A review by michellechien930
Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

3.0

I read A Little Life a while back and many people dubbed it "torture porn" (although I actually really liked it), and I'd like to say that Shanghai Girls is quite similar to what I actually think torture porn is like. It's quite a depressing saga of two sisters who are in the turbulent era of war, forced to marry strange men and move to America despite a lot of trouble (and I mean A LOT: unwanted pregnancy, fake identity, misled love, Hollywood, racial slurs, paper families, mom but but not your mom, dad but not your dad, pestilence, suicide, Chinatown, gang rape). Basically, all these terrible things keep happening relentlessly, and it's all very sad and depressing. In the end, no one has a happy ending. I love reading books that are infused with Asian culture however, and this one clearly depicted the lives of immigrants and war victims. Just don't go in expecting a lighthearted plot line.