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What We're Reading:
Current Picks
from
the Watermark Staff
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"Shanghai
Girls" by Lisa See (Random House, 9780812980530, $15.00)
Lisa See's latest novel is new in paperback this week, and Ms. See herself
will come to Watermark the evening of Tuesday, February 16 to give a reading
and to sign copies of "Shanghai Girls."
It's the story of two Chinese sisters, beautiful modern girls who grew up
breathing the cosmopolitan air of 1930s Shanghai, a city then called "the
Paris of Asia."
Pearl and May are perfectly mismatched. Pearl, the elder sister, is tall,
strong-willed, and educated; May is pampered, playful, and undeniably
lovely. Yet the two share a fierce mutual devotion--one that's tested
throughout their lives.
Their first shock comes when shifting family fortunes force the sisters from
their home in Shanghai. They leave China altogether as the country goes to
war with Japan, and they cross the ocean to California. Though the west
coast was known as "Gold Mountain"--a destination for enterprising Chinese
men bent on making their fortunes--the two young women find it a difficult
place, strangely backward compared to the home they left. But there's also a
bustle and energy in Los Angeles that wakes something new in each of them.
For decades, Pearl and May cling together and clash with each other; they
raise a family, make a home, and put down American roots. Their personal
story becomes one part of the grand American story of arrival and
reinvention. It's an engrossing tale from the excellent storyteller who gave
us "Snowflower and the Secret Fan."
Everyone who reads "Shanghai Girls" will find a favorite aspect to love: the
tightly-bound relationship of the two sisters; the vivid settings of glitzy
Shanghai and booming L.A. Chinatown; the hopeful, sometimes crushing
experiences of Chinese immigrants in America. It's an excellent solo read
and a perfect pick for book clubs eager to discuss a story with character,
breadth, and intimacy.
Lisa See introduces us to two fascinating women, and through years of
surprise and endurance, she shows us the qualities that make them, always
and forever, true Shanghai girls.
Review by
Mark David Bradshaw, February 4, 2010
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