-
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Janet Song
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $18.00
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Shanghai Girls
- A Novel
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Janet Song
- Length: 13 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thanks to the financial security and material comforts provided by their father’s prosperous rickshaw business, 21-year-old Pearl Chin and her younger sister, May, are having the time of their lives. Though both sisters wave off authority and tradition, they couldn’t be more different, but both are beautiful, modern, and carefree...until the day their father tells them he has gambled away their wealth and that in order to repay his debts, he must sell the girls as wives to suitors who have traveled from California to find Chinese brides.
-
-
Touching, sad, and enjoyable
- By Beach Biker on 07-15-09
By: Lisa See
-
Peony in Love
- A Novel
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Janet Song
- Length: 13 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For young Peony, betrothed to a suitor she has never met, lyrics from The Peony Pavilion mirror her own longings. In the garden of the Chen Family Villa, amid the scent of ginger, green tea, and jasmine, a small theatrical troupe is performing scenes from this epic opera, a live spectacle few females have ever seen. Like the heroine in the drama, Peony is the cloistered daughter of a wealthy family, trapped like a good-luck cricket in a bamboo-and-lacquer cage.
-
-
Eloquently written and read
- By D on 07-21-07
By: Lisa See
-
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Ruthie Ann Miles, Kimiko Glenn, Alex Allwine, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The thrilling new novel from number-one New York Times best-selling author Lisa See explores the lives of a Chinese mother and her daughter who has been abandoned and adopted by an American couple.
-
-
***EXCELLENT*** Six stars if I could !!
- By ROBIN on 04-10-17
By: Lisa See
-
On Gold Mountain
- The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 18 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Out of the stories heard in her childhood in Los Angeles's Chinatown and years of research, See has constructed this sweeping chronicle of her Chinese-American family, a work that takes in stories of racism and romance, entrepreneurial genius and domestic heartache, secret marriages and sibling rivalries, in a powerful history of two cultures meeting in a new world.
-
-
Great story...awful narration
- By Solbakken on 06-02-17
By: Lisa See
-
The Island of Sea Women
- A Novel
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Jennifer Lim
- Length: 13 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls living on the Korean island of Jeju, are best friends who come from very different backgrounds. When they are old enough, they begin working in the sea with their village’s all-female diving collective, led by Young-sook’s mother. As the girls take up their positions as baby divers, they know they are beginning a life of excitement and responsibility but also danger. This beautiful, thoughtful novel illuminates a world turned upside down, one where the women are in charge, engaging in dangerous, physical work, and the men take care of the children.
-
-
Overly dramatic read
- By mary krause on 03-28-19
By: Lisa See
-
Tom Lake
- A Novel
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Meryl Streep
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.
-
-
So incredibly boring
- By Rhonda Morrison on 08-05-23
By: Ann Patchett
-
Shanghai Girls
- A Novel
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Janet Song
- Length: 13 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thanks to the financial security and material comforts provided by their father’s prosperous rickshaw business, 21-year-old Pearl Chin and her younger sister, May, are having the time of their lives. Though both sisters wave off authority and tradition, they couldn’t be more different, but both are beautiful, modern, and carefree...until the day their father tells them he has gambled away their wealth and that in order to repay his debts, he must sell the girls as wives to suitors who have traveled from California to find Chinese brides.
-
-
Touching, sad, and enjoyable
- By Beach Biker on 07-15-09
By: Lisa See
-
Peony in Love
- A Novel
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Janet Song
- Length: 13 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For young Peony, betrothed to a suitor she has never met, lyrics from The Peony Pavilion mirror her own longings. In the garden of the Chen Family Villa, amid the scent of ginger, green tea, and jasmine, a small theatrical troupe is performing scenes from this epic opera, a live spectacle few females have ever seen. Like the heroine in the drama, Peony is the cloistered daughter of a wealthy family, trapped like a good-luck cricket in a bamboo-and-lacquer cage.
-
-
Eloquently written and read
- By D on 07-21-07
By: Lisa See
-
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Ruthie Ann Miles, Kimiko Glenn, Alex Allwine, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The thrilling new novel from number-one New York Times best-selling author Lisa See explores the lives of a Chinese mother and her daughter who has been abandoned and adopted by an American couple.
-
-
***EXCELLENT*** Six stars if I could !!
- By ROBIN on 04-10-17
By: Lisa See
-
On Gold Mountain
- The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 18 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Out of the stories heard in her childhood in Los Angeles's Chinatown and years of research, See has constructed this sweeping chronicle of her Chinese-American family, a work that takes in stories of racism and romance, entrepreneurial genius and domestic heartache, secret marriages and sibling rivalries, in a powerful history of two cultures meeting in a new world.
-
-
Great story...awful narration
- By Solbakken on 06-02-17
By: Lisa See
-
The Island of Sea Women
- A Novel
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Jennifer Lim
- Length: 13 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls living on the Korean island of Jeju, are best friends who come from very different backgrounds. When they are old enough, they begin working in the sea with their village’s all-female diving collective, led by Young-sook’s mother. As the girls take up their positions as baby divers, they know they are beginning a life of excitement and responsibility but also danger. This beautiful, thoughtful novel illuminates a world turned upside down, one where the women are in charge, engaging in dangerous, physical work, and the men take care of the children.
-
-
Overly dramatic read
- By mary krause on 03-28-19
By: Lisa See
-
Tom Lake
- A Novel
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Meryl Streep
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.
-
-
So incredibly boring
- By Rhonda Morrison on 08-05-23
By: Ann Patchett
-
Lady Tan's Circle of Women
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Jennifer Lim, Justin Chien
- Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
According to Confucius, “an educated woman is a worthless woman,” but Tan Yunxian—born into an elite family, yet haunted by death, separations, and loneliness—is being raised by her grandparents to be of use. Her grandmother is one of only a handful of female doctors in China, and she teaches Yunxian the pillars of Chinese medicine, the Four Examinations—looking, listening, touching, and asking—something a man can never do with a female patient.
-
-
Another Beautiful Novel from Lisa See!
- By TuxedoedCorgi95 on 06-06-23
By: Lisa See
-
The Interior
- A Red Princess Mystery
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Janet Song
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While David Stark is asked to open a law office in Beijing, his lover, detective Liu Hulan, receives an urgent message from an old friend imploring her to investigate the suspicious death of her daughter, who worked for a toy company about to be sold to David’s new client, Tartan Enterprises.
-
-
Narration is terrible
- By Veronica (OhYesItsV) on 08-15-17
By: Lisa See
-
Memoirs of a Geisha
- By: Arthur Golden
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 17 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a voice both haunting and startlingly immediate, Nitta Sayuri describes her life as a geisha. Taken from her home at the age of nine, she is sold into slavery to a renowned geisha house. Witness her transformation as you enter a world where appearances are paramount, virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder, women beguile powerful men, and love is scorned as illusion.
-
-
Perfect ---- in every way
- By Amanda on 02-08-06
By: Arthur Golden
-
China Dolls
- A Novel
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Jodi Long
- Length: 15 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
San Francisco, 1938: A world’s fair is preparing to open on Treasure Island, a war is brewing overseas, and the city is alive with possibilities. Talented Grace, traditional Helen, and defiant Ruby, three young women from very different backgrounds, meet by chance at the exclusive and glamorous Forbidden City nightclub.
-
-
Narrator Spoiled It For Me
- By woodbridge98 on 06-09-14
By: Lisa See
-
The Joy Luck Club
- By: Amy Tan
- Narrated by: Gwendoline Yeo
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Four Chinese women, drawn together by the shadow of their past, meet in San Francisco to play mah jong, invest in stocks, eat dim sum, and to "say" stories to each other. Nearly 40 years later, one of the women has died, and her daughter arrives to take her place. However, the daughter never expected to learn of her mother's secret lifelong wish - and the tragic way in which it has come true. The revelation creates among the women an urgent need to remember the past.
-
-
Joy Luck - abridged
- By Leslie Teicholz on 03-16-04
By: Amy Tan
-
The Kite Runner
- By: Khaled Hosseini
- Narrated by: Khaled Hosseini
- Length: 12 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why we think it’s a great listen: Never before has an author’s narration of his fiction been so important to fully grasping the book’s impact and global implications. Taking us from Afghanistan in the final days of its monarchy to the present, The Kite Runner is the unforgettable story of the friendship between two boys growing up in Kabul. Their intertwined lives, and their fates, reflect the eventual tragedy of the world around them.
-
-
A Worhty Read
- By P. C..S. on 08-17-03
By: Khaled Hosseini
-
The Covenant of Water
- By: Abraham Verghese
- Narrated by: Abraham Verghese
- Length: 31 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water is set in Kerala, on South India’s Malabar Coast, and follows three generations of a family that suffers a peculiar affliction: in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning—and in Kerala, water is everywhere. At the turn of the century, a twelve-year-old girl from Kerala’s long-existing Christian community, grieving the death of her father, is sent by boat to her wedding, where she will meet her forty-year-old husband for the first time.
-
-
Story Telling At Its Best
- By Regina on 05-06-23
By: Abraham Verghese
-
Pachinko
- By: Min Jin Lee
- Narrated by: Allison Hiroto
- Length: 18 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A New York Times Top 10 Book of the Year and National Book Award finalist, Pachinko is an "extraordinary epic" of four generations of a poor Korean immigrant family as they fight to control their destiny in 20th-century Japan (San Francisco Chronicle). In the early 1900s, teenaged Sunja, the adored daughter of a crippled fisherman, falls for a wealthy stranger at the seashore near her home in Korea. He promises her the world, but when she discovers she is pregnant - and that her lover is married - she refuses to be bought.
-
-
wonderful book
- By erin on 12-11-17
By: Min Jin Lee
-
The Valley of Amazement
- By: Amy Tan
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu, Joyce Bean, Amy Tan
- Length: 24 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Shanghai, 1912. Violet Minturn is the privileged daughter of the American madam of the city's most exclusive courtesan house. But when the Ching dynasty is overturned, Violet is separated from her mother in a cruel act of chicanery and forced to become a "virgin courtesan." Half-Chinese and half-American, Violet grapples with her place in the worlds of East and West - until she is able to merge her two halves, empowering her to become a shrewd courtesan who excels in the business of seduction and illusion, though she still struggles to understand who she is.
-
-
Just could NOT get past the ugliness
- By Pamela J on 11-25-13
By: Amy Tan
-
Paper Wife
- A Novel
- By: Laila Ibrahim
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu
- Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Southern China, 1923. Desperate to secure her future, Mei Ling’s parents arrange a marriage to a widower in California. To enter the country, she must pretend to be her husband’s first wife - a paper wife. On the perilous voyage, Mei Ling takes an orphan girl named Siew under her wing. Dreams of a better life in America give Mei Ling the strength to endure the treacherous journey and detainment on Angel Island. But when she finally reaches San Francisco, she’s met with a surprise. Her husband, Chinn Kai Li, is a houseboy, not the successful merchant he led her to believe.
-
-
Just okay..disappointed
- By Donna Smith McG on 11-03-18
By: Laila Ibrahim
-
Imperial Woman
- The Story of the Last Empress of China
- By: Pearl S. Buck
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 17 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story of Tzu Hsi is the story of the last empress in China. In this audiobook, Pearl S. Buck recreates the life of one of the most intriguing rules during a time of intense turbulence. Tzu Hsi was born into one of the lowly ranks of the Imperial dynasty. According to custom, she moved to the Forbidden City at the age of 17 to become one of hundreds of concubines. But her singular beauty and powers of manipulation quickly moved her into the position of Second Consort.
-
-
The Last Empress and the Destruction of China
- By MarilynArms on 07-29-13
By: Pearl S. Buck
-
The Red Tent
- By: Anita Diamant
- Narrated by: Carol Bilger
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Passionate, earthy, deeply affecting, The Red Tent combines rich storytelling with a valuable contribution to modern fiction: a vibrant new perspective of female life in the age that shaped present day civilization and values.
If you like The Red Tent, try The Harlot by the Side of the Road, a recounting of some of the most startling and explicit writings from The Old Testament.
-
-
The key word is 'fiction'
- By R. S. Herron on 03-03-09
By: Anita Diamant
Publisher's summary
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.
Critic reviews
"Engrossing....Both a suspenseful and poignant story and an absorbing historical chronicle." (Publishers Weekly)
Featured Article: 45+ Quotes About Writing from Famous Writers
No matter how passionate you are about it, writing can be difficult. Whenever you’re struggling with writer’s block, rejection, competition, insecurity, or any of the countless obstacles that wordsmiths encounter daily, it can help to get encouragement from those who have successfully overcome the very same challenges. If you're looking for inspiration to start your next project, these quotes about writing from writers themselves are sure to be welcome reading!
More from the same
Related to this topic
-
Henna House
- By: Nomi Eve
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 13 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Yemen in 1920: After passage of the Orphan's Decree, any unbetrothed Jewish child left orphaned will be instantly adopted by the local Muslim community. With her parents' health failing, and no spousal prospects in sight, Adela Damari's situation looks dire until her uncle arrives from a faraway city, bringing with him a cousin and aunt who introduce Adela to the powerful rituals of henna tattooing.
-
-
historical fiction, read like an autobiography.
- By Anonymous User on 02-11-19
By: Nomi Eve
-
The Blue Between Sky and Water
- By: Susan Abulhawa
- Narrated by: Jennifer Woodward
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is 1947, and Beit Daras, a quiet village in Palestine surrounded by olive groves, is home to the Baraka family. Eldest daughter Nazmiyeh looks after her widowed mother, prone to wandering and strange outbursts, while her brother, Mamdouh, tends to the village bees. Their younger sister, Mariam, with her striking mismatched eyes, spends her days talking to imaginary friends and writing.
-
-
Horrible pronunciation
- By Debra Sabah Press on 11-08-18
By: Susan Abulhawa
-
Pavilion of Women
- By: Pearl S. Buck
- Narrated by: Adam Verner
- Length: 15 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On her 40th birthday, Madame Wu carries out a decision she has been planning for a long time: she tells her husband that after 24 years their physical life together is now over and she wishes him to take a second wife. The House of Wu, one of the oldest and most revered in China, is thrown into an uproar by her decision, but Madame Wu will not be dissuaded and arranges for a young country girl to come take her place in bed.
-
-
Horrible narration!
- By C. Boatenreiter on 06-17-15
By: Pearl S. Buck
-
The Joy Luck Club
- By: Amy Tan
- Narrated by: Gwendoline Yeo
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Four Chinese women, drawn together by the shadow of their past, meet in San Francisco to play mah jong, invest in stocks, eat dim sum, and to "say" stories to each other. Nearly 40 years later, one of the women has died, and her daughter arrives to take her place. However, the daughter never expected to learn of her mother's secret lifelong wish - and the tragic way in which it has come true. The revelation creates among the women an urgent need to remember the past.
-
-
Joy Luck - abridged
- By Leslie Teicholz on 03-16-04
By: Amy Tan
-
Clearing in the Wild
- By: Jane Kirkpatrick
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Young Emma Wagner chafes at the constraints of Bethel colony, an 1850s religious community in Missouri that is determined to remain untainted by the concerns of the world. A passionate and independent thinker, she resents the limitations placed on women, who are expected to serve in quiet submission.
-
-
a clearing in the wild
- By katie on 07-21-09
By: Jane Kirkpatrick
-
Women of the Silk
- A Novel
- By: Gail Tsukiyama
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Women of the Silk, Gail Tsukiyama takes listeners back to rural China in 1926, where a group of women forge a sisterhood amid the reeling machines that reverberate and clamor in a vast silk factory from dawn to dusk. Leading the first strike the village has ever seen, the young women use the strength of their ambition, dreams, and friendship to achieve the freedom they could never have hoped for on their own.
-
-
Sisterhood Many Forms
- By Rose Fonseca on 10-14-23
By: Gail Tsukiyama
-
Henna House
- By: Nomi Eve
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 13 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Yemen in 1920: After passage of the Orphan's Decree, any unbetrothed Jewish child left orphaned will be instantly adopted by the local Muslim community. With her parents' health failing, and no spousal prospects in sight, Adela Damari's situation looks dire until her uncle arrives from a faraway city, bringing with him a cousin and aunt who introduce Adela to the powerful rituals of henna tattooing.
-
-
historical fiction, read like an autobiography.
- By Anonymous User on 02-11-19
By: Nomi Eve
-
The Blue Between Sky and Water
- By: Susan Abulhawa
- Narrated by: Jennifer Woodward
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is 1947, and Beit Daras, a quiet village in Palestine surrounded by olive groves, is home to the Baraka family. Eldest daughter Nazmiyeh looks after her widowed mother, prone to wandering and strange outbursts, while her brother, Mamdouh, tends to the village bees. Their younger sister, Mariam, with her striking mismatched eyes, spends her days talking to imaginary friends and writing.
-
-
Horrible pronunciation
- By Debra Sabah Press on 11-08-18
By: Susan Abulhawa
-
Pavilion of Women
- By: Pearl S. Buck
- Narrated by: Adam Verner
- Length: 15 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On her 40th birthday, Madame Wu carries out a decision she has been planning for a long time: she tells her husband that after 24 years their physical life together is now over and she wishes him to take a second wife. The House of Wu, one of the oldest and most revered in China, is thrown into an uproar by her decision, but Madame Wu will not be dissuaded and arranges for a young country girl to come take her place in bed.
-
-
Horrible narration!
- By C. Boatenreiter on 06-17-15
By: Pearl S. Buck
-
The Joy Luck Club
- By: Amy Tan
- Narrated by: Gwendoline Yeo
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Four Chinese women, drawn together by the shadow of their past, meet in San Francisco to play mah jong, invest in stocks, eat dim sum, and to "say" stories to each other. Nearly 40 years later, one of the women has died, and her daughter arrives to take her place. However, the daughter never expected to learn of her mother's secret lifelong wish - and the tragic way in which it has come true. The revelation creates among the women an urgent need to remember the past.
-
-
Joy Luck - abridged
- By Leslie Teicholz on 03-16-04
By: Amy Tan
-
Clearing in the Wild
- By: Jane Kirkpatrick
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Young Emma Wagner chafes at the constraints of Bethel colony, an 1850s religious community in Missouri that is determined to remain untainted by the concerns of the world. A passionate and independent thinker, she resents the limitations placed on women, who are expected to serve in quiet submission.
-
-
a clearing in the wild
- By katie on 07-21-09
By: Jane Kirkpatrick
-
Women of the Silk
- A Novel
- By: Gail Tsukiyama
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Women of the Silk, Gail Tsukiyama takes listeners back to rural China in 1926, where a group of women forge a sisterhood amid the reeling machines that reverberate and clamor in a vast silk factory from dawn to dusk. Leading the first strike the village has ever seen, the young women use the strength of their ambition, dreams, and friendship to achieve the freedom they could never have hoped for on their own.
-
-
Sisterhood Many Forms
- By Rose Fonseca on 10-14-23
By: Gail Tsukiyama
-
Homeless Bird
- By: Gloria Whelan
- Narrated by: Zehra Jane Naqvi
- Length: 3 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Like many girls her age in India, thirteen-year-old Koly faces her arranged marriage with hope and courage. But Koly's story takes a terrible turn when in the wake of the ceremony, she discovers she's been horribly misled—her life has been sold for a dowry. Can she forge her own future, even in the face of time-worn tradition? Perfect for schools and classrooms, this universally acclaimed, bestselling, and award-winning novel by master of historical fiction Gloria Whelan is a gripping tale of hope that will transport listeners of all ages.
-
-
A touching and beautiful story
- By C. King on 03-08-24
By: Gloria Whelan
-
The Vagrants
- By: Yiyun Li
- Narrated by: Jackie Chung
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Yiyun Li is the winner of the prestigious Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award. The Vagrants, set in 1979 China, is the story of those affected by the execution of a 28-year-old counterrevolutionary. Though suffering, Li's characters nevertheless struggle to maintain hope amid cruel circumstance.
-
-
Lovely prose, good story, deadly narration
- By Athene on 05-10-13
By: Yiyun Li
-
The Bonesetter's Daughter
- By: Amy Tan
- Narrated by: Amy Tan, Joan Chen
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set in contemporary San Francisco and in a Chinese village where Peking Man is being unearthed, The Bonesetter's Daughter is an excavation of the human spirit: the past, its deepest wounds, its most profound hopes. Tan, author of The Joy Luck Club, brilliantly presents "storytelling in its oldest and truest form".
-
-
Exceptionally good
- By Eileen Finn on 03-25-03
By: Amy Tan
-
Three Souls
- A Novel
- By: Janie Chang
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We have three souls, or so I'd been told. But only in death could I confirm this.... So begins the haunting and captivating tale, set in 1935 China, of the ghost of a young woman named Leiyin, who watches her own funeral from above and wonders why she is being denied entry to the afterlife. Beside her are three souls - stern and scholarly yang; impulsive, romantic yin; and wise, shining hun - who will guide her toward understanding. She must, they tell her, make amends.
-
-
Very different but compelling point of view.
- By Kevin Wickline on 06-08-23
By: Janie Chang
-
Flame Tree Road
- By: Shona Patel
- Narrated by: Neil Shah
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
India, 1870s. In a tiny village where society is ruled by a caste system and women are defined solely by marriage, young Biren Roy dreams of forging a new destiny. When his mother suffers the fate of widowhood - shunned by her loved ones and forced to live in solitary penance - Biren devotes his life to effecting change.
-
-
Riveting Love Story
- By Granny on 01-15-20
By: Shona Patel
-
The Hundred Wells of Salaga
- A Novel
- By: Ayesha Harruna Attah
- Narrated by: Janina Edwards
- Length: 6 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Aminah lives an idyllic life until she is brutally separated from her home and forced on a journey that turns her from a daydreamer into a resilient woman. Wurche, the willful daughter of a chief, is desperate to play an important role in her father's court. These two women's lives converge as infighting among Wurche's people threatens the region, during the height of the slave trade at the end of the nineteenth century. The Hundred Wells of Salaga offers a remarkable view of slavery and how the scramble for Africa affected the lives of everyday people.
-
The Song Poet
- A Memoir of My Father
- By: Kao Kalia Yang
- Narrated by: Kao Kalia Yang
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bee lost his father as a young boy and keenly felt his orphanhood. He would wander from one neighbor to the next, collecting the things they said to each other, whispering the words to himself at night until one day a song was born. Bee sings the life of his people through the war-torn jungle and a Thai refugee camp. But the songs fall away in the cold, bitter world of a Minneapolis housing project and on the factory floor until, with the death of Bee's mother, the songs leave him for good.
-
-
Beautiful, full of sadness, power, and heart.
- By Melissa L. Magana on 04-27-17
By: Kao Kalia Yang
-
Peony
- A Novel of China
- By: Pearl S. Buck
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 12 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Young Peony is sold into a rich Chinese household as a bondmaid - an awkward role in which she is more a servant, but less a daughter. As she grows into a lovely, provocative young woman, Peony falls in love with the family's only son. However, tradition forbids them to wed. How she resolves her love for him and her devotion to her adoptive family unfolds in this profound tale, based on true events in China over a century ago.
-
-
Jews in China
- By Jean on 04-22-12
By: Pearl S. Buck
-
City of Tranquil Light
- A Novel
- By: Bo Caldwell
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Will Kiehn is seemingly destined for life as a humble farmer in the Midwest when, having felt a call from God, he travels to the vast North China Plain in the early twentieth century. There he is surprised by love and weds a strong and determined fellow missionary, Katherine. They soon find themselves witnesses to the crumbling of a more than two-thousand-year-old dynasty that plunges the country into decades of civil war.
-
-
What We're Here For
- By Annette on 10-14-10
By: Bo Caldwell
-
The Town House
- By: Norah Lofts
- Narrated by: Juliet Prague, Martyn Read
- Length: 17 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"It was in the first week of October in the year 1391 that I first came face to face with the man who owned me… the man whose lightest word was to us, his villeins, weightier than the King’s law or the edicts of our Holy Father…” So began the story of Martin Reed - a serf whose resentment of the automatic rule of his feudal lord finally flared into open defiance.
-
-
My favorite author
- By Karie on 07-09-15
By: Norah Lofts
-
Monticello
- A Daughter and Her Father; A Novel
- By: Sally Cabot Gunning
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 11 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After the death of her beloved mother, Martha Jefferson spent five years abroad with her father, Thomas Jefferson, on his first diplomatic mission to France. Now, at 17, Jefferson's bright, handsome eldest daughter is returning to the lush hills of the family's beloved Virginia plantation, Monticello. While the large, beautiful estate is the same as she remembers, Martha has changed. The young girl who sailed to Europe is now a woman with a heart made heavy by a first love gone wrong.
-
-
Fictional Masterpiece
- By James Bates on 02-26-22
-
Anna the Prophetess
- By: H. B. Moore
- Narrated by: Luone Ingram
- Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Anna the Prophetess is the dramatic chronicle of the only woman to be called prophetess in the scriptures. When Anna’s great niece Julia is exiled to Jerusalem as punishment for her refusal to marry a man old enough to be her father, Anna shares the story of her early days of courtship with her husband. Although Julia’s parents admonished her to observe firsthand how lonely Anna’s life is, Julia instead discovers that her great-aunt’s life is far from lonely - it is full of love, peace, and incredible faith.
-
-
It Kept Me Listening
- By cgashley on 02-16-19
By: H. B. Moore
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Shanghai Girls
- A Novel
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Janet Song
- Length: 13 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thanks to the financial security and material comforts provided by their father’s prosperous rickshaw business, 21-year-old Pearl Chin and her younger sister, May, are having the time of their lives. Though both sisters wave off authority and tradition, they couldn’t be more different, but both are beautiful, modern, and carefree...until the day their father tells them he has gambled away their wealth and that in order to repay his debts, he must sell the girls as wives to suitors who have traveled from California to find Chinese brides.
-
-
Touching, sad, and enjoyable
- By Beach Biker on 07-15-09
By: Lisa See
-
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Ruthie Ann Miles, Kimiko Glenn, Alex Allwine, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The thrilling new novel from number-one New York Times best-selling author Lisa See explores the lives of a Chinese mother and her daughter who has been abandoned and adopted by an American couple.
-
-
***EXCELLENT*** Six stars if I could !!
- By ROBIN on 04-10-17
By: Lisa See
-
Peony in Love
- A Novel
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Janet Song
- Length: 13 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For young Peony, betrothed to a suitor she has never met, lyrics from The Peony Pavilion mirror her own longings. In the garden of the Chen Family Villa, amid the scent of ginger, green tea, and jasmine, a small theatrical troupe is performing scenes from this epic opera, a live spectacle few females have ever seen. Like the heroine in the drama, Peony is the cloistered daughter of a wealthy family, trapped like a good-luck cricket in a bamboo-and-lacquer cage.
-
-
Eloquently written and read
- By D on 07-21-07
By: Lisa See
-
China Dolls
- A Novel
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Jodi Long
- Length: 15 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
San Francisco, 1938: A world’s fair is preparing to open on Treasure Island, a war is brewing overseas, and the city is alive with possibilities. Talented Grace, traditional Helen, and defiant Ruby, three young women from very different backgrounds, meet by chance at the exclusive and glamorous Forbidden City nightclub.
-
-
Narrator Spoiled It For Me
- By woodbridge98 on 06-09-14
By: Lisa See
-
The Island of Sea Women
- A Novel
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Jennifer Lim
- Length: 13 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls living on the Korean island of Jeju, are best friends who come from very different backgrounds. When they are old enough, they begin working in the sea with their village’s all-female diving collective, led by Young-sook’s mother. As the girls take up their positions as baby divers, they know they are beginning a life of excitement and responsibility but also danger. This beautiful, thoughtful novel illuminates a world turned upside down, one where the women are in charge, engaging in dangerous, physical work, and the men take care of the children.
-
-
Overly dramatic read
- By mary krause on 03-28-19
By: Lisa See
-
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
- A Novel
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Jodi Long
- Length: 5 hrs and 1 min
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
So so
- By Claire on 07-05-05
By: Lisa See
-
Shanghai Girls
- A Novel
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Janet Song
- Length: 13 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thanks to the financial security and material comforts provided by their father’s prosperous rickshaw business, 21-year-old Pearl Chin and her younger sister, May, are having the time of their lives. Though both sisters wave off authority and tradition, they couldn’t be more different, but both are beautiful, modern, and carefree...until the day their father tells them he has gambled away their wealth and that in order to repay his debts, he must sell the girls as wives to suitors who have traveled from California to find Chinese brides.
-
-
Touching, sad, and enjoyable
- By Beach Biker on 07-15-09
By: Lisa See
-
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Ruthie Ann Miles, Kimiko Glenn, Alex Allwine, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The thrilling new novel from number-one New York Times best-selling author Lisa See explores the lives of a Chinese mother and her daughter who has been abandoned and adopted by an American couple.
-
-
***EXCELLENT*** Six stars if I could !!
- By ROBIN on 04-10-17
By: Lisa See
-
Peony in Love
- A Novel
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Janet Song
- Length: 13 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For young Peony, betrothed to a suitor she has never met, lyrics from The Peony Pavilion mirror her own longings. In the garden of the Chen Family Villa, amid the scent of ginger, green tea, and jasmine, a small theatrical troupe is performing scenes from this epic opera, a live spectacle few females have ever seen. Like the heroine in the drama, Peony is the cloistered daughter of a wealthy family, trapped like a good-luck cricket in a bamboo-and-lacquer cage.
-
-
Eloquently written and read
- By D on 07-21-07
By: Lisa See
-
China Dolls
- A Novel
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Jodi Long
- Length: 15 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
San Francisco, 1938: A world’s fair is preparing to open on Treasure Island, a war is brewing overseas, and the city is alive with possibilities. Talented Grace, traditional Helen, and defiant Ruby, three young women from very different backgrounds, meet by chance at the exclusive and glamorous Forbidden City nightclub.
-
-
Narrator Spoiled It For Me
- By woodbridge98 on 06-09-14
By: Lisa See
-
The Island of Sea Women
- A Novel
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Jennifer Lim
- Length: 13 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls living on the Korean island of Jeju, are best friends who come from very different backgrounds. When they are old enough, they begin working in the sea with their village’s all-female diving collective, led by Young-sook’s mother. As the girls take up their positions as baby divers, they know they are beginning a life of excitement and responsibility but also danger. This beautiful, thoughtful novel illuminates a world turned upside down, one where the women are in charge, engaging in dangerous, physical work, and the men take care of the children.
-
-
Overly dramatic read
- By mary krause on 03-28-19
By: Lisa See
-
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
- A Novel
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Jodi Long
- Length: 5 hrs and 1 min
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
So so
- By Claire on 07-05-05
By: Lisa See
-
On Gold Mountain
- The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 18 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Out of the stories heard in her childhood in Los Angeles's Chinatown and years of research, See has constructed this sweeping chronicle of her Chinese-American family, a work that takes in stories of racism and romance, entrepreneurial genius and domestic heartache, secret marriages and sibling rivalries, in a powerful history of two cultures meeting in a new world.
-
-
Great story...awful narration
- By Solbakken on 06-02-17
By: Lisa See
-
Lady Tan's Circle of Women
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Jennifer Lim, Justin Chien
- Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
According to Confucius, “an educated woman is a worthless woman,” but Tan Yunxian—born into an elite family, yet haunted by death, separations, and loneliness—is being raised by her grandparents to be of use. Her grandmother is one of only a handful of female doctors in China, and she teaches Yunxian the pillars of Chinese medicine, the Four Examinations—looking, listening, touching, and asking—something a man can never do with a female patient.
-
-
Another Beautiful Novel from Lisa See!
- By TuxedoedCorgi95 on 06-06-23
By: Lisa See
-
The Interior
- A Red Princess Mystery
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Janet Song
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While David Stark is asked to open a law office in Beijing, his lover, detective Liu Hulan, receives an urgent message from an old friend imploring her to investigate the suspicious death of her daughter, who worked for a toy company about to be sold to David’s new client, Tartan Enterprises.
-
-
Narration is terrible
- By Veronica (OhYesItsV) on 08-15-17
By: Lisa See
-
Flower Net
- A Red Princess Mystery
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Elaina Davis
- Length: 5 hrs and 56 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the depths of a Beijing winter, during the waning days of Deng Xiaoping's reign, the US ambassador's son is found dead - his body entombed in a frozen lake. Almost simultaneously, American officials find a ship adrift in the storm-churned waters off California. No one is surprised to find the fetid hold crammed with hundreds of undocumented Chinese immigrants - the latest cargo in the Chinese mafia's smuggling trade. What does surprise Assistant US Attorney David Stark is that among the hapless refugees lies the corpse of a Red Prince, a scion of China's political elite.
-
-
terrible reader , not very coherent book
- By JB on 03-09-06
By: Lisa See
-
Memoirs of a Geisha
- By: Arthur Golden
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 17 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a voice both haunting and startlingly immediate, Nitta Sayuri describes her life as a geisha. Taken from her home at the age of nine, she is sold into slavery to a renowned geisha house. Witness her transformation as you enter a world where appearances are paramount, virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder, women beguile powerful men, and love is scorned as illusion.
-
-
Perfect ---- in every way
- By Amanda on 02-08-06
By: Arthur Golden
-
Paper Wife
- A Novel
- By: Laila Ibrahim
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu
- Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Southern China, 1923. Desperate to secure her future, Mei Ling’s parents arrange a marriage to a widower in California. To enter the country, she must pretend to be her husband’s first wife - a paper wife. On the perilous voyage, Mei Ling takes an orphan girl named Siew under her wing. Dreams of a better life in America give Mei Ling the strength to endure the treacherous journey and detainment on Angel Island. But when she finally reaches San Francisco, she’s met with a surprise. Her husband, Chinn Kai Li, is a houseboy, not the successful merchant he led her to believe.
-
-
Just okay..disappointed
- By Donna Smith McG on 11-03-18
By: Laila Ibrahim
-
The Bonesetter's Daughter
- By: Amy Tan
- Narrated by: Amy Tan, Joan Chen
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set in contemporary San Francisco and in a Chinese village where Peking Man is being unearthed, The Bonesetter's Daughter is an excavation of the human spirit: the past, its deepest wounds, its most profound hopes. Tan, author of The Joy Luck Club, brilliantly presents "storytelling in its oldest and truest form".
-
-
Exceptionally good
- By Eileen Finn on 03-25-03
By: Amy Tan
-
Henna House
- By: Nomi Eve
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 13 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Yemen in 1920: After passage of the Orphan's Decree, any unbetrothed Jewish child left orphaned will be instantly adopted by the local Muslim community. With her parents' health failing, and no spousal prospects in sight, Adela Damari's situation looks dire until her uncle arrives from a faraway city, bringing with him a cousin and aunt who introduce Adela to the powerful rituals of henna tattooing.
-
-
historical fiction, read like an autobiography.
- By Anonymous User on 02-11-19
By: Nomi Eve
-
The Kitchen God's Wife
- By: Amy Tan
- Narrated by: Gwendoline Yeo
- Length: 14 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Winnie and Helen have kept each other's worst secrets for more than 50 years. Now, because she believes she is dying, Helen wants to expose all that has been concealed, when she decides to celebrate the Chinese New Year by unburdening herself of everybody's hidden truths - her own and Winnie's, as well as the dreadful news that Winnie's daughter, Pearl, has been keeping from her mother.
-
-
Holds your attention through out
- By GrandmaNurseHeather on 06-08-17
By: Amy Tan
-
The Valley of Amazement
- By: Amy Tan
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu, Joyce Bean, Amy Tan
- Length: 24 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Shanghai, 1912. Violet Minturn is the privileged daughter of the American madam of the city's most exclusive courtesan house. But when the Ching dynasty is overturned, Violet is separated from her mother in a cruel act of chicanery and forced to become a "virgin courtesan." Half-Chinese and half-American, Violet grapples with her place in the worlds of East and West - until she is able to merge her two halves, empowering her to become a shrewd courtesan who excels in the business of seduction and illusion, though she still struggles to understand who she is.
-
-
Just could NOT get past the ugliness
- By Pamela J on 11-25-13
By: Amy Tan
-
Pachinko
- By: Min Jin Lee
- Narrated by: Allison Hiroto
- Length: 18 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A New York Times Top 10 Book of the Year and National Book Award finalist, Pachinko is an "extraordinary epic" of four generations of a poor Korean immigrant family as they fight to control their destiny in 20th-century Japan (San Francisco Chronicle). In the early 1900s, teenaged Sunja, the adored daughter of a crippled fisherman, falls for a wealthy stranger at the seashore near her home in Korea. He promises her the world, but when she discovers she is pregnant - and that her lover is married - she refuses to be bought.
-
-
wonderful book
- By erin on 12-11-17
By: Min Jin Lee
-
El abanico de seda [Snow Fower and the Secret Fan]
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Irene Montalà
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
En una remota provincia de China, las mujeres crearon hace siglos un lenguaje secreto para comunicarse libremente entre sí: el nu shu. Aisladas en sus casas y sometidas a la férrea autoridad masculina, el nu shu era su única vía de escape. Mediante sus mensajes, escritos o bordados en telas, abanicos y otros objetos, daban testimonio de un mundo tan sofisticado como implacable.
-
-
Historia del Nushu
- By Lorenzo on 01-15-24
By: Lisa See
What listeners say about Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
- Pat
- 10-03-05
Loved it!
What a wonderful view into life for women in China half a century ago! I feel the reader did a great job and I was sad to have the book end.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
23 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Laurie
- 02-22-06
Magnificent
Reminscent of "Memoirs of a Geisha," this book takes place in 19th century China where women's roles were limited to bearing children (preferably sons) and doing chores around the house. They live in their inlaws' house and rarely, if ever, see their parents once they move in. Not only is Lily's marriage arranged, but so is her deep friendship with Snowflower. They quickly grow to love each other. I'll stop now to avoid giving away the plot. The novel is narrated by Lily at 80 years old, twice the years of the average lifespan of a woman. This is a truly wonderful novel with an excellent narrator. I missed the characters acutely once it was over.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
22 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- GSDNH
- 10-09-08
Narrator Becomes the Main Character
The narrator (Janet Song) managed to pull me in immediately and I anxiously looked forward to car trips to keep up with the story. I even listened to it while doing housework. It is now one of my favorite audios.
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.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
18 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Bdan in ATL
- 03-24-08
Disappointing
I have heard good reviews about this book for years, and it has been a popular choice as a Book Club read, so I looked forward to listening for some time. What a disappointment! Although I found the story somewhat interesting and informative at times, the narrator's voice was so grating that it was a real struggle to complete. I would suggest a paper copy of the book, if you want to bother at all. The theme of the book is about female friendship, but I found it difficult to relate to the selfishness of the main character. The reasons for Lily's abandonment of her life-long friend for many years was hard to fathom, and its resolution didn't ring true for me. For a much better, less sappy story, I'd vote for Memoirs of a Geisha anytime!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
18 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Patricia
- 11-11-09
Laugh a little Cry a little Love All
I was reading this novel about a year ago and lost my book. I found it here on Audible and decided to listen to it. I recalled that even though I did not get far into the reading of it before I had liked what I read.
What happened is this: I got tired of narrator's tone. So I went and purchased paperback and started reading the book again. However, when reading to myself I kept hearing the narrator's voice. The story is so very good that even tho I did not care much for the narrator's tone I still listened to it during times I could not read- like at work and doing household chores.
The story is so touching, even powerful because I know it will influence my future perceptions of the value of friendships, sisterhood, and mother-daughter relationships.
The focus is primarily the relationship between two girls/women and reminds me of my relationship with my own twin-sister. Extremely few bonds are ever as close. Even the physical contact shared by these two may to some seem inappropriate but they were not sexual experiences. It just showed how deep the friendship became- "old sames".
I also liked the other relationship perceptions explored by the author (Mother-daughter, Aunties, Blood sisters, Daugher/Mother-in-law, etc). This novel delves into many issues that arise in the lives of women and although the culture is very different from American culture (for instance the practice of taking a concubine) the feelings are very much the same and identifiable.
I laughed a little. I cried a little more. But I loved all.
About the narrator: eventually her voice/tone grew on me. It helped to be able to read the physical copy as well. I listened to 100% of the novel and read 100%. I am likely to listen to it again now that I am accustomed to the narrator....but for certain I will be entertained by this novel again be it audio or visual.
Don't pass it up either way.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
16 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Sandra
- 01-11-09
A fascinating glimpse into a special relationship
This was an interesting historical fiction about two women bound together for life through ancient Chinese custom as old-sames; a sacred relationship more intimate than that of friend, sister, daughter, or wife.
Throughout their lives, their histories and constantly evolving circumstances affect their relationship. From the tender age at which both girls suffer the tortuous pain of having their feet bound, through their years as young wives and mothers, and finally as old women, they communicate through the use of secret womens' writing on a fan. Their interpretation of one another's joys and sorrows through the writings on the secret fan play an important role in their story.
I did not particularly enjoy the narration style; it was read in an unusual monotone delivered in a somewhat staccato style, though this was completely a personal preference.
I would recommend this book to readers interested in the history of womens' lives and relationships in ancient China.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
11 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- B.J.
- 11-04-07
Just so-so
While I loved hearing details about this period of time in China, I found the narrator's voice to be incredibly irritating and distracting. This is a book I would have enjoyed more as a read than a listen.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
9 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Janice
- 07-29-11
A portrait of unconditional love
Previous reviewers who loved this story (as I do) have already stated the obvious - it is heartfelt, insightful and brings us into the inner world of Chinese women's culture. I was drawn in immediately and never let go - the ending was heartbreaking and touching at the same time. It makes a poignant statement about the nature of friendship, loyalty and unconditional love. This was a book I was sorry to end.
Some reviewers have not enjoyed the reader - I felt that her reading was excellent and added greatly to the characters and the sense of place and time. I'd recommend listening to the sample to determine if the reading is not to your liking, but I loved it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- amy
- 06-08-17
Story was slow but ok. Narrator was unbearable.
I did appreciate the historical elements woven into this story. However, about halfway through, I realized that I could no longer tolerate the narrator's voice, and the plot was not enough to keep me hanging on. Out of self-preservation, I jumped ship. Hope it ended well.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Florida Man
- 10-14-19
I really enjoyed this one
This wasn't a great masterpiece but it was an enjoyable story. I found it because I did a search for Women's Historical Fiction. It went into a lot of detail about the circumstances of a woman's life in 19th century China. For instance,I had always heard foot binding was painful and dangerous, but this went into graphic detail so you could empathize a lot more.
I found certain parts of the story underdeveloped. The author could have delved deeper and certain aspects fell flat. But as far as storytelling goes, it was a good story. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this and it was an easy listen if you're multi tasking along with it.
The narrator was decent but very nasally.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful