This book takes place in nineteenth-century China. It is the story of a friendship between two Chinese women who send messages to one another on a silk fan. Their bond grows until a misunderstanding occurs that threatens to tear their friendship apart.
This book looked pretty sitting on a shelf in Chapters so I decided to judge it by its cover and pick it up at my local library. Let's see if it's as pretty inside as it is outside.
Has anyone else heard of footbinding before?! I was so horrified I thought it surely had to be some fictional practice, and then my horror was magnified when I researched the history behind it (and saw the images).
ReplyDeleteI thought it quite ironic I wanted to discover how "pretty" this book was, only to be met with a brutal description of the lengths taken for beauty.
I had heard of footbinding before... it is very horrifying. It's akin to other mutilation practices, I would say.
ReplyDeleteThis book was a very intriguing look in to historic Chinese women's culture... I would it very intriguing.
JiLL.
"found" it very intriguing...(oops)
ReplyDeleteJ.
I found this book to be very interesting read and learned a lot about how devalued women were (and may still be) in the Chinese culture. I found it shocking that even women treated other women as lesser beings.
ReplyDeleteI am glad that the practice of footbinding has stopped because it takes away women's freedom and makes them rely on men for their survival.
What a great first choice for our book club.
Stephanie