Snow Flower & The Secret Fan
I know that I just posted, but I forgot to mention the wonderful book I have been reading.
It is called Snow Flower & The Secret Fan, by Lisa See.
It chronicles the life of a woman in China back many dynasties ago. Snow flower is her laotong, or "old same". It is like a best friend that was chosen by a match maker based on several matching qualifications. A laotong pair has a contract that is more important than wedding vows, because you promise to be faithful and true for the rest of your life. Your husband may take concubines, but your old same provides emotional stability, trust, and openness that may never be violated by anyone else.
The book also discusses the common practices of footbinding, "falling into" marriage and to your in-laws family, and nu shu ~ women's italicized and stylized characters which are written in secret.
The book captivated my attention for a number of reasons... not just my fascination of asian culture, but the women themselves. Though they were fictional, they symbolized women of the time, how they felt and thought... how they HAD to act, because culture dictated it.
Snow Flower and her old same, who later became the Lady Lu, hated to have their feet bound into "perfect golden lilies", yet they eagerly discussed the binding of their own daughters... knowing that without tiny folded feet (7 cm was perfection), they could never marry into a good family.
That crippled feet heightened your status is astounding!
Anyway, the book was amazing, and last night made me cry. I have 10 more pages to go, but I could not read more because I was a bit overwhelmed emotionally. The book is very well written and you easily fall into the lives of the two laotong. I would recommend it to anyone, though probably women would get more involved in it.
I would like to write more on it later, because it caused me a lot of thoughts.... but I guess the book report must come before the discussion.
I would love to explain how exactly it made me feel... hopefully I will get around to it. What i have written so far doesnt even start to touch upon it.
It is called Snow Flower & The Secret Fan, by Lisa See.
It chronicles the life of a woman in China back many dynasties ago. Snow flower is her laotong, or "old same". It is like a best friend that was chosen by a match maker based on several matching qualifications. A laotong pair has a contract that is more important than wedding vows, because you promise to be faithful and true for the rest of your life. Your husband may take concubines, but your old same provides emotional stability, trust, and openness that may never be violated by anyone else.
The book also discusses the common practices of footbinding, "falling into" marriage and to your in-laws family, and nu shu ~ women's italicized and stylized characters which are written in secret.
The book captivated my attention for a number of reasons... not just my fascination of asian culture, but the women themselves. Though they were fictional, they symbolized women of the time, how they felt and thought... how they HAD to act, because culture dictated it.
Snow Flower and her old same, who later became the Lady Lu, hated to have their feet bound into "perfect golden lilies", yet they eagerly discussed the binding of their own daughters... knowing that without tiny folded feet (7 cm was perfection), they could never marry into a good family.
That crippled feet heightened your status is astounding!
Anyway, the book was amazing, and last night made me cry. I have 10 more pages to go, but I could not read more because I was a bit overwhelmed emotionally. The book is very well written and you easily fall into the lives of the two laotong. I would recommend it to anyone, though probably women would get more involved in it.
I would like to write more on it later, because it caused me a lot of thoughts.... but I guess the book report must come before the discussion.
I would love to explain how exactly it made me feel... hopefully I will get around to it. What i have written so far doesnt even start to touch upon it.
posted by FireWithin at 12:09 PM
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