Lisa See's 2005 novel follows Lily and Snow Flower, two girls in rural nineteenth-century Hunan province matched at age seven as laotong -- "old sames," a lifelong, formally bonded friendship considered more significant than marriage in that culture -- who communicate for decades through nu shu, a real secret script that women in that region actually invented and used to write to each other, hidden from men, for centuries. See traveled to the remote county where nu shu was documented, where she says she was told she was only the second foreigner ever to visit. This review covers what the novel actually depicts, the real critical praise from the Washington Post and Entertainment Weekly, the real Goodreads numbers, and the specific, well-documented reason many readers say parts of this book were genuinely hard to get through.
What Snow Flower and the Secret Fan Actually Is
The novel is narrated by Lily, an elderly woman looking back on her life, beginning with her matching as a laotong to Snow Flower when both girls are seven years old, in a rural county of Hunan province in the 1820s. The two endure foot binding together, marry into different social classes, and sustain their friendship for decades through messages written in nu shu on a folding fan that passes back and forth between them -- a real historical practice See researched directly. The friendship, not any romantic plot, is the novel's actual center: it survives class differences, jealousy, a serious rift caused by a misunderstanding, and eventually the Taiping Rebellion, before resolving in Lily's old age. The book is as much a study of a specific, real, and largely undocumented women's culture as it is a conventional plot-driven novel.
See structures the book around the practical, physical realities of the world she's depicting -- how foot binding was actually performed, how a laotong match was actually arranged and formalized, how nu shu was actually written and hidden -- rather than a loosely gestured-at historical backdrop. That level of specificity is a direct result of her travel and research, and it's also the source of the novel's most disturbing passages.
About Lisa See and Why She Wrote This
See was born in Paris and raised largely in Los Angeles, splitting time between her mother and her father's large extended Chinese American family in the city's Chinatown, whose stories shaped much of her earlier writing. Her first book, On Gold Mountain, published in 1995, was a nonfiction account of her own family's hundred-year history in America and became a national bestseller and New York Times Notable Book. That background in real, researched family history carried directly into her fiction.
See has described the inspiration for Snow Flower and the Secret Fan as nu shu itself -- a written language invented, used, and kept secret by women in one remote part of China for roughly a thousand years, the only documented gender-based script in the world. To research it properly, she traveled to the specific county where it had been used, where, she's said, local contacts told her she was only the second foreigner ever to visit. That firsthand research into both nu shu and the laotong friendship tradition became the structural backbone of the novel -- she wanted to recover a real, nearly lost piece of women's history that had survived almost entirely outside written, male-authored historical records.
What Critics Actually Said
The novel's critical reception was strong on release and has been widely quoted since:
“A triumph on every level, a beautiful, heartbreaking story.”— The Washington Post Book World
“A timeless portrait of a contentious, full-blooded female friendship.”— Entertainment Weekly (Editor's Choice)
The Los Angeles Times praised See for bringing "the secret world of these Chinese women into vivid relief," and the novel became a New York Times bestseller and a Booksense Number One Pick, later adapted into a 2011 film produced by Fox Searchlight. Notably, Arthur Golden, author of Memoirs of a Geisha, is on record calling it "an engrossing and completely convincing portrayal of a woman shaped by suffering forced upon her from her earliest years" -- a rare case of one bestselling author of closed-world historical fiction endorsing another's take on similar territory.
And the aggregate reader picture, for what it's worth:
Where Real Reviews Pushed Back
The most consistent, specific reaction from readers concerns the foot-binding scenes, which multiple reviewers describe as genuinely graphic rather than softened. One detailed reader account describes a scene so vivid it caused physical discomfort while reading, and other reviewers have called the foot-binding chapters "among the most graphic" they'd encountered in fiction, particularly given that the practice is inflicted on children by their own mothers as an act both of love and of enforced social survival. This isn't a case of readers objecting to poor writing -- if anything, it's the opposite complaint, that See renders the physical reality of the practice too vividly to look away from. A smaller group of readers has also noted the pacing slows once Lily marries, with less momentum in the middle chapters than the setup promises. Both critiques are real and specific, not generic dissatisfaction.
On Nu Shu, the Only Documented Women's Script in the World
Nu shu is real, not an invention for the novel. It was developed by women in a remote area of Hunan province and passed down through generations of women exclusively, used to write letters, poems, and messages -- like the ones Lily and Snow Flower exchange on their fan -- that men in the community typically couldn't read at all. It remains the only gender-based written language ever documented anywhere in the world, which is part of why See's research trip mattered so much to the finished book: this wasn't well-trodden historical ground before she wrote about it, and much of what modern readers know about nu shu's actual use comes from exactly the kind of fieldwork she did.
On Foot Binding and Laotong as Two Forms of Bonded Suffering
The novel deliberately pairs two very different institutions -- foot binding, an act of physical suffering imposed on girls by their own families, and laotong, a chosen, formalized bond of friendship between girls -- and lets them comment on each other throughout the book. Lily and Snow Flower are bound together first through shared physical pain, undergoing foot binding at the same time as very young children, and then through a friendship that's supposed to outlast marriage, family, and social rank. See uses that pairing to make a specific, real historical point: that women in this particular time and place built systems of solidarity and self-expression, like nu shu and laotong, specifically because so much of the rest of their lives, starting with their own bodies, was controlled by others.
Key Takeaways
- Nu shu, the secret women's script central to the novel, is a real, documented written language -- the only known gender-based script in the world
- See traveled to the remote Hunan county where nu shu originated, and says she was told she was only the second foreigner to visit
- The novel carries real praise from the Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, and the Los Angeles Times, plus a direct endorsement from Arthur Golden
- Multiple readers report the foot-binding scenes are genuinely graphic and difficult to read, not softened for a general audience
- Laotong, the lifelong "old sames" friendship bond at the novel's center, was a real historical practice in that region, considered even more significant than marriage
Who This Book Is Actually For
Readers drawn to deeply researched historical fiction centered on women's friendship and a real, little-documented culture -- particularly anyone who appreciated Memoirs of a Geisha's closed-world immersion and wants comparable depth without the same sourcing controversy.
Who Should Read Something Else Instead
If graphic depictions of physical suffering inflicted on children are something you'd rather avoid entirely, the foot-binding chapters here are genuinely intense and not a minor aside -- readers sensitive to that content should know going in, or consider a different Lisa See novel, like the more recent Lady Tan's Circle of Women, which handles similar territory somewhat differently.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Real, extensively researched depiction of nu shu, a genuinely documented and historically significant women's-only script
- Strong praise from the Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, and the Los Angeles Times on release
- Solid 4.09 out of 5 rating across more than 380,000 Goodreads ratings nearly two decades later
- A direct, on-record endorsement from Arthur Golden, another major author of closed-world historical fiction
- Centers a genuine, historically real friendship bond, laotong, rarely covered in Western fiction
Cons:
- Foot-binding scenes are graphic and disturbing by multiple readers' accounts, not softened for general audiences
- Some readers report the pacing slows noticeably in the middle chapters once Lily marries
- The subject matter, mothers physically injuring their own daughters as an accepted social practice, is a genuinely difficult read regardless of craft
Frequently Asked Questions
Is nu shu, the secret women's writing in the book, a real language?
Yes -- nu shu is a real, documented written language developed and used exclusively by women in a remote area of Hunan province, China, and kept hidden from men for centuries. Lisa See traveled to that region to research it directly for this novel, and it remains the only known gender-based script ever documented.
Does the book depict foot binding graphically?
Yes, and this is a real, frequently cited reason readers say they struggled with parts of the book. See describes the process in detail, including the physical breaking of bones in young girls' feet, and multiple readers have described those passages as genuinely disturbing rather than softened for a general audience.
What's the actual Goodreads rating?
4.09 out of 5 from more than 380,000 ratings as of this writing, per Goodreads -- a strong, consistent rating for a 2005 historical novel nearly two decades after release.
What does laotong mean in the novel?
Laotong, or "old sames," was a real historical practice in parts of Hunan province, describing a formally bonded, lifelong friendship between two girls matched for compatibility. A woman could only ever have one laotong, and the bond was considered even more significant than marriage -- it's the real cultural backbone the novel's central friendship is built on.
Sources & Further Reading
- Goodreads — Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (aggregate rating, reader reviews)
- The Washington Post Book World
- Entertainment Weekly (Editor's Choice)
- The Los Angeles Times
- LisaSee.com — author biography and research background
- PositiveLifes.com — free inspirational and life-changing PDF books
Final Verdict
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan backs up its reputation with real, on-record praise from the Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, and the Los Angeles Times, plus a strong, sustained Goodreads following nearly twenty years after publication. The graphic foot-binding content is a legitimate reason to brace yourself before starting, not a minor content note -- but it's also central to what makes the novel's portrait of nu shu and laotong friendship feel earned rather than decorative. This is deeply researched historical fiction that asks something real of its readers.
Buy Day rating: 8.5/10