China Dolls

Man - I really enjoyed this book! Three young Chinese Americans meet up in San Francisco during the late thirties and become fast friends. They bond through their love of the spotlight. They love being on the stage and dancing, dazzling the audience with the grace and wit. From Forbidden City Nightclub to other venues; they delight in sequins, lace, and silk. Grace is outgoing but escaping a hard past in Plain City, Ohio. Helen is smothered in her family compound in San Francisco's Chinatown. Ruby left her parents in Hawaii to find stardom in California. The three share many ups and downs, lots of prejudice from White Americans, especially when America enters the war. Can their friendship survive all? Told through alternating perspectives; this is a timeless, complicated, and unique story of friendship. Wonderful!

Snowflower and the Secret Fan

I wasn't expecting this book to be such a heavy read, but despite it's flowery language and lush setting; it's really pretty bleak. Set in nineteenth century China; Lily is born into a house that is neither wealthy nor extremely poor. When Lily is young it is determined that she will have the smallest and most gorgeous bound feet so she will be able to marry up and change her future (and her families) for the better. In the process she is given a pen pal of sorts, a laotong. Snowflower is the same age but from a more prosperous family; from the age of six til their death they will be "old sames" closer to each other than with their husbands. They undergo foot-bindings together, they learn the rites of womanhood, and they share all of their secrets. This book follows their childhood all the way through motherhood and beyond. But even though they have each other, things aren't always easy. They suffer unbearable tragedies and only have each other to rely on. Very bleak, somber, yet beautiful and educational. I highly recommend the audiobook!