Not one of Lisa See’s best works. Does show how scary China was in the 50s. The corruption and lack of humanity was devastating! The book seemed to just drop and end with no closure.

If you want to read/understand about China without it being 'helped' (all pun intended towards "The Help") along by strange, stilted "orientalist" notions of how it used to be in the old times, this would NOT be the book/series to read.As an articulate asian (from Singapore), it pains me to read such trash passing off as historic fiction/filtered through what are very much western eyes (doesn't matter if the writer knows Amy Tan or has See as a surname) and targeted to what are clearly western n...

My main complaint here was that the suspension of disbelief required for this book was a bit much. I enjoyed the story -- once I just decided to suck it up and suspend -- and the description of the famine that resulted from the Great Leap Forward was heartbreaking, but overall I just couldn't get past how ridiculously improbably the entire scenario was. Starting from pretty much the first page you have situations that just defy reason. The only real conclusion we're left to draw as readers is th...

I'm thrilled that there is a sequel to Shanghai Girls! This looks good; I can't wait to read it. Just can't decide if I should buy the book or read on my Kindle! If you have not read Shanghai Girls yet.. go get yourself a copy.This book was so good; I'm a little bummed out that I've finished reading it. I'm not going to recap the whole plot because so many other people have done so on their reviews. It's really about relationships within a family, and life in communist China during the 'Great Le...

If my mother would have read this book, firstly, she would scoff at Joy for being an ignorant fool and then latched her eyes onto me sternly saying, "See, this is what happens when you do not listen to your mother!" But then, if we do listen to our mothers all the time, how would we craft our own experiences, crash down in our mistakes and strive for success in our own astute ways. Joy was restless, enthusiastic and an erratic teen who like many other adolescent Chinese immigrants romanticized M...

Beautiful, beautiful book...and a bit horrifying as well. I was unaware when I started this book that it was part of a well-known series involving Pearl and Mae, two of the story's main characters. Joy is the 19 year old daughter of Chinese nationals who relocated to California at the start of China's "Cultural Revolution". The book opens with the death of Joy's father and a startling family skeleton revealed. Deeply shaken, Joy leaves the US to pursue her idea of China. Believing, as only a col...

I'll say at the outset: I love Lisa See. I loved On Gold Mountain: The 100 Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family. The Flower Net, Shanghai Girls, Peony in Love, and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. I love her writing, her carefully researched hstory, her political commitment, and deft creation of characters, her portrayal of relationships, especially family ones.So I was thrilled to win her soon-to-be-published new work, book:Dreams of Joy: A Novel|9500416] from the goodreads giveaway.But I

4 stars for a story of tragedy, loss and family. This book starts with strong willed Joy rebelling against her mom and running away to China. It is 1957, the year before "The Great Leap Forward", which becomes a catastrophic famine. Recent research suggests about 45 million people died during this man made famine.Joy has found out that her real parents are not those she believed to be her parents. She is determined to find her birth father in China. She meets and marries a farmer in a small Chin...

*** I wanted to share this review because Ms. See has a new book coming out in March, I'm hoping it will be a great one :) ***This is the follow up to Ms. See's Shanghi Girls. At the start of the story Joy learns the secret that her aunt is her true biological mother. She is angry and defiant and ha also been keeping company with idealists who believe that the "New China" sounds like a great idea.Joy actually goes to China to find her father and in doing so gives up her US citizenship. She throw...

This is one of my favorite books of all time! Its the powerful and satisfying conclusion to "Shanghai Girls."Exquisitely written down to the last vivid detail in this amazing journey across 1950s China and into the heart of what it means to be a family. If you were awestruck by Lisa See's "Shanghai Girls," prepare yourself for an even finer novel with "Dreams of Joy" completing the tapestry with compelling and mesmerizing redemptive power. Great sense of place and evolution of somewhat flawed, b...

I know there was a bigger point here, but I kept thinking "What a dumbass girl..."

Dreams of Joy is Lisa See’s sequel to Shanghai Girls, but that isn’t really what it is...it is really the completion of what was, for me, an incomplete story. It would be like having Gone With the Wind end when Scarlett gets back to Tara after the burning of Atlanta...you would feel cheated, because you would know there were a lot of important pieces of this story that you didn’t yet know. It just couldn’t have ended there. Everything truly important happens in GWTW after that point, your unders...

In Shanghai Girls you read about the Japanese Invasion of China, and follow Pearl and her sister May as they try to escape China after their family unravels. In order to get to America, they must go through some horrific ordeals. "Dreams of Joy" is the continuation of this book. In this book, Pearl and her daughter, Joy are the narrators. Here, you read more about the Chinese "Great Leap Forward." While not as plot-driven and laced with conflict as Shanghai Girls was, this book is a fictional lo...

So, Shanghai girls ended with me screaming WHAT THE? THAT'S IT!? IT'S OVER. AUGH! BUT WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN?So there's this book to answer the question. Spoiler for Shanghai Girls, but Joy runs away to China which is the stupidest thing she could do since it's when Mao took over.Pearl goes out of her way to find her and bring her home.The only problem with this book is perhaps things resolve a bit too neatly. It's why I'd give it more of a 3.5. The best thing about this book is learning what Ch...

“Maybe stories and memories are destined to be incomplete...”― Lisa See, Dreams of Joy I'm glad I decided to read the 2 stories together since the ending of "Shanghai Girls" is the beginning of "Dreams of Joy". It's a family saga that spans about 25 years between the two stories; it begins in Shanghai moves to LA then returns to China.The first part in mostly the story of two sisters, Pearl and May, told by Pearl. (tbc)“So often, we're told that women's stories are unimportant. After all, what

I am glad I read this one, to learn the continuing story of sisters May and Pearl, and daughter Joy, but I do not think this book was as good as the previous ones. We meet up with Joy again as she has run away from home to go back to China to help build the new revolution. It is the 1950s, Mao has come to power in 1949, and Joy is burning with excitement over communes, socialism, etc. She soon learns that it is not all as romantic as she had thought, however, as she reunites with her birth-fathe...

Initially, I thought that having Joy and Pearl return to China was such an obvious device that I was disappointed. Joy was naive, judgmental, and superficial; Pearl still critical. Not a great leap forward.Then, it got more interesting: they arrive in 1950's China and serve as sort of tour guides through the various parts of Chinese society. Vicariously, I spent time in a commune; I spent time at banquets in Shanghai. Most interesting.Meanwhile, quietly, the characters grow: Joy becomes a fully