Shanghai Girls

Dear Books ‘n’ Wine Club,

Break out your cheongsam as we get ready to read Lisa See’s historical fiction, Shanghai Girls.


The name "cheongsam", meaning simply "long dress", entered the English vocabulary from the dialect of China's Guangdong Province (Cantonese). In other parts of the country including Beijing, however, it is known as "qipao". 

Pearl and May are sisters who live a life of luxury in 1930’s Shanghai otherwise known as the Paris of Asia. However, certain events lead them on a life changing journey. To prepare for our next meeting you can find the Reader’s Guide here.

"Having a sister is like having a best friend you can't get rid of. You know whatever you do, they'll still be there." ~Amy Li

Click on the history link of the Angel Island Immigration Stations Foundation’s Website to learn more about the immigration process on the west coast.

Meet Lisa See in this YouTube interview in which she discusses Shanghai Girls and her own heritage.

What is your Chinese Zodiac sign?

Click here to learn more about your sign.


Let’s not forget the jiu. “In Chinese the word for alcohol "jiu" is used to mean all types of alcoholic beverages, from 'pijiu' (beer) to liquors (just called 'jiu') to grape wine ('putao jiu'). The same character is used in Japanese and Korean, for that matter. This lumping together of all intoxicating beverages gives us great insight into the traditional use for alcohol, intoxication. Even in modern China alcoholic beverages are generally classed by the general population by how much intoxication it delivers for the money. From this point of view table wine is at the bottom rung of the consumer preference list, with brandy being much higher.” (Source: http://www.shanghaifinance.com/food/chinesewine.php).

Looking forward to seeing you all at our next meeting and discussing Karin’s selection!

Happy Reading,

October Meeting Notes

Dear more mature and wise Books ‘n’ Wine,

Many thanks to Susan for hosting a wonderful fall evening. The Swedish meatballs and healthy green beans were fantastic. And who didn’t like the more figure friendly chocolate cake? Gotta love those Weight Watchers recipes!

We missed Sarah, who was away on business. We also missed Allison. Our hearts and minds are with her at this time of deep sorrow.

On to the book….

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo proved to be worthy of many interesting discussions. It was agreed that if Susan had not warned us that the beginning was insanely boring we all may have never finished the book in time. Despite the financial industry overload and somewhat excessive scene settings the book built suspense. Susan has even just finished The Girl with Who Played with Fire and I believe many of us plan to forge ahead with the Larsson trilogy.

Certainly the character that carries this book is Lisabeth. Obviously readers are curious about this antisocial and extremely complex individual. We discussed the disturbing scene of Lisabeth’s revenge on her guardian, Bjurman. The group agreed that Lisabeth was forced take control of the situation and that a violent act was the only way to get her point across. It was agreed that Lisabeth probably has Aspergers as it was suggested in the book by Mikael.

Coffee, cigarettes and lots of sex! Mikael’s sex life from one character to the next took some time to hash out. He hopped from Erika’s bed, to Cecilia’s to Lisabeth’s. Man that man was one James Bond! Many of the book’s sex scenes involve rape. In addition the author provides the reader with the sex crime statistics at the beginning of chapters. Was Larsson trying to promote a social cause? Certainly his antagonist characters all assert violence against women. Swedish men are no more violent towards women than any other country, however, it is easier for men to get away with it due to laws and less help is provided to women. Perhaps Larsson was trying to help women bring more focus for the need of more support groups, shelters and stronger laws regarding violence against women.

We talked about the language and the translation of some words was a challenge for many. Swedish words that had no translations were intermixed. Ellen challenged us to look for Horngatspuckeln (shopping area), Walpurgis Night (spring festival) and Snickerifbrik (joinery store/woodworking). No one seems troubled with the many f-bombs dispersed throughout the book.

It was agreed that Harriet was justified in killing her father. However, did Harriet have a moral obligation of society to make sure Martin (brother) never did to others what he had done to her? Lisabeth even expresses anger when she states if Harriet had done something in 1966 Martin Vanger couldn’t have kept killing and raping for thirty-seven years.

Although we covered a few additional items, with its multi-plot lines we could have continued to discuss this book well into the night. I do leave you with one more question: “Congratulations, You’ve managed to corrupt me” says Mikael to Henrik. Do you think Mikael should have published the truth about the Vanger family? Is Mikael corrupt or just as bad as them for burying the story?

Karin shared some insight into the movie version last night. Although not a habit of hers to watch the movie before reading, it was interesting to hear some of the comparisons and differences. Break out the popcorn!

Coming up next month is Shanghai Girls at Karin’s house. I also remind you to save the dates of December 3rd (Jenn’s ornament party) and December 19th (Tentative date for Ellen’s cookie swap).

Cheers,
Jennifer

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Finished the book - don't want to discuss on the blog before we have our monthly meeting - but I do want to issue a challenge to our members.  How many words can you find that you absolutely have no idea what the meaning is? :) I will start the list with the following:

Horngatspuckeln
Walpurgis Night
Snickerifabrik


See you all on the 25th   - Ellen

"Here's to the corkscrew - a useful key to unlock the storehouse of wit, the treasury of laughter,
the front door of fellowship, and the gate of pleasant folly."-W.E.P. French