Book Review: "Shanghai Girls" by Lisa See

Title: Shanghai Girls

Author: Lisa See

Publisher: Random House

ISBN, PUB Date: 978-0812980530, 2/2/10

Reviewed by: Cheryl McKeon for Author Exposure

Most of us have read at least one of Lisa See’s earlier works, especially if we have ever been in a book club. Snowflower and the Secret Fan is popular among book clubs and perhaps her best known novel. So, it is sometimes with trepidation that I open a later book by a successful author, worried that it might disappoint. Shanghai Girls does not let down Lisa See’s fans or a reader new to her work.

I admit to knowing little about the 1930’s in Asia, the Japanese invasion of China, or the pre-and-post war culture of Shanghai. But, See takes the reader from the privileged luxury of her protagonists, May and Pearl (sisters with different status and skills in the family), to their sale as brides to American businessmen, their brutal introduction to California, and their new lives. She skillfully illuminates the glamour of the girls’ early lives, the horror of the Japanese invasion, the loss of the world as they knew it, and the bond they share that provides the strength to endure their assimilation into their lives as “brides” to the Chinese-born American men.

When I reflect on this novel it is with equal part affection for the sisters and their fictional tale, and the image of Shanghai and Los Angeles in the dramatically different eras the novel incorporates. This is a perfect book club book – with much to teach and much to discuss.