Talking with Lisa See

Lisa See's new novel, Shanghai Girls, explores the complex bonds of sisterhood in the face of clashing cultures and personal hardships over two volatile decades in the first half of the 20th century. Today we talk with Lisa about Shanghai Girls, what aspects of the story she's particularly looking forward to discussing...and what she loves most about book clubs.

Lisa's other novels include Peony in Love and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan.


ReadingGroupGuides.com: You've talked to many reading groups about your novels. What do you enjoy most about interacting with book clubs?

Lisa See: There are many things I love about book clubs. What I love most is the camaraderie. It's difficult these days as women to have time to get together. We're all working so hard. I suppose we could meet and go out drinking and generally whoop it up, but that's pretty hard if you have a family. It's like we have to make an appointment to have fun and see our friends. So women tell their husbands they're in a book club. They have to read a book. They have to meet to discuss it. Then when they actually meet, there's plenty of drinking, whooping it up and talking about things that go far, far beyond the book. In fact, the book is often incidental.

I also love how each book club has its own personality: some are very serious, some political, some religious. And finally, I've learned so much from book clubs about being a writer: what worked in a story, what didn't work and did readers get what I wanted them to get? Sometimes people come up with interpretations that are completely different from what I intended. That's fascinating to me. They aren't right, but then neither am I. Everything is right to each particular reader. That's the great thing about books and getting together to talk about them.


RGG: Shanghai Girls takes place partly in China, the setting of your novels Peony in Love and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, as well as in the United States. Why the change of locale, as well as a more modern time period for this story?

LS: Because I wanted to write about Los Angeles Chinatown. It's a place that's really changed since I was a little girl. So many of the people have died or moved away, and many of the places are either entirely gone now --- literally wiped off the map --- or have been transformed into hip art galleries. So I wanted to capture the people and places who have meant so much to me, who have made me who I am and who have given me so many stories before they disappear completely.


RGG: In a recent guest post with us you talked about three book clubs that helped you with various aspects of Shanghai Girls. What elements of the story are you especially looking forward to discussing with reading group members?

LS: First, the hardships that women faced and still face in their lives, how we rise above those things to survive and flourish, and what we will do to protect our children and our families. I think people will also be surprised and interested in the history of the Chinese in this country. I hope people will relate those experiences to those of their own families, because we all share in the immigrant experience. We all have someone in our families who was crazy enough, brave enough, or dumb enough to leave the home country to come here. We all have people in our families who came before us, and sacrificed and struggled, so we can have our good lives today. I think book clubs will want to talk about this shared experience --- what's similar and what's different from what their own families went through.


RGG: Shanghai Girls is the story of sisters Pearl and May. You yourself have three sisters. People have all different kind of relationships and experiences with their sisters. Do you expect this to generate some lively conversations with book clubs?

LS: Absolutely! And I think it will also generate conversation about the difference between actual sisters and friends who are "just like sisters." I'm a sister myself, as you pointed out. I have two half sisters, who come from different halves. I also have a former stepsister who I've now known for fifty years. What I love about sisters (and friends too) is that we always make these judgments about each other: who's the tall one, the short one, the thin one, the fat one, the smart one, the dumb one, the troublemaker, the peacemaker, the shy one, the party doll, who was loved more by Dad or by Mom. I love all that stuff. But in writing the novel, I was also curious if there was something a sister could do that would cause an irrevocable split.

When I was writing Shanghai Girls, I asked that of women in book clubs that I joined by phone or when I was giving a talk somewhere. I always got the same answer: "If my sister slept with my husband." That was the universal and immediate response. But then, after the phone call or talk, women would write to me or come up after the talk to whisper that there were plenty of terrible things their sisters had done. Oh, the stories! Many women hadn't talked to a sister in ten, twenty, thirty, forty years. But here's the thing: They all said that sisters were for life. You can't say that about friends "who are just like sisters." I think people will agree that sisters should stand by you, support you, and love you no matter what, but that sisters also know exactly where to drive the knife to hurt you the most. Oh, and the grudges we keep from when we were little kids! It's sad and funny!


Also by Lisa See on RGG.com:
Lisa See's Thank You to Book Clubs
How Book Clubs Have Changed