teaches me so much at other times. It's a rather unique reading experience that I enjoy overall.

>10 Yells: That's a great assessment of See's style. On my way in to work this morning, I finished the audiobook for Dreams of Joy. In the beginning, I liked it a little less than Shanghai Girls, given that I found Joy's stubborn naivety somewhat grating. But by the end, I rather liked it, although as Yells says, it is horrific (the famine scenes in particular) at times.

I think Dreams is the only one I haven't read. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is my favourite one.

>12 Yells: I do feel like you should read dreams of joy if you read shanghai girls. The story feels unfinished without it.

The Island of Sea Women – Lisa See
Digital audiobook narrated by Jennifer Lim
4****

See’s work of historical fiction is set on the Korean island of Jeju, and follows Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls from different backgrounds who become friends. Both begin to apprentice to the women of the island in their unique all-female diving collective. The novel follows these two through several decades – from Japanese colonialism in the 1930s through WWII, the Korean War, and into modern times.

I really liked this work, particularly for what I learned about the haenyeo’s unique semi-matriarchal society. The women form a collective and dive to harvest mollusks, seaweed, and other marine life from the ocean surrounding their island. Theirs was the primary commercial endeavor on the island for centuries. Meanwhile many of the men care for the children and tend their homes.

Focusing her work on the relationship between these two women allowed the reader to view the changes that war, occupation, tourism and technology brought to this island. Where once the women wore simple cotton swimsuits, they now use wetsuits, allowing them to stay in the water for longer periods of time without risking hypothermia.

I am reminded of See’s first breakout hit novel - Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. As in that work, here we have a story of a deep friendship, virtually a sister-bond, that goes awry and virtually completely collapses due to a misunderstanding, and the two women’s inability to share the truth and to forgive one another. The pain caused by this seemingly irreparable rift is heart-breaking.

Jennifer Lim does a marvelous job of narrating the audiobook. There are a lot of female characters and she managed to make clear who was speaking, so that I was rarely confused.

>14 BookConcierge: sounds like a really good read!