Review: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

5/5 stars

—A heartbreaking look into the life of a girl dictated by tradition, gender-inequality, and strife.

This book. For such a modest length of just under 300 pages, this story really packs a punch. So much happens to our protagonist Lily that I was left reeling at times that she had the strength to get through it all.

We start the story when Lily is just 6 years old—in her Milk Years, as it’s called. She is the middle child in a family of three girls and two boys, and we quickly learn that she yearns to be loved and valued by her mother. But since she is only a lowly girl-child, she is mostly ignored and treated like just another mouth to feed.

We learn that girls are simply treated like things to be raised and sent off to her husband’s family once she is of marrying age. Since girls traditionally live with their husband’s family and care for and tend to their mothers-in-law when the time comes, bonds between girls and their own mothers are tenuous to say the least. 

It’s a sad start for Lily. For one so young, she goes through so much more than you would ever think a child could endure. The tradition of foot binding was still in use during her time, and the author certainly gives us a genuine, heart-wrenching look at what girls had to go through to get their feet to the desired size and look. The reality of foot-binding alone had my heart reaching out to Lily. I had never read a book that highlighted the torturous tradition of breaking children’s feet to force them into the accepted and praised shape all women strove for in that time period.

And that is only the very beginning of all that Lily went through. We see her endure poverty, arranged marriage, loneliness, flee from pillagers, nearly starve to death in frigid temperatures...It’s enough to break your heart. But she survives. She is a strong, sometimes flawed, character that exudes realness and fortitude. I applaud Lisa See for writing such an intense story.

This book was heavier than I realized it would be, but there was something about all Lily withstood that only made me appreciate this book all the more. Its genuine and unrelenting look at what young women went through in this time period is appalling and refreshing at the same time.

Refreshing because See doesn’t try to sugarcoat anything: Lily does not live a happy life. She has happy moments, yes, but in the end there is no real happy ending.

The moment I finished that last sentence, I felt a sadness and surge of injustice wash over me. Did she really go through all of that, I thought, only to end up so unhappy and alone?

Yes, she did. And while it breaks my heart and leaves me wanting more for Lily—for her to have found happiness or satisfaction—that’s the point. Not everyone's story is a happy one.

And there is beauty, even in that.

———

I will most definitely be reading more of Lisa See’s work. If you want a story full of heartache, women rising up against injustice, and strong character growth and development, then I highly recommend Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. Just remember: the sign of a beautiful, strong soul is how they endure hardship. And Lily shows us that despite it all, despite any of her shortcomings or the strife she had to go through over and over, and deserved happiness. And my heart hurts for her because she was left without that ray of light.

That’s the mark of a good writer, to give us a story that leaves us mulling over what happens. That makes us hate and love and question everything that happens to a character.