Calendar Girl

Readers of Shanghai Girls are well aware that when Pearl and May were young, they were well known by 1939 because of their posing as Beautiful Girls for Chinese calendars.  Less well known is that Lisa is a calendar girl herself.

In 2007 Lisa published the text for "365 Days in China Calendar" (New York:  Workman Publishing):

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/2008-365-days-in-china-wall-calendar-lisa-see/1008402052 

Lisa's text works beautifully with the gorgeous photographs by Keren Su.  If you get a chance, check out this lovely calendar.  It will brighten your day.

Whether Lisa will continue her calendar girl career in the future is unknown.  Your Hollywood reporter will keep you informed if and when anything develops :)

Holding Pattern

It's a long time to have to wait until Lisa's next novel, China Dolls, is published in the spring of 2013.  If you're a Lisa reader dying of impatience, you might consider checking out Trina Robbins' Forbidden City:  The Golden Age of Chinese Nightclubs.  Robbins interviews a number of Asian American San Francisco nightclub performers from the 30s to the 60s.

This interesting background may be helpful when we get to enjoy China Dolls in 2013.

"Shanghai Girls" -- Some Questions I've Wondered About

Shanghai Girls is understandably one of Lisa’s most beloved novels.  Its richness and historical context raise all sorts of questions for readers.  Here are some things I’ve wondered about.  What questions has SG raised for you?

Near the end of Shanghai Girls  May argues that Pearl and Sam have withdrawn into  a world of fear and isolation, not taking advantage of the opportunities open to them.  Is May right that much of Pearl’s sadness and isolation is self-imposed?

How much of Pearl’s attitude toward men and the world in general is influenced by her horrible memories of being raped by the Japanese soldiers and watching her mother being raped and killed?  To what extent does she find her way to healing by the end of the novel?

Sam's relationship with Pearl and Joy is rich and complex.  How do reader attitudes toward him change as the novel progresses?

The novel begins with Pearl saying:  “I am not a person of importance.”   After Yen-yen dies, Pearl comments:  “Her funeral is small.  After all, she was not a person of importance, rather just a wife and mother.”  What do these quotes say about major themes of the novel?

Speaking of Yen-yen, Pearl notes:  “When we’re packing, Yen-yen says she’s tired.  She sits down on the couch in the main room and dies.”  I caught my breath when I first read this.  Why does Pearl describe Yen-yen’s death in such an abrupt way?

How to understand the complex relationship between Pearl and May?  How does the fact that both are in a sense Joy’s mother affect their relationship toward each other?

Shanghai Girls is very different in many ways from Lisa’s previous novels.  One of them is the way China is treated.  In her previous books China is a main character in the narrative.  This is less true in Shanghai Girls, partly because so much of the action takes place on Angel Island or in Los Angeles.  How does this change of focus affect the novel?

Although she considers herself wise, especially in contrast to May, Pearl misinterprets a large number of things.  What are the most important ways in which Pearl comes to discover that she has been wrong about essential things?

I've always been fascinated by the role of Pearl as unreliable narrator. Given this point of view, how should the reader understand May and her motives?

 In the final fiery confrontation between the two sisters, Pearl lashes out at May because of her “betrayal.”  In what critical ways does May betray Pearl?

Lisa beautifully portrays Pearl and May’s mother.  How do readers feel about her?  How is she like other Lisa characters? 

Each sister believes that her parents loved the other more.  Who is right about this?

Like On Gold Mountain, SG makes a powerful statement about the mistreatment of Chinese immigrants to the US.  I previously had little understanding of this.

Originally Lisa did not plan to write a sequel to SG, but her publisher and readers strongly encouraged her to do so.  If Lisa had not written Dreams of Joy and SG had ended as it does, how would a reader's reaction to Shanghai Girls change?

All Lisa’s novels – including SG – are filled with deep pain and great suffering.  How to readers react to the pain and suffering Pearl and May experience?

Lisa’s novels passionately depict and oppose the oppression of women.  How is this theme treated in SG and in Lisa's other novels?

The fact that Pearl and May are or have been Beautiful Girls is referred to several times in the novel.  What is the importance of this role for each of the sisters?

Are Pearl and May true to their astrological signs?  Pearl seems to be a woman of great endurance, but she often fails to display the fiery Dragon spirit.  May, on the other hand, is much more aggressive in seeking out opportunities in the new world.  In so doing she does not seem much like a Sheep.

 Late in the novel May tells Pearl that she turned Sam and her in to the authorities for their own good. She seems to be sincere in this.  On the other hand, is there a darker motive for her actions?  
 
Ideally should we read On Gold Mountain before reading SG or does it matter?

Because Lisa’s novels always have a rich historical context, readers have differing views regarding how important background information to her work is.  For example, one thing I wish I had known before reading SG was a little about the Battle of Shanghai.  Is there other such context that would enhance a reading of Shanghai Girls?

"Dragon Bones"

Dragon Bones (2003) is a good mystery novel that is very entertaining to read.  In the two previous Red Princess Mysteries, the two main characters are China herself and Liu Hulan.  Since the time frame of these two books is relatively short (the Cultural Revolution and the years after), their complex plots follow a number of characters as they ride the hurricane ups and downs of this period.

At the center of both novels is Hulan.  The complexity of her character matches the complexity of the China in which she lives.  On the one hand, she is the ice princess, cold and unfeeling in her MPS investigations.  On the other hand, she is a woman deeply wounded by her past and haunted by guilt for what she has previously done.  David Stark, the talented American attorney who loves Hulan, is in many ways the interpreter of China for the reader.

In Dragon Bones Hulan and David return with China once more as their world.  Now David’s role is expanded and Hulan moves more to the background.  The problem in doing this is that Hulan is the heart and soul of the Red Princess Mysteries.  In making her role smaller, the reader tends to read Dragon Bones as a good mystery rather than a fine novel, which its predecessors are.  David is now more central to the story and his character is more rounded, but since he is a simpler character than Hulan, he can’t substitute for her.  Nevertheless, his emergence as an action hero is interesting in its own right.  (Is it physically possible to do all that David does after his beating near the end of the novel?)

Some random impressions:

·         In the beginning the death of Chaowen seems more told than shown; later, when the lovers attempt to regain their love from the past, their grief and guilt become more real for the reader

·         The scene in which Hulan shoots the mother at the All-Patriotic Society rally is extremely well done, bringing back memories of Hulan and her own daughter.  The treatment of Brian’s mistress and child are also effective in this regard.

·         Paradoxically, China herself doesn’t seem as rich and significant as the country appears in the previous novels; the paradox lies in the fact that Chinese history is now treated from the perspective of 5000 years or more.  The much shorter and more contemporary time frames of the previous two books may make them more real to some extent.  My lack of knowledge of Chinese history and the various dynasties may be an issue here as well.  I still don’t completely understand the significance of Brian’s discoveries or why the Site 518 ruyi is so important as a contemporary symbol that transfers great power to its possessor.

·         Hulan’s resolution of many of her deepest conflicts at story’s end seems somewhat rushed.  The power of Michael’s words and her throwing her guilt and pain from the past into the river make sense, but Hulan’s healing in real world terms would take a long time.

To sum up: Dragon Bones is a good mystery.  Flower Net is a fine novel that transcends its genre.

"The Interior"

The Interior (1999) is a very apt title for Lisa’s second mystery.   Not only does it refer to the interior of China but also to the need of Hulan and David to see beneath the masks of the many characters around them as well as their own.

Once again Lisa does an excellent job of depicting her characters – especially the women.  Suchee, Miaoshan, Peanut, and (of course) Hulan.  Hulan says at one point that to solve Miaoshan’s murder, she needs to understand Miaoshan.  The reader is prone to add that to truly understand the first two Red Princess novels, one has to understand Hulan, who still remains a woman of mystery, torn by many conflicting feelings and memories of her past.  Her comment to David that she has never received unconditional love says a lot about her.  And, of course, encompassing everything is the mystery of China itself.

In one sense, David is the traditional hero – intelligent, strong, principled, and loving.  His problem, however, is that as a character, he is relatively flat compared to Hulan, the most rounded character of the first two novels.  Also, he is placed at a disadvantage in that we see him mostly in China, where he doesn’t understand much about Chinese languages or China’s rituals and culture.  As he admits himself, although he is a very able attorney, he knows little about Chinese law.

In terms of plot, Lisa once again has done a great job of crafting an exciting complex narrative in which everything fits together at last. The treatment of the women working in the toy factory would have been especially meaningful to my father, who was a leading labor leader until right before his death.  Lisa treats this theme very well.

Lisa has written some of the best concluding scenes I have ever read.  The Epilogue focusing on Suchee working in the fields, unable to forget her painful past, is deeply moving.   And I have never read better Acknowledgments.  They are warm, touching, and totally in keeping with her novel.

Not only is The Interior a good read;  it also shows Lisa to be ahead of the curve in pointing out the dangers of working in Chinese factories and of purchasing poorly made Chinese products.

"On Gold Mountain"

In On Gold Mountain (1995), Lisa's Chinese family history, the reader is given a wonderful narrative that helps explain the successes and failures of the Chinese men and women who worked so hard to make real their dreams about coming to America.  The reader is immersed in China, its history and culture, aided by the opportunity of frequently seeing the enigma of China from the American perspective.

Lisa does a masterful job of relating her long and complicated family history to the changing nature of both China and the US for 100 years.  I was not aware of how badly Chinese immigrants were treated and of the many ways they tried to cope with a frequently hostile environment.  Lisa's narrative skill greatly enhances the flow as the reader moves from generation to generation, person to person.  Thank goodness for the family tree!  In the beginning I found myself going back to it over and over again.

One of the fascinating things about OGM is how Lisa remains objective in telling her family story.  Even in describing in some detail the horrible experience many Chinese men went through in working on the railroad, she stays calm – which in one sense makes the details she discusses even more disturbing (cf. Swift, who was never able to do this).  I especially enjoyed Lisa's treatment of her mother and herself as she grew to maturity – even referring to herself as “Lisa” many times in the narrative.

What a wonderful picture gallery.  It is fascinating in its own right, but in addition it helps ground the memoir.

I was especially affected by Lisa's treatment of Ticie and her mother.  I identified with Ticie throughout the book and found her separation from Fong See to be painful.  What struck me about Ticie and Lisa's mother is their strength and creativity and their different ways of dealing with traditional Chinese views concerning the role of woman.  Although Fong See dominates the narrative, I tended to see him from the outside – hard working, strong in mind and body, creative, determined, and to some extent trapped in a narrow view of the world, seeing it largely in terms of money and traditional views of the relationships between men and women.  His character finally clicked for me when Lisa describes his reflections as an old man about the meaning of life – and as I looked at his pictures over the years.

I really like the way Lisa ties the beginning and ending of OGM  together  -- her family's story begins in Dimtao and she returns to Dimtao at the book's end.  Her description of her journey to Dimtao is both humorous and touching.  She has such a nice control of tone here.

And her acknowledgments.  She is the only author whose acknowledgments I’ve ever read.  When I come to them my standard response is to quickly move on.  But her acknowledgments are so warm and thoughtful, that I can’t skip them.  Shame on her!

In the end I have to quote one of Lisa's most deeply held ideas:  “History is not just about wars and dates; it’s something that happens to real people.  Do they rise to the occasion and challenges or do they fail?”

"Peony in Love"

I've always had a special place in my heart for Peony in Love (2007).  I'm deeply impressed by the artistic courage it took Lisa to finish and publish this novel.  She had earlier published Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, a masterpiece by any standard.  And then she follows it with perhaps the riskiest of her novels.

Lisa faced extensive criticism of her concept for this book, told over and over that a ghost story like this has never been successful and probably never would be.  But she stayed true to her artistic vision -- and we are all blessed that she did.

Here are my first reactions to this very special novel.

I  just finished Peony in Love.  What a ride.  This novel stands out from Lisa’s previous work, the closest novel to compare it to being Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. Where Lisa’s earlier novels (especially the Red Princess series) have solid structure and a somewhat Dickensian complexity and plot resolution, PL flows, carrying the reader along with it.

This novel presents the most elaborate treatment of love that she has explored so far.  Although the love of two women for each other is beautifully treated in SF, PL goes way beyond it in Lisa’s portrayal of the complex relationship of Peony, Ze, and Yi to each other  -- mostly built on love but sometimes darker emotions (Ze and even Peony herself at times).  All three of them are joined in their relationships to Ren and by the impact of The Peony Pavilion on each of them.

The brutality and insensitivity of men is powerfully shown – in the horrific experiences of Peony’s grandmother and mother during the Cataclysm and in male determination to keep women in the inner world, leaving the outer world to themselves.

Peony is a fascinating character.  She dies so early in the novel that many readers may be caught off guard.  Before she dies, she is an attractive, talented, romantic young woman with little knowledge of the world.  As a ghost, on the other hand, her experiences help her to become a wise and loving woman, as her mother immediately recognizes when they meet after the latter’s death.  Her love for Ren is so great, that it sustains her through many years of sorrow and loneliness and gradually reaches out to all who are close to him, especially her sister wives.

Lisa’s treatment of the need for women artists to be respected and to have a voice is effectively presented.  Virginia Woolf would certainly applaud.  The Peony Pavilion and its evolving commentaries are part of this as well as Lisa’s treatment of Peony’s mother and the other talented, artistic women whom Peony has a chance to meet and learn from as a ghost.

Lisa’s treatment of Peony’s father is very good.  As is true of much of the novel, as Peony’s experiences and knowledge of the past grow, she can see her father as a man who loves her very much, as a man who betrays both his principles and his family to gain power and influence, as a coward who puts personal survival ahead of protecting his family, as a man who buys his wife back from the Manchus, despite everything that has happened to her, and as the loving father who cares for her even more than she thought he did.  Changes in Peony’s perspectives of a number of people and circumstances provide very interesting reading.

PL is a fine novel – one that deserves and demands a second reading.