Snow Flower and the Secret Fan was a nice surprise. Yes, many of you have raved about how good the book was, but somehow I had managed to keep my expectation low. Most probably because it’s written by a woman, who despite of her Chinese heritage, is looking very white :). I don’t know how much Chinese blood she has–I couldn’t find much information about her family, but from the notes the book sounds thoroughly researched, so that should make up for a lot.

The book is most famous for its depiction of foot-binding, one of the most mysterious Chinese culture starting in 17th century. I have seen pictures of bound feet before, but it was my first time to read about it in details, how the small toes bones are broken, leaving only the big toe as the main center of balance with the heel. It is simply fascinating! Why would anyone do that? To herself and to her daughters. Jeez. Foot fetish?

There were also some cultural elements that I never heard of and made me wonder about how much truth in it. After all, this is a work of fiction, and things can be distorted by the author. The two major ones were the laotong relationship and nu shu language. Laotong relationship is a bond between two women that works almost like marriage between man and woman, even more sacred according to the book. Nu shu is a secret-code writing used by and created for women in remote area of Southern China. “It appears to be the only written language in the world to have been created by women exclusively for their own use,” says the note at the front of the book.

The novel follows the life of Lily from her childhood to her very old years. Lily comes from a lower class family. By the turn of fate she is predicted to will have perfect lotus feet. It is important to know that the worth of a girl is determined by the size of her feet. So when Lily’s feet are told to potentially have the perfect shape, her status is already upgraded. That is how she is bonded to Snow Flower, a girl from higher class family, her laotong for life. The story then revolves around the friendship and life of these two women. Each changes the other’s fate

The language is very easy to read. Interestingly, it felt like translated work sometimes, because it’s either too harsh or childlike.