Shanghai Girls
A Novel
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Shanghai Girls
Narrated by:
Janet Song
Buy Now for $21.97
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Narrated by:
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Janet Song
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Written by:
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Lisa See
“A gifted writer . . . explores the bonds of sisterhood while powerfully evoking the often nightmarish American immigrant experience.”—USA Today
In 1937 Shanghai—the Paris of Asia—twenty-one-year-old Pearl Chin and her younger sister, May, are having the time of their lives. Both are beautiful, modern, and carefree—until the day their father tells them that he has gambled away their wealth and that to repay his debts, he must sell the girls as wives to suitors who have traveled from Los Angeles to find Chinese brides.
As Japanese bombs fall on their beloved city, Pearl and May set out on the journey of a lifetime, from the Chinese countryside to the shores of America. Though inseparable best friends, the sisters also harbor petty jealousies and rivalries. Along the way they make terrible sacrifices, face impossible choices, and confront a devastating, life-changing secret, but through it all the two heroines hold fast to who they are—Shanghai girls.
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What the critics say
“See is a gifted writer, and in Shanghai Girls she again explores the bonds of sisterhood while powerfully evoking the often nightmarish American immigrant experience.”—USA Today
“A buoyant and lustrous paean to the bonds of sisterhood.”—Booklist
“A rich work . . . as compulsively readable as it is an enlightening journey.”—Denver Post
“The glamour of prewar Shanghai is recalled in Lisa See’s deftly plotted Shanghai Girls.”—Vogue
“Splendid.”—More
“An engrossing tale of two sisters.”—Time
“Shanghai Girls is one of those books I could not wait to continue reading, because her characters' stories are so compellingly told.”—St. Louis Dispatch
“As in Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and Peony in Love, she has in her latest novel created ordinary women who, through willfulness and resiliency, accomplish extraordinary things. . . . See, whose writing is as graceful as these '’beautiful girls,'’ pulls off another exceptional novel.”—Miami Herald
“A buoyant and lustrous paean to the bonds of sisterhood.”—Booklist
“A rich work . . . as compulsively readable as it is an enlightening journey.”—Denver Post
“The glamour of prewar Shanghai is recalled in Lisa See’s deftly plotted Shanghai Girls.”—Vogue
“Splendid.”—More
“An engrossing tale of two sisters.”—Time
“Shanghai Girls is one of those books I could not wait to continue reading, because her characters' stories are so compellingly told.”—St. Louis Dispatch
“As in Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and Peony in Love, she has in her latest novel created ordinary women who, through willfulness and resiliency, accomplish extraordinary things. . . . See, whose writing is as graceful as these '’beautiful girls,'’ pulls off another exceptional novel.”—Miami Herald
Continue the series
Shanghai Girls is a shockingly sad, educational look at what life was like for two sisters who escaped China in the early 20th century to pursue a "gold mountain man" life in San Francisco. Lisa See presents us with a highly detailed take on their excruciating journey to and in America. This book deals in themes of sisterhood, motherhood, love, old Chinese versus old American values, religion, and crushing racism.
In Canadian and America schools, this book(as others) should be a lesson to us. We should be putting time into educating our own to the perspectives and lessons that shaped our respective countries.
What I would have liked to see from this book would be a bigger section on the perspective of the main characters and their later relationship with the Japanese. A lot of time is put into this book detailing the fear and racism between the two countries but once the immediate threat of Japan's terror over China gives way to Mao's communism, the thread drops off, never to be heard of again.
Janet Song is a wonderful, somber narrator and fits the role perfectly.
"When our hair is white..."
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Engaging and emotional
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Beautiful
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