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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
I enjoyed this novel much more than Shanghai Girls but you definitely need to read the first novel.
Another great book by Lisa See, I found learning about communism in China and all that fascinating and very informative.
I'm so glad I was able to find the follow up to Shanghai Girls so soon after reading it. Really enjoyed this! Now I want to read more about the history of the three years of famine and the Revolution.
POV of Pearl & Joy.
Sam dies. Joy leaves America for China. Pearl follows her. They live in New China with the new rules and regulations but separated in different towns miles apart. They find love, they marry but one does not find happiness in their marriage. Joy find her father and builds a relationship with him, only to find out he is faces allegations. After years of being separated and near death, they're reunited in Shanghai and flee to Hong Kong to meet May.
For a second there, I thought Joy was going to die when she asks for a divorce.
Sam dies. Joy leaves America for China. Pearl follows her. They live in New China with the new rules and regulations but separated in different towns miles apart. They find love, they marry but one does not find happiness in their marriage. Joy find her father and builds a relationship with him, only to find out he is faces allegations. After years of being separated and near death, they're reunited in Shanghai and flee to Hong Kong to meet May.
For a second there, I thought Joy was going to die when she asks for a divorce.
shelfnotes.com
Dear Reader,
Wow. It was amazing to revisit the story of Pearl and May, who I hadn't encountered since reading Shanghai Girls about a year ago. This book was even better than the first - if only because of how much it taught me about Communist China in the 1950s. Unbelievable. I don't even know what to say about it all.
The story? It's of Pearl's (and May's, if you know the story) daughter, Joy, who decides in her confusion after the end of the last book to go to China, believing strongly in Chairman Mao's ideology. (I think I might have felt the same way, hearing of the idealism of socialism and communism - despite how much of an evil it was considered during that postwar era.) She's been even more convinced regarding the ways of China's politics by a college boyfriend, which is also believable. So Joy decides to run from the only family and life she has ever known, to seek out her birth father and her destiny in China. Her travels are difficult right from the start, but she makes it past Red China's borders and begins her life there, having successfully reunited with Z.G. Her time there sounds so promising in the beginning, as she builds new relationships and embraces the ideals of the communes she visits. That part of the story was interesting, of course, but it was afterwards when the true meat of the story began.
Joy's mother Pearl follows her daughter to China, convinced that her daughter needs to be rescued. Pearl meets up with Joy just as the younger is about to get married to a country boy and become part of a rural household. Despite her parents' protestations, Joy marries the man out of what she believes is love. However, her bubble is soon burst as she begins to experience provincial life, and life under the Chairman and his minions. Starvation makes monsters of the country's people, inducing many of them even to cannibalism. It was so difficult to read the graphic descriptions that See renders with her writing; I was constantly gasping in horror at her stories, but I believe she writes from true history. The way she was able to frame this terrible experience within a story of familial love made it all more bearable, but just. Having grown up well past the Red Scare, I had no real feelings about Red China. I only knew that I recognized the promising ideals of Communism, and always thought it might be a good political system, despite the paranoia that many were fed post-WWII regarding it. However, I had no real knowledge of the Communist China which existed in the 1950s (although, come to think of it, I did know how rough it was in the USSR during my childhood, which is odd). I think this was a great book for me to read; I really had no clue at all about how things went down under Chairman Mao. I only knew I was supposed to see him as an evil dictator. Now, I understand the horrendous things he made his people suffer under his regime. I understand now why many equated Communism with evil.
I loved revisiting characters whom I had grown to love in Shanghai Girls. But I also love that the author decided to write more through the eyes of Joy, the product of post-war America, more than from the eyes of the women who were featured in the first book. I think it was a beautiful way to continue the story, as it particular emphasized the strong family and generational bonds which the Chinese embrace.
The title was a great double entendre, too. I don't know if See intended to continue her first book, and therefore planned the name of Joy, but I like to imagine it just fell into place for her as she was contemplating her sequel. It's just too perfect.
Yours,
Arianna
Dear Reader,
Wow. It was amazing to revisit the story of Pearl and May, who I hadn't encountered since reading Shanghai Girls about a year ago. This book was even better than the first - if only because of how much it taught me about Communist China in the 1950s. Unbelievable. I don't even know what to say about it all.
The story? It's of Pearl's (and May's, if you know the story) daughter, Joy, who decides in her confusion after the end of the last book to go to China, believing strongly in Chairman Mao's ideology. (I think I might have felt the same way, hearing of the idealism of socialism and communism - despite how much of an evil it was considered during that postwar era.) She's been even more convinced regarding the ways of China's politics by a college boyfriend, which is also believable. So Joy decides to run from the only family and life she has ever known, to seek out her birth father and her destiny in China. Her travels are difficult right from the start, but she makes it past Red China's borders and begins her life there, having successfully reunited with Z.G. Her time there sounds so promising in the beginning, as she builds new relationships and embraces the ideals of the communes she visits. That part of the story was interesting, of course, but it was afterwards when the true meat of the story began.
Joy's mother Pearl follows her daughter to China, convinced that her daughter needs to be rescued. Pearl meets up with Joy just as the younger is about to get married to a country boy and become part of a rural household. Despite her parents' protestations, Joy marries the man out of what she believes is love. However, her bubble is soon burst as she begins to experience provincial life, and life under the Chairman and his minions. Starvation makes monsters of the country's people, inducing many of them even to cannibalism. It was so difficult to read the graphic descriptions that See renders with her writing; I was constantly gasping in horror at her stories, but I believe she writes from true history. The way she was able to frame this terrible experience within a story of familial love made it all more bearable, but just. Having grown up well past the Red Scare, I had no real feelings about Red China. I only knew that I recognized the promising ideals of Communism, and always thought it might be a good political system, despite the paranoia that many were fed post-WWII regarding it. However, I had no real knowledge of the Communist China which existed in the 1950s (although, come to think of it, I did know how rough it was in the USSR during my childhood, which is odd). I think this was a great book for me to read; I really had no clue at all about how things went down under Chairman Mao. I only knew I was supposed to see him as an evil dictator. Now, I understand the horrendous things he made his people suffer under his regime. I understand now why many equated Communism with evil.
I loved revisiting characters whom I had grown to love in Shanghai Girls. But I also love that the author decided to write more through the eyes of Joy, the product of post-war America, more than from the eyes of the women who were featured in the first book. I think it was a beautiful way to continue the story, as it particular emphasized the strong family and generational bonds which the Chinese embrace.
The title was a great double entendre, too. I don't know if See intended to continue her first book, and therefore planned the name of Joy, but I like to imagine it just fell into place for her as she was contemplating her sequel. It's just too perfect.
Yours,
Arianna
challenging
emotional
sad
medium-paced
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Intense and intricate, Lisa See takes great pains to do her research and it's evident in all of her books, no less this one.
adventurous
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No