Monday, May 05, 2008
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
I finished this on the train into work this morning and spent the last 20 minutes of my journey sobbing. This book was amazing (despite all my initial doubts about it).
Everyone who reads this blog probably knows I'm obsessed with books about friendship. Here's the ultimate book about female friendship.
Everyone who reads this blog probably knows I'm obsessed with books about friendship. Here's the ultimate book about female friendship.
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13 comments:
That's a pretty whopping endorsement.
Oh! That one had me sniveling, too. Though I had to go online and look up photos of bound feet, as I was unable to envision them even from See's descriptions.
wow REALLY? i was SO DISAPPOINTED by this book that i don't even think i'll read peony in love.
book reading is so subjective! i never really focused on friedships as a theme in my reading. (and now i wonder if it'll ever show up in my writing--as far as between two women? hmm!)
i'm so glad it moved you, moonie!
I'm still not sure what I thought of SF&SF. I remember thinking it was not a book I would read twice, but that I liked it. I think the friendship was too poignant for me - I bawled.
I considered reading it but thought it might be too heavy for me...I don't really wanna be crying at the end of the book, at least not for the moment...! Still, will definitely take your review into consideration! :)
I LOVE IT! But, Peony in Love was a tiny tiny bit disappointing.
I am not a fan of women's lit. I tend to like books that have somewhat unhappy or even unsatisfying endings, ones where it works out differently from what the characters sought, but which feels real. The Curious Tale of the Dog in the Nighttime did that for me, as an example. Or Lovely Bones.
I read this on the beach last year and was crying like a baby. People kept looking at me like I was crazy but I didn't care. I loved it too!
written--I wouldn't describe this as "women's lit" except in the sense that it's about a deep friendship between two women and therefore might be targeted in that direction. But as far as the story goes, it is very nuanced--don't worry about a packaged happy ending umbrella structure.
I know! That book was deliciously amazing and I wanted to swallow the pages just so I could continue enjoying it. Don't worry--I didn't. I read it on the subway too...and got a few strange looks. Though--this IS New York. However, I get more strange looks when laughing at a book than when I cry.
oh, colleen!! re: new york: so sad, so true!! laughing to oneself is UTTERLY unforgivable (those crazies!), but most new yorkers are crying on the inside anyway, so it's not so strange when some of us cry on the outside. sigh.
but gosh, i always feel like i'm the only one book-emoting on the subway. you and i must not ride the same lines.
Ha, I never thought of it that way...that all new yorkers are crying on the inside, anyway. And anyone laughing to themselves MUSTSIMPLYBEANUTCASE!
Since moving to Brooklyn, I now ride the A train uptown everyday...but I used to ride the 1 downtown. Sidebar: the book that makes me seem like the biggest lunatic is Confederacy of Dunces. I can't help but laugh my ass off whenever I read that!
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