The Secret Fan

Just another post from me that proves how emotional and easily influenced I am. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I didn't want to put it down. Not a good thing when I've been sick this past week... staying up way too late turning pages.

Since Thursday I've had Lily and Snow Flower on my mind. I think about them in all that I do. Like, These Is My Words, I have compared my life to theirs and feel such gratitude for the conveniences I have, the time I was born and the country I was born into. We are so blessed to live in the United States. It's pretty amazing to think of the small percentage who are fortunate enough to be born in this country and partake of the freedoms we enjoy.

So I dream about the customs of Lily and Snow Flower, I think about them in my sleep, gals! At 5am this morning, I woke with an earache, but prior to waking fully, I realized I was dreaming of Lily and Snow Flower taking care of me with their herbs to draw out the infection in my ear. So I laid there longer obeying what they said and endured the pain a bit longer until I realized where I was.

After reading the other reviews, I see I am the odd ball. Though I did feel detached like Danielle P. explained, I enjoyed the characters. No tears were shed as I read this book. I was calmly in awe the whole way through. Not having contact with the "outer realm", being trained daily on how to be married, being told they were worthless every day, arranged marriage and understanding their lowly place as women. What an unbearable load they carried from the moment their memories began. As appalling as it seems to we Americans, it was their life and it was respectable. I can only praise Lily and Snow Flower for their grace. The only thing I didn't condone was how Lily publicly humiliated Snow Flower. Everything else that played out seemed as good as it could possibly be with the statuses they were afforded.

Yes, communication was limited. Their society was so different from anything we could understand. Stating their true feelings was very risky. Even with the closeness of a loatong, Snow Flower had her reasons for keeping secrets. That said, I respected Lily's bitterness for everyone leaving her out of the loop for so many years. It was an added dagger to the conniving behavior of her mother. Understandable.

The happy part of the book, I found, was that Lily was a better mother than her mother. A common thing we find in life today. We always want to do better than our parents did. Sure, new mistakes are made since we only get one shot at it, but the intention to do better is there.

Thank you for choosing this book. It is piece of Chinese culture I probably would have never picked up myself.

(In my search to find photos of the bound feet, I found and enjoyed this article.)