Dreams of Joy (Shanghai Girls, #2) in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

Jun 25, 2014 Arianna rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobook, audible, borrowed

shelfnotes.com

Dear Reader,

Wow. It was amazing to revisit the story of Pearl and May, who I hadn't encountered since reading Shanghai Girls about a year ago. This book was even better than the first - if only because of how much it taught me about Communist China in the 1950s. Unbelievable. I don't even know what to say about it all.

The story? It's of Pearl's (and May's, if you know the story) daughter, Joy, who decides in her confusion after the end of the last book to go to China, believing st shelfnotes.com

Dear Reader,

Wow. It was amazing to revisit the story of Pearl and May, who I hadn't encountered since reading Shanghai Girls about a year ago. This book was even better than the first - if only because of how much it taught me about Communist China in the 1950s. Unbelievable. I don't even know what to say about it all.

The story? It's of Pearl's (and May's, if you know the story) daughter, Joy, who decides in her confusion after the end of the last book to go to China, believing strongly in Chairman Mao's ideology. (I think I might have felt the same way, hearing of the idealism of socialism and communism - despite how much of an evil it was considered during that postwar era.) She's been even more convinced regarding the ways of China's politics by a college boyfriend, which is also believable. So Joy decides to run from the only family and life she has ever known, to seek out her birth father and her destiny in China. Her travels are difficult right from the start, but she makes it past Red China's borders and begins her life there, having successfully reunited with Z.G. Her time there sounds so promising in the beginning, as she builds new relationships and embraces the ideals of the communes she visits. That part of the story was interesting, of course, but it was afterwards when the true meat of the story began.

Joy's mother Pearl follows her daughter to China, convinced that her daughter needs to be rescued. Pearl meets up with Joy just as the younger is about to get married to a country boy and become part of a rural household. Despite her parents' protestations, Joy marries the man out of what she believes is love. However, her bubble is soon burst as she begins to experience provincial life, and life under the Chairman and his minions. Starvation makes monsters of the country's people, inducing many of them even to cannibalism. It was so difficult to read the graphic descriptions that See renders with her writing; I was constantly gasping in horror at her stories, but I believe she writes from true history. The way she was able to frame this terrible experience within a story of familial love made it all more bearable, but just. Having grown up well past the Red Scare, I had no real feelings about Red China. I only knew that I recognized the promising ideals of Communism, and always thought it might be a good political system, despite the paranoia that many were fed post-WWII regarding it. However, I had no real knowledge of the Communist China which existed in the 1950s (although, come to think of it, I did know how rough it was in the USSR during my childhood, which is odd). I think this was a great book for me to read; I really had no clue at all about how things went down under Chairman Mao. I only knew I was supposed to see him as an evil dictator. Now, I understand the horrendous things he made his people suffer under his regime. I understand now why many equated Communism with evil.

I loved revisiting characters whom I had grown to love in Shanghai Girls. But I also love that the author decided to write more through the eyes of Joy, the product of post-war America, more than from the eyes of the women who were featured in the first book. I think it was a beautiful way to continue the story, as it particular emphasized the strong family and generational bonds which the Chinese embrace.

The title was a great double entendre, too. I don't know if See intended to continue her first book, and therefore planned the name of Joy, but I like to imagine it just fell into place for her as she was contemplating her sequel. It's just too perfect.

Yours,
Arianna ...more

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Feb 18, 2011 Sarah left GR rated it it was ok

Shelves: fiction, first-reads

First things first: I received an advance copy of this through a Goodreads "first reads" giveaway. And as much as I love free stuff, I won't let that color my review.

This novel is a sequel to Shanghai Girls, which I haven't read. Thought about checking it out of the library, but decided to try reviewing Dreams of Joy first, to see how it works as a standalone. It does, and doesn't.

The novel is narrated entirely in the first-person present tense, though it (thankfully!) alternates narrators. We b First things first: I received an advance copy of this through a Goodreads "first reads" giveaway. And as much as I love free stuff, I won't let that color my review.

This novel is a sequel to Shanghai Girls, which I haven't read. Thought about checking it out of the library, but decided to try reviewing Dreams of Joy first, to see how it works as a standalone. It does, and doesn't.

The novel is narrated entirely in the first-person present tense, though it (thankfully!) alternates narrators. We begin with Joy, a nineteen-year-old girl fleeing her Los Angeles home in 1958 after the death of her father and a fight with her mother and aunt. And where does she flee? Communist China on the eve of the Great Leap Forward and subsequent famine. Our other narrator is Pearl, Joy's mother, who rushes to China in hopes of finding her daughter and bringing her back to the U.S. Not the easiest of tasks at this particular point in history.

Joy was... not my favorite character. She's naive and hypocritical, and comes across (sometimes) as almost a deliberate simpleton. I think we're supposed to be sympathetic to her, since she blames herself for her father's death, but I spent most of her chapters wishing she would wake up and pay attention to what's going on around her. Pearl's chapters were a relief by comparison. Still, even in Pearl's case, it was difficult to connect to her. This is partly because I hadn't read Shanghai Girls; Pearl's most emotional scenes (reunions with people in Shanghai) had little resonance for me, since these other characters were basically strangers.

Not all of this can be blamed on the sequel-ness of the work, though. The author uses one of my least favorite devices: characterization shortcuts. There's probably a literary term for this, but to me, it's any instance where an author uses a cultural shorthand as a substitute for creating a character from scratch. In See's case, she uses Zodiac signs: Tao is a Dog, therefore he is likeable; Z.G. is a Rabbit, therefore he is cautious. Paolo Giordano did it in The Solitude of Prime Numbers: Alice is an anorexic, Mattia is a self-mutilator. Lionel Shriver notably did not do it in We Need to Talk About Kevin, and let me tell you -- Kevin was a lot more disturbing for not having an easy label plucked from the DSM. Anyway. It's hard to describe, but I know it when I see it.

Plot-wise, the novel works. Through Pearl and Joy, we see two very different perspectives of life in China during the Great Leap Forward. See did her homework; the descriptions of life in Green Dragon Village, especially as the famine worsens, are indelible. Again, my disappointment stems mostly from my lack of connection to any of the characters.

Recommended for those who liked Shanghai Girls. ...more

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Aug 19, 2011 Deb rated it it was amazing

I am officially addicted to beautifully written works of fiction that also bring to life a period of history and culture previously unknown to me... Both touching and horrifying the author paints the ugly picture of China's Great Leap Forward and how love and determination saved one family. Wow! ...more

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Mar 31, 2011 Stacey rated it really liked it

First Reads Copy - I enjoyed the continuation of Pearl and Joy's story. I also cannot even begin to comprehend the things that people endured during the late 1950s in China. Thank you for the advance copy. ...more

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Jun 02, 2011 Ally rated it really liked it

Lisa See is a very engaging author. Her books spur me to learn more about historical events (in this case Mao's reign and the Great Leap Forward) and for a history nerd like me, this is a good thing.

The book is direct sequel to Shanghai Girls (meaning it starts exactly where the book left off) and while the subject matter was not delightful, the book sure was. ...more

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