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sorry to say that I thought this book was horrible, As a huge fan of Snowflower and the Secret Fan and of the beautiful characters, beautifully described scenery, tragedies, hardships, and the deep bonds between the characters within it, I went into this book hoping for something of the same.
I felt the character development in this book was forced, I thought the story was all over the place, and there was never and deep understanding of the people within it.
Maybe it's because I never identified with any of the characters, I thought May was spoiled and silly, I thought Pearl was, well, boring, I never warmed to the Louie family, It was anticlimactic, sort of going along until it was just over, There were a few random tragedies near the end, but none of it moved me, I see that my opinion is in the minority but frankly I just really expected more from this book, By the end I was just skimming through it, stopping to catch up afteror so pages to see if it drew me back in.
It never did. Shanghai Girlsby Lisa Lee

Shanghai Girls is a Chinese American Odyssey of two sisters, It describes their immigrant experience and the bonds of sisterhood, In deft, graceful prose, See depicts the challenges and hardships many unimaginable that the Chin sisters face, In the first part of the book, May and Pearl Chin are shown to glide around Shanghai in rickshaws wearing gorgeous, tightfitting silk dresses, They are what are known as "beautiful girls" models for artists who use their images on posters and calendars to sell cigarettes, soap and baby milk.
I read that Sees impetus for this novel was one such romanticized ad, See wanted to trace the life history of these girls and in this story, she shifts the aperture of her lens to, See describes this period in China as the Paris of Asia aromatic in a French style, yet decaying blatantly as Japanese invade China during the WWII.
It also the time when the lives of Chin sisters upend, Amidst dying people, disintegrating culture, values, rape and trauma, the agency of companionship between sisters held both of them strong,

The book is narrated in Pearls voice and I wish See had included Mays account, Pearls lack of introspection into Mays struggles, selfdeceptions and submission to cultural platitudes were few explicit flaws of the character, And while most reviewers praised the sympathetic, fleshandblood characters of this book, none of them resonated with me,

The story gradually transports you to Angel Island, an American immigration land before accepting immigrants as citizens of the States, The book educates the reader about Chinese Exclusion Act throughout the story, An important turning point in the lives of the sisters is, when the Communists take over China, all Chinese are under suspicion in the United States.
One of the novel's key plot focuses

on a program that targeted to deport Chinese, In this part of the history, Chinese wives lose their husbands to suicide, friends turn against each other, and children run away from home, I was able to find parallels of these descriptions in other books such as Buddha in the Attic, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress and The Joy Luck Club.


I try to read about the background of the book I pick up in order to understand the context, I came across several interviews of Lisa See and found that she has worked hard to translate her ethnographic research into a fiction, In one of the interviews, See said that the people she interviewed were scared at the idea of sharing their experiences for the purpose of her book.
One cannot help but think of the tragedy of burying your past, assuming a new identity, persistent fear of being uprooted from your present life and keeping secrets from your children.
In one such interviews, See quotes a man who said, 'We haven't told our children, we haven't told our grandchildren what we went through, because we aren't dead yet and we aren't safe yet.
"

It is sad that so much tragedy existed in history and we continue to create more every day, Books like Shanghai Girls awaken the reader to mistakes made in the past and encourages to be thankful for present, The book concludes with the idea that perception is thought to be reality and keeps us in a comfortable in present, but a little introspection into history can change everything.
Lisas Sees new novel, Shanghai Girls, provides a rich experience for its readers taking them from the splendor, highlife, glamour and poverty ofShanghai to the struggles of Chinese immigrants to survive a virtual internment on Angel Island, off the coast of San Francisco, to the almost impossible challenges of trying to build a life in Los Angeles Chinatown in the context of an America that does not want them and treats them cruelly.


But despite its rich background, Shanghai Girls is ultimately the story of two sisters Pearl and May who desperately strive to help each other survive and at the same time replay in their minds and actions old rivalries, jealousies, and hurts.
The summary of the book on Sees web site puts it well: “They love each other but they also know exactly where to drive the knife to hurt the other sister the most.
” This is most dramatically shown in the novels climax,

Pearl, speaking in first person, is the narrator, taking us fromto, This time period matches Parts IV and V of Sees On Gold Mountain: The OneHundredYear Odyssey of My ChineseAmerican Family, The perspectives are different, however, In the memoir See is scrupulously objective in treatment family members, herself, and issues very close to her, Pearl lets us experience some of the same American experiences but from a different perspective and from the inside,

Late in the novel, Pearl reflects: “Were told that men are strong and brave, but I think women know how to endure, accept defeat, and bear physical and mental agony much better than men.
” This is certainly true of Pearl herself,

Growing up in Shanghai, the Paris of Asia, Pearl and her sister May live lives of privilege, Being a Dragon, Pearl is seen by her parents as a fiery, strong daughter who can take care of her selfabsorbed Sheep sister, By the time she is, Pearl and May enjoy the status of being Beautiful Girls, Pearl rather insensitive to those who serve her and her wealthy family.


But then Pearls journey into suffering begins, Her father loses his money in gambling debts and the sisters are forced into arranged marriages, The Japanese attack China and Shanghai is attacked by air and the country invaded, In the process Pearl and her mother are brutalized by Japanese soldiers and her mother is killed,

Having lost everything, Pearl and May are forced to flee to America to find their husbands, Surviving a grueling stay at Angel Island the Ellis Island of the West, Pearl can only hope that her husband Sam and his family will accept her since she is bringing with her a new born daughter named Joy.


Much of Shanghai Girls centers on Pearls attempt to adjust to life as a member of the Louie family, While May seeks happiness outside the home in her new country, especially in terms of her many associations with the glitzy world of Hollywood, Pearl sees her life as unending drudgery as she is locked into a routine of cleaning and cooking, working in her fatherinlaws various business enterprises, and caring for Joy.
In addition, she is largely responsible for caring for Vern, Mays young and critically ill husband,

Although her fatherinlaw gradually comes to include Pearl, May, and Joy as true members of his family, Pearl grows closer to her motherinlaw, and discovers that her lower class husband is indeed an Ox in the truest sense, deeply loving and caring for his family, her new Christian and much older Chinese values are tested by the terrors of the McCarthy era of anticommunism accompanied by serious mistreatment of most Chinese people.


At the end of the novel the two sisters directly confront each other at last, venting all the anger and hurt each has repressed previously.
Despite being very angry at May for what Pearl feels are very good reasons, Mays attacks and selfdefense make her realize that she may have been mistaken in many of her core beliefs over the years.


But finally it is Joy who saves Pearl, When she reaches the point where she will give up everything for Joy, Pearl truly becomes her mothers daughter and in the process becomes the Dragon she was meant to be.




I'm rerating this book up tostars, but with the contingency that it must be read with Dreams of Joy, When read in conjunction with the second book, this book is excellent really emotionally powerful, Without the second book, you'll be horribly disappointed with the the lastpages and wishing formore, my original review is still below,


Rereading/in prep for the second book Dreams of Joy, In retrospect, my review is fairly prophetic, I'm so glad there's more to the story,


Lisa See's new book which I've been waiting for since her website mentioned that it was coming out months ago does what she does best writing about the relationships of people and the ups and downs of life long relationships.
Whether it's best friends/lao tong Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, husbands and wives the Red Princess mystery series, a teenager's relationship with her parents Peony in Love, Lisa has a rare ability to wrench your heart with the unbelievably powerful feelings that these relationships evoke in our lives.


She certainly did this in Shanghai Girls this time with sisters who grew up in modern preWWII Shanghai, and who because of the war are forced to make huge changes in their lives for which they are entirely unprepared.


We read this story through the eyes of Pearl, the older, smarter, less attractive sister, and how she goes through her days protecting her sister, and trying to harness the sibling rivalry that always exists between them.
The tension slowly grows and grows throughout the book, until the end, where if you know Lisa See books, then you know what's coming,

The reason that I gave this book three is because I felt that after the explosion of emotions, there was no resolution.
It was too abrupt of an ending, and I felt like the characters were lost to me before it was time for them to go.
I understand why Lisa ended the book where she did chronologically it would have required some serious additional writing, and I bet the publishers wouldn't have allowed anpg book but I wish that they had.
Where is my coda

I will read it again, and enjoy it from the perspective of one who knows what's coming, but I can't say that it's my favorite Lisa See novel.
I fell in love with Lisa See's writing a few years ago when I read sitelinkSnow Flower and the Secret Fan, As such, I was really looking forward to reading sitelinkShanghai Girls when it came out, Initially though, people began saying that it did not compare, So it was with trepidation that I began reading this book, afraid that I would be disappointed, THAT DID NOT HAPPEN. All I can say is that sitelinkLisa See has another hit on her hands with this wonderful story of two sisters who emigrate from Shanghai to America around the time of the cultural revolution in China.
From the beginning of the book in Shanghai, through their journey out of China, to their stay on Angel Island, and finally their life in Southern California, I was captivated by Pearl and her sister May.
Two sisters could not be more different, but more attached than the two women in this book,

As usual, See has imbued this story with a wonderful cast of characters who surround the sisters and help tell the story of the bewilderment of the Chinese population after theinvasion by Japan, the assimilation of the Chinese into American society in thes ands, and finally, the mistrust, prejudice, and panic in the US towards Chinese Americans after the rise to power in China of Mao Tse Tung.
See is such a gifted storyteller, that you feel like you know the characters personally and the pages just fly by,

My only complaint was that the end of the story left so many loose ends, In a way it was fitting, but at the same time there were many questions left unanswered, I was, therefore, very excited to hear that Lisa See is planning to continue the story of Pearl, May, and Joy in another book, My god, these women are insufferable,



Kidding, kidding, In essence, there are several distinct 'problems' with this book, that are most glaring at the beginning and ending sections, For a fair chunk of the middle, I was actually enjoying it, despite the clunky writing, I was prepared to give it three for it's realistic handling of the hardships and racism faced by these people, and it's focus on the experiences of women, which as we all know doesn't happen as often as it should.
Characters that appeared villainous at first were given their own sympathetic traits, Lisa See clearly did her research and the experiences she was describing felt authentic, I would have been willing to overlook the inherent problems throughout the middle and even the awful, awful beginning, if not for the awful, awful end.
Sadly, This book is too flawed to be forgiven,

And what are those problems, you ask

, I Hate Everyone in this Bar

I despise the three main characters i, e. Pearl, May, and Joy. So much for a sympathetic look at the female perspective, Women are jealous!!! Women backstab and have rivalries!!! Women complain a lot!!! Women sleep with each other's crushes!!! Women get raped!!! Women's entire sense of selfworth is centered around if they can make babies!!! Women are completely selfish and have no concern for the feelings of others!!! Are we sure a man didn't write this book

Okay, Shanghai Girls gets somewhat of a free pass in terms of the focus on marriage/children/women working at home/etc.
because of the fact it's aboutss Chinese culture, China is a more traditionalist society even today, with limited roles for women and high emphasis on family and a hierarchy within the family, This coupled with the time period makes their fixation on getting good husbands and having male children accurate, However, this does not excuse how completely infuriating they are as characters,

Pearl's jealousy over her sister is understandable, but very quickly got old, She spent much of the book complaining about something or other, then being chewed out by another character/realizing she was wrong, and so moving on to complaining about something else.
It's a cycle that's repeated over and over and gets frustrating, That said, she is the most likable of the three, Her rape and her trauma over it are handled well, and after thepage mark her complaints mostly focus on racism or their troubles as immigrants.
However, most of the plot is still just things happening to her rather than her having any agency of her own, Her only goal, until the end, is to 'survive', You gotta give me more than that,

We see very little of Joy characterwise, For most of the book she's a child who doesn't get much dialogue, and is described as being the "perfect, quiet, obedient Chinese girl", Then towards the end she spontaneously becomes rude and insensitive beyond belief and exists only to insult her parents and spout out political nonsense she clearly doesn't really understand.
Hell, I guess I'll give them points for accuracy to the average American teenager, but wasn't she, like, the opposite of that up to now She's never given a scene where she behaves in a way that's sympathetic, so I don't sympathize with her.
Yeah, yeah, go find your real father in Shanghai, whatever, I couldn't care less, It's not like the man you thought was your father for your entire life died yesterday, Nope, just go rushing off, I won't miss you.

And now we come to May, Dear god in heaven do I hate this character, I could go on for days about how much I hate her, I could write my college thesis on it, I could fill the pages of an encyclopedia set and still have more to say, If you allowed me to write down every nasty feeling this woman fills me with in a strip of paper it would be long enough to circle the earth several times.




Selfish, shallow, foolish, insensitive and blunt, inconsistently characterized, constantly playing the victim, refusing to take responsibility for anything, May is quite possibly the most terrible person to ever walk the face of the earth.
It is impossible to feel sorry for her, even with her own hardships, because she makes it impossible, Everything is someone else's fault, or someone else's responsibility, Pearl's complaints never have any truth in her mind, they're just evidence of her selfishness and her not appreciating May enough when she does nothing but that.
So many of the bad things that happen are the result of her doing something stupid or selfish and not telling anyone else about it.
She makes me want to bash my head against the wall,

So, a book that tries to provide the female perspective of immigration in America during World War II and the years after does nothing but make me wish I was reading about the male characters instead.
Bravo, Lisa See. You are truly a feminist hero,

. Show not Tell and My Kingdom for Some Character Development

When I said the writing was clunky, this was primarily what I meant.
Lisa See leaves nothing up to interpretation, Every last thought or opinion that the characters have is spelled out clearly, often with repeats, with increased melodrama and false emotionalism, forpages, Because of this, the character development is all over the place, particularly Pearl's, Pearl is jealous of her sister, Now she learns that's wrong, Now she's jealous again. Now she's being modern. Now fifty pages later she realizes that that was stupid with no kind of transition between, Now she hates Sam. Now she likes him. Now she's traumatized over being raped, Now she's over it. Now she's traumatized again.



Traits and development arise and disappear as they become convenient for the plot, Changes in personality are acknowledged as an afterthought, Characters learn the same lesson over and over, or Pearl states their weaknesses over and over, The first person narrative is part of the problem, but in general Lisa See just seems confused over what her characters are supposed to be feeling and what that means, or who's in the wrong and who's not.
Which brings me to:

, I Have a Better Relationship With the Stale Cereal I Ate This Morning Than May and Pearl Have With Each Other

The plot of this book is supposed to revolve around the relationship between these two sisters.
They are the focus, and every positive review I've seen describes the 'incredible bond' between them, Except there is no bond.

That's not to say that they don't do things for each other Pearl being raped by Japanese soldiers to spare her sister, May giving up her child, both of which are incredible sacrifices.
But both of these things happen early on in the story, The rest and majority of the book is spent in conflict, and it all ends with a screaming match, They constantly bicker and backstab each other, fighting for control in their families and over Joy, Pearl often says things like "me and May get along, . . until the next time we fight" or "even though she's horrible and I hate her we love each other so much, really", Lisa See wants us to believe how close these sisters are, but from what I can see they have nothing in common and would not in any way choose each other's company if they weren't related.
But Pearl continues to insist that May is her 'best friend' and they'll always stand by each other except for when they don't, It's just stupid rivalries and pettiness, over and over and over, Wow, what a bond.



, Lisa See Doesn't Care About Any of the Other Characters

Once again, we're told things about characters and their relationships that we never get to see.
We're told that Pearl and Sam love each other, but they only get a few short scenes together, We're told that everyone came to love Father Louie, but we don't see the progression of the relationships after his confession to his false citizenship.
We're told that Sam and Pearl love Joy, but Joy is barely present as a character, We're told that Mama and Baba didn't love Pearl, and then later we're told that they did, May and Pearl are the only characters that are given any real attention, and the rest of the book amounts to a simple rattling off of events, tragedy after tragedy after tragedy.


. That Damn Ending

Speaking of tragedy after tragedy after tragedy, Father Louie dies, Vern is bedridden, Joy joined a commie student group, Sam hanged himself and May had Z.
Q's baby years ago. That too much to take in at once Well, too bad, because this all happens in the lastpages, Highly emotional and interesting events pass by in a blur, all rushing towards the blowout between May and Pearl that made me physically angry to read, and Joy deciding she's just going to rush off to Communist China to find some guy her Aunt/birth mother had sex with twenty years ago, immediately after her adoptive father died and her adoptive mother/Aunt is in a state of hysteria.
That too much to take in at once Well, too bad, that was the last five pages,

The revelation of Z, Q. being Joy's father was shocking, by which I mean I saw it comingpages ago and it just gave me another reason to dislike May.
I was waiting for Joy to find out about her parentage for a while, but the fact that I know nothing about Joy as a character and that the book ends with Pearl simply deciding to go after her meant that there was no emotional punch to the revelation or any kind of resolution for it.
It's like the entire book just exists to set up a sequel, Or that Lisa See meant to keep going and got bored, I have no goddamn idea, but I'm sure of one thing I will not be reading the sequel, If I have to hear the phrase 'husbandwife thing' one more time I think it might kill me, .