Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

In "Shanghai Girls", by setting the novel moves in Shanghai and then in the United States. See Lisa draws a vivid picture of life before World War II Shanghai and takes the reader on an unforgettable journey through the Japanese invasion of China and its implications.

The protagonists in this novel are two sisters - Pearl and May. Pearl's older sister, born in the auspicious Year of the Dragon, but with disapproval her Baba [father], who does not love her tall appearance. Pearl also educated, graduating college, and speak several languages and dialects. Unlike the younger sister May, born in the year of Sheep, in short, but beautiful, and only managed to complete high school (See, 52).

Nevertheless, to achieve all the Pearl, it seems that this apple eyes of her parents, and uses this bias in their favor. Both sisters live the life of privilege, but they work as "beautiful girls posing for photographs used in advertisements, posters and earn a good life. This may seem surprising, given the prospect of conservative parents [mother of girls, their legs tied], while not quite as strange subsequent events shed light on the plight of the family's financial straits.

When girls say their father is deeply in debt and decided to marry them off a pair of brothers, the Golden Mountain of men living in Los Angeles [the people who left China to come to America to find out their fate, returning to China to find bride], they realize his days of freedom over and decided to revolt. Unfortunately, the Japanese invasion of Shanghai, will put an end to any of their plans (See 55). Fleeing from the Japanese, not without its horrors and, ultimately, Pearl, and may be only the exception of one another.

Even after leaving China, to find its pair, the situation remains severe, as on arrival in the United States, Pearl and May was detained on Angel Island is going through months of untold suffering. They finally meet their "spouses", but life sisters still has a lot of testing in the shop, and the secret shared between them, threatening their future.

"Shanghai girls" is a well-woven narrative that flows well, and Lisa See is a reliable relationship between two sisters, whose love for each other strongly, but also fraught with rivalry. This is not just a story about brothers on It is also about a clash between East and West as the sisters try to find its foothold in the new world, as well as bonds of his old world remains strong. Lisa See is really gifted author for being able to portray both the old world of 17 th and 19 th century China [as seen from the pions and snow flower] and new, as seen in "Shanghai Girls". Final verdict: compelling read.

The most striking thing about this book was the fact that this is the first time that I, as an African-American, may feel the effects of discrimination in respect of other people. The author can really make ...