Review: Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

Historical fiction following a Journey from Shanghai to the U.S.

Note: I try to write a review or recap of all the books that I read. Though I enjoy reading, especially page-turners, I feel lost when I am not able to explain what it’s about and whether or not I would recommend it.

I was first introduced to Lisa See by a book recommendation from a friend for Island of the Sea Women, about the Korean women who were free divers on Jeju Island. That book was relatively recent and apparently most of See’s characters in her historical novels are of Chinese descent. Shanghai Girls (2009) follows the lives of two sisters who grew up very privileged in the upper class of Shanghai society.

Their lives are shaken first by their arranged marriages to sons of an American-born Chinese man, but then immediately they must struggle for survival as the Japanese pursue a military takeover of China in the late 1930s. So many horrific things happen to them as they make their way to join their husbands in a new China City (competing with Chinatown) in Los Angeles. In their journey, we learn about the grueling immigration process on Angel Island that they had to endure before the authorities were satisfied that they were legitimate. Spoiler alert — they weren’t. Because I lived for a while in Los Angeles, I am…