Shanghai+Girls

**__Shanghai Girls__** by Lisa See. (Hardcover) Imagine opening an exotic silk curtain and stepping through a window into a faraway time and place. The year is 1937, the place is Shanghai, the “Paris of Asia”, a striking cosmopolitan city where old Chinese traditions clash with daring styles, ideas and attitudes of the newest generation. The story takes two sisters through their carefree times in Shanghai, their struggle to escape after a brutal Japanese invasion, and their journey to California where life is very different. Lisa See writes a beautifully descriptive story about the tumultuous lives of two Chinese women in the years before and during World War Two. I felt the strongest part of the story was the first two thirds; the last third seemed to drag a bit. The ending is interesting; I think See decided on this to allow for a sequel. All in all, if you like a well-written historical fiction, this is a good read on the style and traditions of a foreign culture and how powerful forces can change many things. Submitted by Kathy Watson, Kimball Library (but this was written by Carol Scherer as a staff review and not written with the idea of it being a teen read necessarily.) =So I DID finally read this and LOVED it. STRONG images in a rape scene and not for the faint of heart but an excellently written novel.~Kathy Watson, Kimball Library=

A good crossover book that has had success this year with adults and teen readers at our library. -Kelly Budd, KHS