I couldn't put this book down. A truly amazing work!

When Lily is matched with Snow Flower as a laotong (lifelong friend), everything seems magnificent. But when the true reason for the loatong match is revealed, only time will tell whether their friendship will survive. The story, as told by Lily who has reached the end of her long life, is filled with both the joys and sorrows of girls growing up in early 1800's China. It is filled with detailed accounts of the Chinese culture of those times and the harsh realities of those who lived in rural China. A fascinating and gripping tale of the strength of women, even if they are considered as lesser beings by the society around them.

A must-read for anyone who enjoys first-person narrative and historical fiction.

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Wow! I was very impressed with this book. This was my first look into the Chinese culture and now I'm hooked. I had no idea what foot binding entailed and it was so interesting to learn of a female's upbringing and place in society. Would make a great book club read. Highly recommended.

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A beautiful and emotional of two girls growing up in 18th century China. This book is well written. It gives a look into Chinese culture, traditions, and the role of women.

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This is a wonderful story that tells us so much about the Chinese culture at that time and also is a story for women, about the strength of women and the bond between women. Great book!! Highly recommended!

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This is an extraordinary story! Loved every word in it, all the way through to the end. Even though the setting is a world so very different from this one, Lisa See manages to make the reader feel completely at home there.

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This book deals with the entire issue of women's lives, and all it entails, without ever descending into vulgarity or apology. Lily & Snow Flower's lives are filled with pain from the age of seven, when their feet are bound, until their deaths, and yet somehow I did not find the book depressing. They are married off to strangers, have children, lose children, and at one point lose each other. They grow up in a system that does not value love, either from parents or husbands. Lily is honest about not knowing how to show love to Snow Flower in her hour of need; she has no cultural experience in it and honestly does not know what to do.

I especially enjoyed the author's comments at the end, and how she found in real life some of the world she had written into the book.

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I ended up grabbing this one (abridged) because my book club is reading it, but I wasn't going to have time to read it, working too much. So, I downloaded it and listed to it. It was okay. The narrator was actually very pleasant - the story, of course, was beautiful. I guess I retain very little of my reading because I didn't see any difference - *laugh*. This is an absolutely beautiful book, one that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. The foot-binding... oh, the foot-binding.

But one thing that I realized while reading this is I don't recall any books written by the males in this time-period, etc... I wonder what they really felt?

Hmmm....

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This was a wonderful book of friendship and I enjoyed it even more than Shanghai Girls. It is also very interesting to see the history and culture of girls in China. It goes through the foot binding process and it's meaning. As always it seems, the book is much, much better than the movie.

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This book deals with the entire issue of women's lives, and all it entails, without ever descending into vulgarity or apology. Lily & Snow Flower's lives are filled with pain from the age of seven, when their feet are bound, until their deaths, and yet somehow I did not find the book depressing. They are married off to strangers, have children, lose children, and at one point lose each other. They grow up in a system that does not value love, either from parents or husbands. Lily is honest about not knowing how to show love to Snow Flower in her hour of need; she has no cultural experience in it and honestly does not know what to do.

I especially enjoyed the author's comments at the end, and how she found in real life some of the world she had written into the book.

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This book was my first introduction to Lisa See's wonderful books. This was such a powerful book about friendship, misunderstandings, and forgiveness.

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Pleasantly surprised, gets suddenly racy at one point, but nothing to turn anyone away, those who should be too young will likely miss it anyways

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Great story but an unexpected ending. Definitely recommend this book!

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Beautifully written story about love, friendship, loyalty. I could feel their pain and sorrow as they grew up in a world where girls are not valued. Highly recommend.

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I really enjoyed this book - it was a hard one to put down. Also very informative and interesting - I learned a lot about China & gender-roles. Foot-binding is not what I thought it was - YIKES! Thank goodness they don't do that to girls anymore. Great book.

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Lisa See's stories always have such interesting characters and this is no exception. She made me love and loathe the latest families in this story. She explores so many aspects of relationships between women and the ones they are surrounded by-loved ones or not. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

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Couldn't put this one down. What a journey the main character had from childhood through adulthood.

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I was very surprised at the book..I had never read a book about China or the practice of binding girls feet...It was upseting to me but I worked through it and otherwise I really enjoyed the book.

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I started reading this book because the foot binding chapter started on page 17 and I was fascinated to find out how this was done. I found that the entire book was fascinating in a sense because it gave me such an education about the lives of Chinese women up until the beginning of the 20th century. It was very hard to read though it was only 253 pages long. The women of China were treated so badly and had so little hope or happiness in their lives. I know a lot about history and I know this book was very well researched. So, even though I wanted to keep going on, I had to stop sometimes and get away from the book and distract my mind. And it wasn't only the men who continued the abuse and subjugation of the women; it was the women themselves. Overall, a very bad, bad time and place to be a woman. At the end, I grieved for them all as I grieved for Snow Flower and the terrible burdens she shouldered throughout her pitiful life. This is an excellent book and I think, should be read by every woman. However, it will bring tears and sadness and great relief that we do not have to live like that anymore.

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Fantastic. Beautifully written story of friendship and love.

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