Good Faith by Jane Smiley

I was attracted to this book because one of my favorite all time books is by Jane Smiley,  A Thousand Acres: A Novel. I was sure this also would be a great pick.  The way Jane brings you into her character's hidden traits and dirty lives is a reflection of her mastery as an author. She can shock you as her story turns.

I didn't find this story was as compelling as A Thousand Acres, after all this is a story about Joe the conservative realtor who wouldn't mind becoming a billionaire, unlike the characters of A Thousand Acres who are busy trying to murder each other.  The story is richly woven with a multitude of other characters and delightful sub plots.  This is a story about Joe, Joe's close friends, Betty and Gordon, Felicity (Betty and Gordon's daughter), and so many characters I can't list them and begin to make this a sensible review!  The outsider sharks, Marcus and Jane (Marcus' sister, or so they say), bring a new kind of BIG thinking into the little town.

I found the beginning of the book a sleeper, as I'm not interested in real estate deals.  This was followed by a sense of embarrassment over the shocking affair between John and Felicity (that was just wrong).  I then went into the stage of seeing through the self serving, guiltless, sociopathic, shady Bernie Madolf type behavior displayed by Marcus and Jane.  This was so close to my own father's business deals, I found this uncomfortable and wanted to throw the book away.  I found Marcus rotten to the core, though Jane Smiley never convicted him, and left it up to the reader to judge Marcus.  Perhaps by judging Marcus all of us would be judged, as greed is only a matter of degree.

All in all, this was well written, though to me it read more like a soap opera than a novel. There are many satisfied Amazon readers, but this wasn't a book for me.  However, it was compelling enough that I finished it and still wanted more.  Go figure....

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

This is one of those books you just can't put down!  I finished this at 2 AM Friday night, even though I needed to get up early the next day (quite reminiscent of the Nancy Drew 3 AM middle school readathons).  This is not common for me.

This book would make an excellent gift.  The reading is light and the story compelling.  The characters and setting in a Hunan county in China during the 1800's is very interesting.  It would be a great book for any female reader, including a middle school or high school reader (reading at their grade level, which is not common at all where I live).  It would also be a book that I would highly recommend for a reading group discussion.  There are discussion questions at the end, but I would not find any of these necessary in a meeting.  This book needs no guidance into discussion!

There are many striking topics covered in addition to the rich social issues of Chinese culture.  One topic that stood out distinctly for discussion is the life long relationship between female friends.  The relationships, even in American culture, can be so strong that we also refer to each other as sisters or as Aunts (in the case of a strong bond between women of two different generations).  However, in Chinese culture this was formalized in written contracts.  Another topic I find interesting for discussion are the social ordering of people in Chinese culture compared to our own American culture.  The Chinese culture is extreme in this era, as evident in the foot binding (another amazing topic for discussion),  the education of the males vs females of this culture, the living arrangements of married women (ruled by their mother-in-laws outside of their natal home) and the strict requirements for respect and obedience.

I hope someone will tell me what they think of this book.   What did you think?

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and other eastern tales of recommendation.

I received Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See as a get well gift from my Aunt.  Finally, after finishing Texas (what a long read that was), I treated myself to a choice from the long negleted  "book stack".  This book is a great selection! It is an historical fiction accounting of the the life of a chinese girl, Lily, set in the 1800's in a Hunan county.  The second chapter has a description of the disfiguring horrible tradition of foot binding  that I will never forget.  I learned that that the girl's toe bones and arch must break to complete this process.  I will edit this post as I have more to say about this book.  I can't wait to get back to this book later this evening.

It is as good as other eastern tales such as Aurthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha
 or some of Perl Buck's materpieces.  In the past, the New Mexico Readers' Group has discussed Memoirs of a Geisha, The Good Earth, Imperial Woman and Bound Feet and Western Dress, A Memoir by Pang-Mei Natasha Chang.  I hope that our book club picks an Amy Tan book at some point, as they are delightful also.  I would highly recommend my two favorites, The Joy Luck Club and The Kitchen God's Wife.

Perhaps if you never read the book Memoirs of a Geisha you could enjoy the movie.  I did not, and my recommendation would be to read the book.  It was excellent.