From the cover: "In nineteenth-cntury China, ina remote Hunan county, a girl named Lily, at the tener age of seven, is paired with a laotong, or "old same," in an emotional match that will last a lifetime.

The book follows these two girls into adulthood and motherhood. Beautifully written and absorbing. A wonderful read.


Sent out March 22 to LGinder.

Well this book made it quickly here! Guess the "slow boat to China" only appears to apply to things going to China and not from? Your box was mailed about the same time ... hope it doesn't take to long to arrive!

This book will probably go with me on our daughters wedding/cruise next week. Then on the 20th of next month I get to attend a workshop the author is hosting in our area. How fun is that?

Nu Shu - women's secret writing.

"With her bold act, I realized the true purpose of our secret writing. It was not to compose girlish notes to each other or even to introduce us to the women in our husbands' families. It was to give us a voice. Our nu shu was a means for our bound feet to carry us to each other, for our thoughts to fly across the fields as Snow Flower had written. The men in our households never expected us to have anything important to say. They never expected us to have emotions or express creative thoughts. The women - our mothers-in-law and the others - put up even greater blockades against us. But from here on out, I hoped Snow Flower and I would be able to write the truth of our lives, whether we were together or apart."

Two young girls with common birthdays are linked together for eternity, nothing will bring them apart. Not the foot bindings, the confinement for their lives in the womens chambers, the arranged marriages, the weddings and the children. Wherever they go they will continue on with this 1000 year old tradition of nu shu and keep in contact. Or at least that was the plan...

A very moving story of girls and women in China during the 1800's. Their struggles to have a voice and to be heard. One book that will stay with you long after you've read the last word.

Loaning book to a friend.

Got book back from a friend who loved it and then saved it for her oldest daughter to read. Putting it on reserved status to see if one of my girls would like to read it also.

Found another copy so I'll put this one as available and save my extra one for my girls.

Just changing status.

RELEASE NOTES:

Sending off to jenptcfan as part of a trade, enjoy!

I received this yesterday. Is that fast postal service or what?! I have at least one book ahead of this, but I'm looking forward to reading it soon.

I finished this at work today. This is one of those books that's difficult to read because of its emotional nature--but it draws the reader in all the same.

The chapter of this book that impacted me the most was "Foot Binding". Wow. I knew a little about foot binding, but the detail the author went into nearly made me sick a few times. And the thing that it communicated to me (beyond its relevance to this particular story) is how much society influences our "ideals". It's easy to read a book about Foot Binding and think, "Oh, how barbaric!" But I think we still allow society to define beauty in such arbitrary ways. It's just that these days we go to plastic surgeons and alter our bodies in a more "refined" way--or starve ourselves half to death because we want to look like the women on the covers of magazines.

This was an extraordinary story of a friendship between women who had such little value in their society. They might not have mattered to their families as "useless branches" or their husbands, but they mattered to eachother and that made all the difference in their quality of life.

I'm sure this is a book that will haunt me for awhile as I continue to think about it. I will pass it on soon.

Thanks for sharing.

Including in my top 100 bookbox.

Pulled from Top 100 bookbox - thanks!

Going to jennannej - winner of bookbox!

This is one of those books that keeps being mentioned in the forums and I've been meaning to read. Excellent.

I almost tripped over this GIANT box of books on my way out to the mailbox this morning. How exciting for a stack of books to materialize on your front step! ;) Thanks ariesgirl29!

Wow! I don't think you can read this story and not be impacted, whether it be by the graphic description of foot binding, or the depth of a friendship, or by the tradition of Nu Shu, or by the formal lives and oppression of women in this story.

Lily was finally able to take some control of her destiny by the position of power granted to her by her husband, but Snow Flower's resignation to her fate as a woman was hard to watch.

A very interesting read, which taught me a bit more about the history of Chinese women.

I found a photo online:

RELEASE NOTES:

Leaving in Pondorosa dorm- on the book exchange shelf.