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checkedoutbooks 's review for:
Dreams of Joy
by Lisa See
7.5/10
These were both fascinating historical fiction books about China taking place from 1937 to 1960 across both books. I wasn't aware going in that Shanghai girls had a sequel and you will be disappointed if you just end after book 1 because there's no real conclusion until book 2.
Shanghai Girls- this book starts off in Shanghai right before a war with the Japanese in the 1930s. The two sisters leave everything they know to go to America to find their husband's from arranged marriages. Loved learning about Shanghai in this time period and learned so much about Angel Island (the Ellis Island of the West). Some tough truths about how the US treated Chinese people throughout history.
Dreams of Joy - the daughter from book 1 is 18 and runs away to Communist China which she believes is where she belongs in part because of the ideologies. A great in-depth look at the atrocities that happened in the rural villages during this period as well as how Mao's rule was enforced throughout China.
These books were the perfect blend of page-turners plus learning about this time and place in history!
TW: gang rape, death by suicide, starvation, other scenes of violence and death
These were both fascinating historical fiction books about China taking place from 1937 to 1960 across both books. I wasn't aware going in that Shanghai girls had a sequel and you will be disappointed if you just end after book 1 because there's no real conclusion until book 2.
Shanghai Girls- this book starts off in Shanghai right before a war with the Japanese in the 1930s. The two sisters leave everything they know to go to America to find their husband's from arranged marriages. Loved learning about Shanghai in this time period and learned so much about Angel Island (the Ellis Island of the West). Some tough truths about how the US treated Chinese people throughout history.
Dreams of Joy - the daughter from book 1 is 18 and runs away to Communist China which she believes is where she belongs in part because of the ideologies. A great in-depth look at the atrocities that happened in the rural villages during this period as well as how Mao's rule was enforced throughout China.
These books were the perfect blend of page-turners plus learning about this time and place in history!
TW: gang rape, death by suicide, starvation, other scenes of violence and death