This time the author takes on 20th century Chinese women after previously writing of the women in 17th & 19th century (Snow Flower and the Secret Fan & Peony in Love). The author does a masterful job of describing the lives and events of two sisters in Shanghai. Pearl and May are "Beautiful Girls", the supermodels of the era. They pose for artists who paint magazine ads and calendars and live a westernized social life in the cosmopolitan city of Shanghai in the 1930s. Things change when their father loses his money gambling and the girls are sold into arranged marriages and will be sent to Los Angeles. Before they make it there Japan attacks China and they endure a tortuous trip by foot to Hong Kong during the time of "The Rape of Nanking." Upon arriving in Los Angeles they are encarcerated on Angel Island and forced to undergo multiple inquisitions by the U.S. Immigration before eventually being allowed to join their husbands' family. Eventually they discover the truth about their new family's status and the reality of the hard life they will endure in a country where they are looked down on and denied citizenship because of their nationality. By the end of the book Pearl has endured more than most people could bear as a dutiful Chinese wife and mother while May has managed to have a more western and glamorous life as an extra in Hollywood.
The story is well written and has a riveting story but in many ways it is "too much"--too much tragedy, too much coincidence, too much "I love and take care of my sister regardless of what she does", too much stretching the believablity of the reader. To be honest, it is a very depressing book but I still await the sequel which is due out soon.
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