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Shanghai Girls A Novel Lisa See 9781400067114 Books

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Shanghai Girls A Novel Lisa See 9781400067114 Books

This novel is a family saga, crossing two continents and nearly thirty years. Pearl Louie and her sister, Mae, were born and raised among the Shanghai elite, but with the arrival of Japanese invasion and the start of WWII, find themselves sold to Chinese-American husbands. They cross the Pacific to begin a new life with unknown relatives in Los Angeles. The novel covers Pearl and Mae's efforts to make new lives for themselves in Los Angeles, and to come to terms with their new family. Pearl discovers a world of contradictions in Los Angeles. She begins to develop an American identity, while living in a country prejudiced against her. Always critical of her mother's old-fashioned superstition, Pearl finds herself drawn to traditional ways as she faces the challenges of raising a family. While there are some triumphs for Pearl, Mae, and the rest of the Louie family, there are also many sorrows. See's ending for this saga shocked me- it was certainly not the ending I was anticipating. Overall, this novel offers a complex and engaging plot, and brought me into the world of Chinese Americans in the middle of the 20th century. Through See's work we go deep into the innermost recesses of the lives nad thoughts of the Louie family. See has written a complicated epic- a story of much sorrow, but also of persistence.


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Shanghai Girls A Novel Lisa See 9781400067114 Books Reviews

Such a sad, heartbreaking, cultural, heartwarming, interesting and makes you on edge!!! Although it is really sad it just reminds us that we don't really understand what war does to civilians and innocent people. Really eye opening and makes you really get into the book and the characters. Some Romance, Wont go into details, you'll just have to buy it and read for yourself.
Shanghai Girls by Lisa See got thumbs-up from our book club. Growing up in Shanghai, May and Pearl Chin are both models for Z.G. Li, a painter and photographer, whom they both fall in love with. As "beautiful girls," the sisters live a life of parties and glamour until their father loses the family fortune and sells the girls to prospective husbands. The girls refuse and during the Japanese invasion of Shanghai in 1937, they attempt to cross the countryside to make their escape. Along the way they have a horrific encounter with Japanese soldiers. Brace yourself. It's a disturbing scene that's not for the faint of heart.

Eventually they make it to America and are interned at Angel Island for a long time. In order to stay in America, the sisters marry the Louie brothers who are strangers to them. In Los Angeles Chinatown, under one roof they find that life is very challenging with racial and financial struggles. Slowly they assimilate to their new family and carve out very different lives. Pearl is the responsible one. She and her husband raise baby Joy while still meeting the familial obligations to Louie's parents. May's new husband is mentally impaired, very childlike, and she seeks out a more self-centered lifestyle.

The book is fast paced enough, but at the very end, hang on for a ride, because it goes at warp speed. There's a lot going on with when now grown-up daughter, Joy, discovers past cover-ups and lies, false family ties, and the identity of her real parents. It ends with Joy running off to communist China. At that point our book club smelled a sequel, and sure enough a couple years later Dreams of Joy was published.
I suspect with over 500 reviews anything i have to say will be redundant, however having just traveled to Shanghai, walked the Bund, and visited the 19th century "concessions," I may have something to add. Let me begin with a suggestion that readers may also choose to rent/purchase a documentary called "Shanghai Ghetto." While in Shanghai, we visited a little-known ghetto devoted to German Jews who who sought refuge in China just before and during WWII. The visuals in this documentary serve to enlighten the images that author, Lisa See, so adeptly describes in Shanghai Girls.
The story of these young women and their families is extremely well told. It is filled with tragedy and hope. What better ending could one ask for, in a time of world war and extreme racial profiling. It rivals The Good Earth, but focuses on the middle/upper middle class Chinese -- not the peasants that are so well detailed in Pearl S. Buck's well known novel. Both writers are very adept at character development ... to the point that the reader knows them so well ... they must surely live next door.
If you like historical fiction, you'll love this. I don't know much about the Chinese experience in the United States, and it tells a lot. Provocative. It made me think about my family relationships. This one is primarily about 2 sisters, but it could be about any family relationship. It also made me think about prejudice. I could really empathize with the characters in the book.
First, the history re Chinese & Japanese during WWII & when the Japanese took over China is SPOT ON. Also everything until the 1950’s is completely accurate, and I really appreciated that. Second, I truly have mixed reactions to this book! I loved the way Pearl and May were complete opposites , yet Pearl was such a ‘poor poor me’ and technically so was May in her own world, the same. But with as many pages/hours were in ‘Shanghai Girls’ it nearly drove me to jump out a window with all the hardships they go through!! I got to a point where I said to myself, “NOBODY could have endured all of this!”

I also hated the graphic visions to, it really bothered me, and not in a way where I didn’t know..in a way where I thought it was too much. There are a lot of other things that I thought were either too much or not enough, that’s why I said I had a mixed review, and I’m really not sure how I truly feel?!

If I had known there was a part 2 to this novel I may not have read it, because the end was not satisfying enough to stand alone, in fact not at all, but I didn’t figure that out until the last 20 min...giving this story a 3.8 is pretty generous.

Like I said, it was spot on to what Chinese woman and families went through, but I’m just not the happiest finishing it either. As far as recommended, you need to know it’s graphic for that period of time.
This novel is a family saga, crossing two continents and nearly thirty years. Pearl Louie and her sister, Mae, were born and raised among the Shanghai elite, but with the arrival of Japanese invasion and the start of WWII, find themselves sold to Chinese-American husbands. They cross the Pacific to begin a new life with unknown relatives in Los Angeles. The novel covers Pearl and Mae's efforts to make new lives for themselves in Los Angeles, and to come to terms with their new family. Pearl discovers a world of contradictions in Los Angeles. She begins to develop an American identity, while living in a country prejudiced against her. Always critical of her mother's old-fashioned superstition, Pearl finds herself drawn to traditional ways as she faces the challenges of raising a family. While there are some triumphs for Pearl, Mae, and the rest of the Louie family, there are also many sorrows. See's ending for this saga shocked me- it was certainly not the ending I was anticipating. Overall, this novel offers a complex and engaging plot, and brought me into the world of Chinese Americans in the middle of the 20th century. Through See's work we go deep into the innermost recesses of the lives nad thoughts of the Louie family. See has written a complicated epic- a story of much sorrow, but also of persistence.