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3 Local Warehouse Literature- A to Z

Shanghai Girls

by Lisa See

Shanghai Girls Cover

ISBN13: 9780812980530
ISBN10: 0812980530
Condition: Standard
All Product Details

Only 3 left in stock at $3.95!

 

Staff Pick

An epic journey from Shanghai to Los Angeles frames this amazing tale from Lisa See.  Sisters May and Pearl Chin survive and triumph over stark injustice and unspeakable horror. Complete with family secrets, tragedy, forbidden love, and a long history of female oppression, Shanghai Girls is a journey no one should take, but everyone should read. Stunning.
Recommended by Dianah, Powell's Books at PDX

Review-A-Day

"See's tale of the two sisters' love and rivalry, their romantic adventures and long struggles to regain their balance in a new land is entertaining, if melodramatic." Julie Phillips, Ms. Magazine (read the entire Ms. Magazine review)

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

In 1937 Shanghai—the Paris of Asia—twenty-one-year-old Pearl Chin and her younger sister, May, are having the time of their lives. Both are beautiful, modern, and carefree—until the day their father tells them that he has gambled away their wealth. To repay his debts, he must sell the girls as wives to suitors who have traveled from Los Angeles to find Chinese brides. As Japanese bombs fall on their beloved city, Pearl and May set out on the journey of a lifetime, from the Chinese countryside to the shores of America. Though inseparable best friends, the sisters also harbor petty jealousies and rivalries. Along the way they make terrible sacrifices, face impossible choices, and confront a devastating, life-changing secret, but through it all the two heroines of this astounding new novel hold fast to who they are—Shanghai girls.

Review:

"[I]n Shanghai Girls [See] again explores the bonds of sisterhood while powerfully evoking the often nightmarish American immigrant experience." USA Today

Review:

"A buoyant and lustrous paean to the bonds of sisterhood." Booklist

Video

About the Author

Lisa See is the New York Times bestselling author of Peony in Love, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Flower Net (an Edgar Award nominee), The Interior, and Dragon Bones, as well as the critically acclaimed memoir On Gold Mountain. The Organization of Chinese American Women named her the 2001 National Woman of the Year. She lives in Los Angeles.

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 4 comments:

Melyn, September 22, 2011 (view all comments by Melyn)
It's better than Snow Flower and The Secret Fan....easy way to learn about history. I think students would enjoy it too.
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Harriet Hutchinson, January 15, 2011 (view all comments by Harriet Hutchinson)
I have passed this along to all of my friends. Lisa See writes an engaging tale mixing historical fact with unusual story lines.
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(1 of 1 readers found this comment helpful)
annpepper20, March 25, 2010 (view all comments by annpepper20)
I don't understand the infatuation with this book. I found it boring. Yes, it was good to learn a bit about Chinese History, and Chinese American history in Los Angeles, but See's decision to tell the story in first person, present tense seemed to just suck the emotional strength from the book. Scenes which should have felt harrowing - the Japanese bombing of Shanghai for example, felt distant and out of touch. More than that, the characters and their choices did not feel either believable or even interesting. Though I know See believes she has gone deep into the relationship between sisters, I thought the relationships were superficial, failing to get to the root of their conflict until the end, and then that end was swept away into one of those Ferry God Mother kind of wrappings that you hope authors wont do, but unfortunately tend to do anyway. Blahhhhhh......
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780812980530
Author:
See, Lisa
Publisher:
Random House Trade
Subject:
Contemporary Women
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
General Fiction
Subject:
Literature-Contemporary Women
Copyright:
Edition Description:
Trade paper
Publication Date:
20100231
Binding:
TRADE PAPER
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Pages:
336
Dimensions:
7.97 x 5.2 x .65 in .5 lb

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Related Subjects


Fiction and Poetry » Literature » A to Z
Fiction and Poetry » Literature » Contemporary Women
Languages » Foreign Languages » Spanish » Fiction and Poetry » Literature » A to Z

Shanghai Girls Used Trade Paper
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$3.95 In Stock
Product details 336 pages Random House Trade Paperbacks - English 9780812980530 Reviews:
"Staff Pick" by ,

An epic journey from Shanghai to Los Angeles frames this amazing tale from Lisa See.  Sisters May and Pearl Chin survive and triumph over stark injustice and unspeakable horror. Complete with family secrets, tragedy, forbidden love, and a long history of female oppression, Shanghai Girls is a journey no one should take, but everyone should read. Stunning.

"Review A Day" by , "See's tale of the two sisters' love and rivalry, their romantic adventures and long struggles to regain their balance in a new land is entertaining, if melodramatic." (read the entire Ms. Magazine review)
"Review" by , "[I]n Shanghai Girls [See] again explores the bonds of sisterhood while powerfully evoking the often nightmarish American immigrant experience."
"Review" by , "A buoyant and lustrous paean to the bonds of sisterhood."
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