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This was a re-read for me though the first time I read it I apparently didn't write a review. Lily and Snow Flower are matched as laotong , basically a contractual friendship, as young girls. Lily manages to marry well due to her perfect bound feet whereas Snow Flower ends up marrying an abusive butcher. What stuck with me most from my first reading was the foot binding descriptions and what an awful thing that was to make a person do. I still remember looking at pictures of actual foot bindings
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Aug 30, 2009
Sunflower
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From this book I learned to be grateful that I can walk as far as I want to on my feet. Sounds daft, but this novel skilfully plunges the reader into the world of women in rural China in the 18th century. The secret language of nu shu, footbinding and living a life almost entirely indoors, as well as the subjugation not only to the husband but to his entire family.....so far removed from your everyday life now. It's a pity that the sworn sisterhood hasn't survived, I could surely do with one at
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This is a wonderful book about the relationship between two young girls in China during the days of bound feet. I enjoyed how the status of the girls changes again and again over time and how they learn how to live in their restrictive positions of being women in China at that time.
This book is amazing! I'm so glad I read it.
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Feb 14, 2012
Pam
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Mar 16, 2012
Ginger
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Patricia
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Kim DeCina
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Laura
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May 21, 2015
Megan
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Sep 22, 2015
Felicia follum
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Aug 11, 2017
Michelle
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Feb 19, 2018
Brenda
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Oct 16, 2019
Michelle
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