I would recommend this novel to anyone that wants to be entertained and enlightened at the same time. I would like to thank GoodReads for giving me the opportunity to enjoy Shanghai Girls by Lisa See, which in no way skewed my assessment of the book. I was completely taken aback at the amount of knowledge I acquired reading this rendering of the life for two Chinese girls, May and her older sister, or "jie jie", Pearl. The breathtaking scenes, in Shanghai, as the two carefree sisters walk by dead babies that have been discarded in the streets like rubbish, without a second look, on their way to see their would be boyfriend who is painting pictures, of the two, that will be used for advertisements in magazines, were amazing. They are considered the upper class but find themselves short on funds due to their fathers gambling habit which instigates his decision to sell the girls as wives to two suitors from America. On the journey, they embark on, they make decisions that are based on their limited experience with the real world and then are left with the extremely difficult job of coping with the consequences. Through it all the two stand side by side and let no one, no secret and no war come between. A fantastic novel that I would recommend to everyone.

I didn't really read this book. I got about 10 pages in before I started thinking about Lisa See.

 

She's mostly white and she's 1/8 Chinese. I wanted to see if she ever discusses her white privilege and shocker there's nothing out there that I can find where she does. Just some things about how she feels Chinese in her heart and her kids eat rice when they're sad (...what?).

 

This post sums up my thoughts on that pretty well. I'm all for people self identifying, but I really hate when white-passing mixed people act like white-passing is such a burden or simply try to ignore the fact that they are white-passing.

 

I'm pretty turned off by what I did (and didn't) learn about Lisa See, so I'm going to round up all her books I own and give them away ASAP.

 

ETA: OH MY GOD I FOUND MORE.

Q: Do you feel more Chinese or American?

" What makes you Chinese? Is it how you look, how you feel inside, how you raise your children? Most people don’t have to answer this type of question, but because I don’t look Chinese, I do."

 

I get that being Chinese can get complicated, but most people do have an answer to this question. Being Chinese isn't some mysterious inscrutable thing. Like, I have ancestors from China. I'm Chinese. Boom.

July 2020 ETA: Apparently I can't read because I thought See was saying, "I have an answer to this question when no one else  does," when she was saying, "I HAVE TO answer this question when no one else does." Which is about as ridiculous as what I thought she was saying. Has this woman never heard of the Perpetual Foreigner? Asian people are constantly told that they're not American (also she seems to be conflating American with whiteness which is just gross). Seriously this woman needs a reality check.

 

"In Los Angeles Chinatown, people know me, but when I go to other Chinese communities or to China, people see me as an outsider. When I go into the larger white community here in the U.S., people look at me and talk to me as though I belong, but inside I often feel very foreign. I don’t like their bigotry and racism. In both worlds, I’m a bit outside. I think this has made me a better— and certainly more interesting—writer, because it really makes me look and feel."

 

White-passing people think their experiences of race are so unique, but new flash they're not. These feelings of alienation and not belonging anywhere are pretty ubiquitous in mixed people, white-passing or not. Lisa See is not special.

 

Then there's this gem.

 

"Even in my own family, there were times when I would be interviewing someone and they'd say, 'Remember so-and-so? He was Caucasian, just like you.' And I'd think, 'Why are you thinking of me that way? You've known me my whole life; I'm not like that.' Now that the book's done, I think that they accept me as being Chinese like them."

 

Does this woman lack all self-awareness? I would like Lisa See a lot better if she didn't completely ignore the fact that she's also white (and that the world treats her like she's white and that gives her privileges over most of her Chinese relatives/all non-passing Chinese people and that white privilege could be used for good but instead she just insists people should call her Chinese over and over again.)

 

I found myself so engrossed in this book that I actually had to lock myself in my bathroom and sit in an empty bathtub to finish it. How else do you think a mother with three small children gets any reading done?

Was it worth the mental anguish my children will later have to work through in therapy? Mostly. I would be lying if I said there wasn't a part of me that didn't love a book that breaks your heart and causes uncontrollable tears to pour down your face. Then, like every book, it had to end. The ending took this book from a five star home run to a four star triple. This is the first novel by [a:Lisa See|713|Lisa See|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1209949634p2/713.jpg] I have read so I am unsure if this is something she does or if this was just something she did with this book. I knew at some point Joy would find out the truth about her parents. I had already figured Z.G. was probably her father since going behind her big sister's back was something May would do without thinking. I was fine with that part of the ending. But Joy picking up and running away to Communist China? No. That just didn't work for me. Will I pick up the next Shanghai Girl novel? Of course. My interest in now peaked. I might have to pick up some of See's other works while I'm at it.

This book grew on me. At 50 pages in, I was ready to put it down and forget it. But that's roughly where it actually got started. It delved deeper into May and Pearl's culture, their personalities, and their relationship as the book evolved and I liked them both better and better as I read.

There are a lot of great questions that this book raises, and I look forward to discussing it with my bookclub. It was a very enjoyable read. More than that, it was decidedly uncomfortable for me in places when I considered my own relationship with my sister. I love when really good books make me consider how I'm living my life.

There are two things that keep this from being a higher rating for me. One is just the fact that it's written in present tense. I don't know what it is about that, but it makes the whole thing feel awkward for me. That's just my personal taste, of course, but that affects my rating. Also, and this is an important one with me, the book ends in a big "to be continued...." and I really don't like that. I don't even like it in hour-long TV shows. Good grief. Pick your genre and then work within it. If your book needs to be longer, make it longer. Did her editor say "nope, 300 pages is all you can do"? Again, that's personal. But that's a reason for the rating.

This year was a year of excellent reads. And a year of very, very terrible ones. Let's take a trip down memory lane, shall we?

 

The Best!!!

 

Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A hilarious (sometimes nerve-grating) look into the life of a fellow anxiety sufferer, full of crazy stories that are too strange to not be true. Definitely one of the best books I got to this year.

 

Unteachable: Raunchy, crude and angsty. But at the same time, compelling and full of emotion. It hooked me immediately with the death of her stuffed bunny and how it screwed her up. LOL And I spent the entire book playing conspiracy theorist.

 

Shanghai Girls: I wasn't so sure about this book at first. It sounded interesting enough, but generally I don't read pop fiction. My husband bought it for me, so I gave it a go. And I didn't want to put it down. Like, wow! I learned a lot about Chinese culture, the war with Japan and the persecution of Chinese immigrants. Can't wait to get to Dreams of Joy.

 

Undeniable: Another crude, raunchy book that had me from the beginning. I don't know a lot about biker clubs, but everyone of my trusted bookie friends said this was an amazing read. They were right! I think I fell in love with Deuce.

 

The Worst!!!

 

Halo: Where do I even begin with this mess? It was juvenile, poorly written, lacking in world building and just plain stupid. It's a mockery of Christian and Catholic beliefs, and it makes angels look like mindless idiots. I know the author was 16 when this was written, but youth is not excuse for unleashing stupid shit on the world. Insta-love, cliches, and overly possessive boyfriends top this crap pile. What a waste of time.

 

Evermore: Dafuq is this shit? It's like if Twilight was a hundred times worse and Bella was not only selfish but a hostile, snobby, self-absorbed bitch that seriously can't be grateful for a damn thing in her life. (And I hate Twilight, but it's like Shakespeare compared to this crap.) Ever lives in a beach house in Malibu with her own Miata and a wet bar in her room, but she thinks her like is miserable and not worth living. Cry me a river. Plus, she's bipolar, rude and judgmental. She should be shot.

 

Crescendo: Honestly, I don't know why I liked Hush, Hush. I guess it's just a guilty of pleasure. But this book was terrible. It was exactly the same story as the first. Someone keeps trying to kill Nora, and she never asks anyone for help. She escapes repeatedly and never thinks to tell her fallen angel boyfriend. She's so dumb and distrustful I want to strangle her. Plus Patch is a big jackass. It's hard to love someone that just leaves you to die.

 

Bloodlines:(Here's where I might lose a few friends. hahaha) Vampire Academy is mildly entertaining to me, so I picked this up from another wife on base one day. And it pretty much sucked. I found Sydney to be such a racist dumbass I could hardly stomach her. I don't like two-faced bitches. I have enough of them in my life without adding imaginary ones, too. I had the plot figured out about halfway in, but it took her to the very end to understand what the Hell was really going on. Like, c'mon! You're supposed to be super smart! And you can't even understand a guy is asking you out! WTF? Not to mention, I was only told this took place in the same universe as the first series, not that it was a direct sequel! It was full of spoilers! Like what happens to Dimitri! I almost screamed. Spoiler warnings would be nice.

 

I'm excited (and a little scared) to see what 2014 holds. Hold on for the ride, bitches.