Digital audiobook narrated by Jodi Long

This work of historical fiction begins in 1938. Three young women – Helen Fong, Grace Lee and Ruby Tom – meet just as the World’s Fair is set to begin on Treasure Island. They’re from different backgrounds but all are drawn to the glamorous Forbidden City nightclub by their dreams of success. World War II will soon interrupt their career paths, and their friendship will suffer, but they will endure. See follows the young women through the war years and includes an epilogue set in 1988.

I really enjoyed this book. I was in vested in these young women and their aspirations. While my background is different from theirs, we share the push/pull of traditional culture (and the expectations that result) vs the desire to see our dreams fulfilled. I loved, also, the detail See included from costumes to scenery to social issues – these elements really took me back to this era and culture.

See invented her heroines and the majority of characters, but includes a number of actual performers / entertainers of the time period. She did extensive research, including many in-person interviews with now elderly past performers on the “Chop Suey Circuit.”

Jodi Long does a marvelous job of narrating the audiobook. I admit, however, that I sometimes didn’t pay close enough attention to which character was narrating which chapter. (See does state the character at the beginning of each chapter.) Until I got used to the constant changing of point of view, I found myself occasionally confused. That was my fault, not Long’s narration. ( )

(Read for a class) I enjoyed this. It was really well written; I sympathized with many of the characters. I do think some parts could have been done better though. ( )

This is my third Lisa See read and my least favorite of them all. I think Lisa's writing improved with [b:The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane|25150798|The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane|Lisa See|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1472151037l/25150798._SY75_.jpg|44851955] but then hit even higher with [b:The Island of Sea Women|40538657|The Island of Sea Women|Lisa See|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1549839392l/40538657._SY75_.jpg|62803411] This one was good but was much more on the level of typical historical fiction with the dramatic antics of these Chinese show women. I quasi learned somethings about the period but not at the level of interest I did in the other two books. ( )

I traveled west - alone - on the cheapest bus routes I could find. Every mile took me further from Plain City, Ohio, where I'd been a fly- speck on the wallpaper of small town life. Each new state I passed through loosened another rope around my heart, my legs, my arms, yet my whole body ached and I couldn't shake my vertigo. I lived on aspirin, crackers, and soda pop. I cried and cried and cried. On the eighth day, California. Many hours after crossing the boundary, I got off the bus and pulled my sweater a little more tightly around me. I expected sun and warmth, but on that October afternoon, fog hung over San Francisco, damp, and shockingly cold. The receptionists at the cheap hotels I visited told me they were full. "Go to Chinatown," they suggested. I had no idea where Chinatown was, so that didn't help me.

I will always read a Lisa See book. I haven't loved all of them but she is a good writer and more often than not I come away without regrets. China Dolls is about three young asian women who become friends(?) prior to, through and after WWII. Historically See paints a vivid image of the time along with the political and cultural themes. It fell apart a little for me with the friendship the three girls supposedly had that was so strong to carry them through the years covered in this book. I didn't see feel great bonds of friendship between the girls and that made it hard to accept the ease that forgiveness was given out with the offenses they each committed towards the other. I'm not sure if the reader was to accept their thin foundation for lasting friendship to be culturally based or if it just wasn't well developed. Either way it made for a bit of a disconnect with the girls and their stories. I wanted to either root for their friendship or delight in its implosion and I didn't really care about either possible outcome by the end. The deepest connections I made were to minor characters and I would have liked their stories to be explored more (Joe, Grace's mother, Ida). Still Lisa See does such a great job with historical details that it was a net win for me. I'll eagerly read another of her books when I get my hands on one. ( )