Essay: Review of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

The novel taken under consideration goes by the name of “Snow Flower and the Secret Fan”, which was written by Lisa See is an enthralling and mesmerizing narrative of friendships between women in nineteenth century countryside China. The novel is definitely an exceptional, well-written narrative, which many would fine to be captivating on a vast number of levels. Basically the book is a narrative told by Lily who is an elderly woman in her eighties who is reminiscing on her life. She puts forward the chronicles of her foot fastening, nu shu, the surreptitious women’s writing, and the assorted proper friendships between women that were basically imposed by the society.

Lily’s sister involved herself in an affirmed sisterhood, in which a collection of youthful women shaped a companionship that had to last till the time that they got married, but Lily gets to be paired with one girl who goes by the name of  Snow Flower, who is her laotong or “old same.” Both of these girls share a love, share feelings that are far stronger than any of the other relationships shared by either one of them, which only causes heartbreak to both of them eventually. The work of fiction is in actual fact the account of their companionship, its depths of despair, its deceitfulness, its powers–and it is a mesmerizing read about a civilization that is so dissimilar as compared to our own.

But, even though the book is a great read, there are certain lacking. This is not to say that the book is not good but with just a bit more information it could have done even better. For instance, there is hardly any information about how pregnancies and delivery were handled, what clothes were worn by children, how marriages took place, what the assorted celebrations talked about were like, whether they played any instruments, did the men read books, how did they pass their time etc. These significant features of existence are varnished over with a reference to decoration or an observation of shoes. In its place, again and again we keep on reading that boys are better than girls and husbands HAVE to be obeyed. But on a personal basis, I would recommend this novel as a must read (See, p.1-272).