
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Janet Song
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By:
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Lisa See
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is a brilliantly realistic journey back to an era of Chinese history that is as deeply moving as it is sorrowful. With the period detail and deep resonance of Memoirs of a Geisha, this lyrical and emotionally charged novel delves into one of the most mysterious of human relationships: female friendship.
Lily is haunted by memories of who she once was, and of a person, long gone, who defined her existence. She has nothing but time now, as she recounts the tale of Snow Flower, and asks the gods for forgiveness.
In 19th-century China, when wives and daughters were foot-bound and lived in almost total seclusion, the women in one remote Hunan county developed their own secret code for communication: nu shu ("women's writing"). Some girls were paired with laotongs, "old sames", in emotional matches that lasted throughout their lives. They painted letters on fans, embroidered messages on handkerchiefs, and composed stories, thereby reaching out of their isolation to share their hopes, dreams, and accomplishments.
With the arrival of a silk fan on which Snow Flower has composed for Lily a poem of introduction in nu shu, their friendship is sealed and they become "old sames" at the tender age of seven. As the years pass, through famine and rebellion, they reflect upon their arranged marriages, loneliness, and the joys and tragedies of motherhood. The two find solace, developing a bond that keeps their spirits alive. But when a misunderstanding arises, their lifelong friendship suddenly threatens to tear apart.
©2005 Lisa See (P)2005 Books on Tape Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...




















Critic reviews
New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age, 2006
“Lisa See has written her best book yet. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is achingly beautiful, a marvel of imagination of a real and secret world that has only recently disappeared. It is a story so mesmerizing the pages float away and the story remains clearly before us from beginning to end.” –Amy Tan, author of The Joy Luck Club and The Opposite of Fate: A Book of Musings
“I was mesmerized by this wondrous book–the story of a secret civilization of women, who actually lived in China not long ago. . . . Magical, haunting fiction. Beautiful.” –Maxine Hong Kingston, author of The Fifth Book of Peace
“Only the best novelists can do what Lisa See has done, to bring to life not only a character but an entire culture, and a sensibility so strikingly different from our own. This is an engrossing and completely convincing portrayal of a woman shaped by suffering forced upon her from her earliest years, and of the friendship that helps her to survive.” –Arthur Golden, author of Memoirs of a Geisha
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This book tells the story of the realm of women during early 1800's China. Women spent their entire lives inside concerned only with household duties. It is told through the point of view of Lily, now an old woman of 80 years. She begins with her poor childhood and the days just before her foot-binding at age 7. Because she is so beautiful and has remarkable feet a lao-tang match is made for her with a girl of a more educated and refined background, Snow Flower. The two become life-long friends and enter into a relationship with a stronger bond even then marriage during that time period.
They communicate using Nu-shu, or women's writing, a more simplified version of the Chinese characters. Because it is forbidden they hide their words in a large fan and send it back and forth over the years.
Both girls take very different paths when it is time for them to marry, but they continue their friendship through letters and their secret fan. Through family deaths, famine and war we see the hard lives thrust upon women and are completely engrossed in their stories. The images of the rigors of foot-binding will stay with me forever.
I highly recommend this book. We will be discussing at my next book group and I’m dying to see what the ladies have to say.
Narrator Becomes the Main Character
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Highly Recommended
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as others have suggested driving home the oppression of women got to be trying on the reader.
interesting but repetitive
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I loved this novel
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Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
yes and I have to manyWhat did you like best about this story?
It was harsh and tender in all the right placesHave you listened to any of Janet Song’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
I have not listened to her before but she was just the right person for this bookIf you could take any character from Snow Flower and the Secret Fan out to dinner, who would it be and why?
Wow that is too hard. There is a great deal there to exploreI always read Lisa See
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Great story!
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honest hearts
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What did you love best about Snow Flower and the Secret Fan?
Being able to enter a world I knew very little about.What was one of the most memorable moments of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan?
fleeing to the mountains to escape the invaders.Which scene was your favorite?
foot bindingWas there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
The value or lack of value in women.Any additional comments?
a must readfinally a compelling, must read book.
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Truly a Wonderful Story
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History
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