China Dolls: A Novel

Digital audiobook narrated by Jodi Long


This work of historical fiction begins in 1938. Three young women – Helen Fong, Grace Lee and Ruby Tom – meet just as the World’s Fair is set to begin on Treasure Island. They’re from different backgrounds but all are drawn to the glamorous Forbidden City nightclub by their dreams of success. World War II will soon interrupt their career paths, and their friendship will suffer, but they will endure. See follows the young women through the war years and includes an epilogue set in 1988.

I really enjoyed this book. I was in vested in these young women and their aspirations. While my background is different from theirs, we share the push/pull of traditional culture (and the expectations that result) vs the desire to see our dreams fulfilled. I loved, also, the detail See included from costumes to scenery to social issues – these elements really took me back to this era and culture.

See invented her heroines and the majority of characters, but includes a number of actual performers / entertainers of the time period. She did extensive research, including many in-person interviews with now elderly past performers on the “Chop Suey Circuit.”

Jodi Long does a marvelous job of narrating the audiobook. I admit, however, that I sometimes didn’t pay close enough attention to which character was narrating which chapter. (See does state the character at the beginning of each chapter.) Until I got used to the constant changing of point of view, I found myself occasionally confused. That was my fault, not Long’s narration.

As the blurb suggests, China Dolls follows the lives of three Chinese-American women working in San Francisco's nightclubs in the 1930s and 40s: Grace, a young runaway from an abusive father in the Midwest; Ruby, a promiscuous Japanese woman who pretends to be Chinese (with good reason); and Helen, slightly older than the other two and from a rich family that lives in a compound.

It took me a while to get into China Dolls, because the writing style is deceptively simple (especially Grace's chapters…) and for a while I was wondering if I'd picked up a YA book inadvertently. It certainly begins when the trio of protagonists are rather young (I'd guess that Grace and Ruby are both still teenagers, though probably not Helen) and the narrative has strong "coming of age" themes – trying to work out your place in the world, struggling with your identity, relationships with crappy boys, friendship. Overall, if the conventions of the young adult genre weren't so prudish (which this book is not!) you could fairly characterise it as that.

That said, the book was really good, and I got completely sucked in. Being "young-adult-like" does not make it bad quality! If you like historical fiction and strong female characters, are interested in the Chinese and Japanese communities in the US, or women there during the Second World War, or how the US entertainment industry used to be, this novel has got you covered.

I do agree with some other reviewers who've said this novel may have worked better if it had stuck to Grace's perspective. Grace is the real protagonist of the three. She's by far the most likeable, she gets a fair few more POV chapters than either of the other two, and what's more, even when Ruby and Helen have POV chapters they conveniently never think about anything they happen to be hiding from Grace at the time, ensuring that whatever is unknown to Grace is unknown to the reader – but of course, if she should hide something from the others the reader is in on it. It just seemed strange not to formalise the deal by having the novel expressly from Grace's perspective, instead of nominally being about all three.

As well, if you're looking to read a novel about the strength of women's friendships, this is not really the one to read. What it depicts far more is their fragility. I found it telling that early in the book, the three young women pledge never to let a man get in the way of their friendship, and, well…

I thought the ending was good, if not uplifting. I didn't think Helen's self-described motives for dobbing Ruby in to the FBI and then blaming Grace made a hell of a lot of sense though – was it because she was traumatised by her husband and son being murdered by "Japs" in China? or because she was jealous of Ruby and wanted Grace all for herself? if she really wanted Grace to get all the opportunities she claimed, why did she then turn everyone in the nightclub against her to get her fired, before Ruby was even out of the damn internment camp to need lying to?! All in all it just made her seem deeply irrational and selfish, which was out of character. I was also irritated that Grace would forgive Joe and agree to marry him after he'd already broken her heart twice, even if I appreciated the depiction of returned servicemen as traumatised, not cheerful heroes. But I was relieved that she finally cut the poisonous Helen and Ruby (mostly) out of her life, even if it resulted in the awkward conclusion of choosing a man over your female friends being the path to happiness.

I think I'll have to read more of Lisa See's books! (Jul 2014)

Man - I really enjoyed this book! Three young Chinese Americans meet up in San Francisco during the late thirties and become fast friends. They bond through their love of the spotlight. They love being on the stage and dancing, dazzling the audience with the grace and wit. From Forbidden City Nightclub to other venues; they delight in sequins, lace, and silk. Grace is outgoing but escaping a hard past in Plain City, Ohio. Helen is smothered in her family compound in San Francisco's Chinatown. Ruby left her parents in Hawaii to find stardom in California. The three share many ups and downs, lots of prejudice from White Americans, especially when America enters the war. Can their friendship survive all? Told through alternating perspectives; this is a timeless, complicated, and unique story of friendship. Wonderful!

China Dolls by Lisa See is set against the backdrop of Chinese American nightclubs and their performers during the 1940s. We are introduced to three Asian-American girls who work as dancers in these nightclubs and dream of becoming stars. Unfortunately the onset of World War II changes things dramatically for all of them.

The point-of-view shifts equally between the three main characters as Grace, Helen and Ruby meet each other, connect as friends, work and live together and eventually fall out over lies and secrets. Unfortunately, I found it difficult to believe that these particular girls would ever bond together so I never felt all that invested in their relationship. There was however a great deal of period detail and local color that was fascinating. The author caught the 1940s accurately through her descriptions of the music, personalities, fashion and slang of the day. With the backdrop of the Forbidden City nightclub in San Francisco as well as the Chop-Suey Circuit, the author gives us a vivid and rich portrayal of conditions that Chinese-American entertainers faced.

While China Dolls is not destined to become one of my favorite Lisa See novels, it was an interesting and educating read. Although this novel was a bit of a miss for me, I certainly look forward to reading more from this author who has previously delivered some excellent books.

I am very glad that this novel was suggested as a book club selection. I did not like the first Lisa See Book I read, but I really enjoyed this one. I learned a lot about Chinese Americans, the prevalent racism against Asians, and the Chinese nightclub circuit. I also learned a bit about the Japanese internment camps during WWII, as well as the treatment of Japanese Americans.
This novel follows Grace, Helen, and Ruby as they struggle to break into show business, and navigate through the end of the Depression and through WWII.
This is a novel that covers a great deal of history and I thought Lisa See did a great job with it.

#ChinaDolls #LisaSee

The first half of the book was intriguing. I cared about the main characters, but I found myself less interested in the second half. It's still a book I'll recommend, but not as good as Snowflower.

I have enjoyed all of Lisa See's books, but this one was a disappointment. It was disjointed and predictable. I had a hard time liking any of the characters, and the character development was mediocre at best.

It’s 1938. Grace is from small-town Ohio, where she and her parents were the only Orientals, though her parents brought her up to be completely American, and has left her abusive home to go to San Francisco to try out as a dancer at an expo. While trying to find her way around Chinatown, she meets Helen, who was raised in a very traditional Chinese family/home. She convinces Helen to come with her to try out, as well. At the tryouts, they meet Ruby, another dancer, who wants to become famous. They become friends and live through WWII trying to make ends meet as entertainers in the Oriental clubs, and later on, touring the “Chop-Suey Circuit”.

I really liked this! I have to admit, I liked Grace best of the three girls, and I found her story the most interesting. The book is told in alternating chapters from each of the girls’ points of view. Each chapter is titled with the girl’s name, so I was able to follow this quite easily. It was really interesting to learn about the Chinese entertainers from the time period.

whoops, accidentally read through this in a day... definitely a perspective you don't see as often in fiction (Chinese nightclubs in the 40s). I called the betrayal fairly early, though things like that and some parts of the girls' backstories keep this from being purely chick lit.

China Dolls is the story of San Francisco's Chinatown in the mid twentieth century. As the story begins, America is in the midst of the depression. The plot continues through World War II. What makes this novel fascinating is Lisa See's decision to cover this subject from the points of view of three showgirls.

Grace, Helen, and Ruby, meet at auditions for a new nightclub, Forbidden City, which is located just outside of Chinatown. The idea is to feature “oriental” performers for an “occidental” audience. (Both of those terms were used during that period.) Grace Lee has come to San Francisco from the mid west with the hope of winning a role at the world's fair on Treasure Island, but she didn't succeed. She's on her way to her next option. Helen Fong, who is from a wealthy, local, very traditional, family, hears Grace asking for directions and offers to lead her there. Once there, they meet Ruby Tom, another dancer. All three audition and all win roles.

The three young women become close friends. This friendship is the novel's greatest strength. They help each other through tough times, but also compete with each other, hold secrets from each other, and betray each other along the way.

Steve Lindahl author of Hopatcong Vision Quest, White Horse Regressions, and Motherless Soul

This is the sort of book that gives women a bad name. Wow, these women are pretty backhanded. The friendships are all transactional - they help each other with jobs, clothes and make up but don't share any deep emotions. No warm fuzzies here, but there's so much information I'd never known of before particularly about the Chinese Nightclub era, the Chop-Suey circuit, the harassment of single women during WWII with VD testing combined with the ability to incarcerate them for the duration of the war if positive (anyone else ever hear of this?), and of course eavesdropping on Japanese Americans. Ed Sullivan comes off pretty poorly.
Once again I'm left wishing See could write another book as emotionally satisfying as Snowflower and the Secret Fan rather than just an interesting book about Chinese or Chinese-American culture.

I loved this story. I found the characters entertaining. The stories of all the different girls was fascinating. Grace, Ruby, Helen are all Asian young ladies and meet each other under different circumstances. They befriend each other and support each other as they try to live in America during the second world war.

They experience so much together. Fall in love with men and fight over them. Have children. Start families, and so much more. The trouble of being a Chinese or Japanese woman during a time when they could only marry their own kind.

To learn things about how they were treated by people during that time. They were somewhat exploited being women and of Oriental/Asian decent even though they were born in America. To just think that people can even now think the way they did back then.

In this sweeping historical drama, we follow three Asian girls with a thirst for stardom growing up in San Francisco in the 30s. The three meet in Chinatown at an audition for dancers at a new nightclub. They come from different backgrounds and each has secrets but they recognize a kinship in each other. Together they will navigate the rocky world of show business and survive WWII. They will share hardships and trials of all kinds and learn how to keep dancing while their hearts are breaking. A powerful story from an often overlooked perspective.

I loved the historical setting, but this book fell a little flat for me in the character department. I didn't like any of the main characters. Ruby is genuine but so self-centered that all other people are something less than human to her. Grace is such a naive doormat I was almost glad when bad things happened to her. She's just too stupid to live. And Helen is such an underdeveloped figure her personality completely changes from chapter to chapter. In the beginning she's almost as naive as Grace having been raised in a secluded compound. Later she's the worldly one explaining to Grace about homosexuality and all the different slang terms for it. In the final half she has devolved into a one-dimensional Chines stereotype constantly peppering the dialogue with quasi-Confucian proverbs. By the end of the book I was getting a headache from rolling my eyes.

Helen is also basically a sociopath. She spends so much time blatantly lying to the other two (supposedly her best friends) and manipulating them to sabotage their relationships. She's an unrepentant racist and basically a soulless baby who refuses to "share" Grace's affections. After the scene where all secrets are revealed, I felt there was no sufficient resolution. They all just shrug their shoulders and go on being friends? Sorry! Not gonna happen! Especially not with Grace who, like I said, has some serious personality disorders and is frankly dangerous to be around. She's the sort of person who would harbor unresolved grievances that she mostly imagined for years and will probably end bathing in your blood. Eeeesh.

Countless times throughout this book I wondered aloud why they were friends if they hated each other so much. There are more than three people in the world, you can make new friends who won't constantly lie, cheat, betray, and report you to the cops. Like, why torture yourselves?

This is a tale of three young women who have careers performing in Chinese nightclubs in the 1930's and 1940's. I felt that it was steeped in the atmosphere of the time. I appreciated the complexity of their relationships with each other as they struggled to advance their careers and live their lives amidst World War II.

This is the third novel by Lisa See I've read this year & her themes and style are starting to feel a tad bit repetitive. This novel tackles three women who meet in San Francisco in 1938 and who aim to be stars - Grace, Helen, and Ruby. Their friendship manages to endure despite the challenges of ambition, war, internment, and betrayals. I like this book overall, and enjoyed its portrayal of the Asian American experience.

In 1938, three young Asian women meet at nightclub auditions at Charlie Low's Forbidden City in San Francisco's Chinatown. Grace, Helen and Ruby are each a hiding a secret but swear enduring friendship with each other. Grace is a Chinese born American whose parents moved to the Midwest to raise her as far from other Chinese as possible. Helen is an American born Chinese, but her parents are living the traditional Chinese lifestyle in a cloistered compound in San Francisco's Chinatown. Ruby is the girl who wants to be American in every way but who is hiding the biggest secret of them all....she's Japanese. We learn about each of these characters as they narrate their own story in alternating chapters.

I found the history of the Chop Suey Circuit and the Asian nightclubs to be very interesting. There are a number of historical facts interspersed into the fictional accounts of Grace, Helen and Ruby. The story itself is very readable but I never thought of it as a “Lisa See” novel. Usually her books explore complex issues like child abuse and the horrors of war on a deep level but I felt like the many real issues the characters experienced were dealt with on a superficial level. I never felt a real connection with the characters and thought most of them were very unappealing. It was hard to see these girls as friends because they never exhibited the loyalty and friendship to one another that we've seen in Lisa See's previous work. Overall, it was a good book; it just wasn't my favorite Lisa See book.

Zipping through my latest haul from the library, I found this gem. The story is centered on three Asian-American young women in pre-World War II San Fransisco. They all have different stories - Helen is the daughter in a wealthy Chinatown family, Grace has fled to SF to escape an abusive father, and Ruby is hiding her background. They bond and make it dancing in the pre-war Chinese nightclub Forbidden City. The story follows them until shortly after the end of World War II. The nightclub life and performing life were entertaining, but what makes the story is the will of these women. The story takes us through racism, poverty, friendship, deceit and love in a renewing journey. Recommended.

great premise, disappointing execution

In 1938 three young women, Grace, Helen, and Ruby, meet and begin their quest for fame and fortune in the entertainment world in San Francisco. Getting jobs is difficult as they are of Asian background. Eventually their dancing skills land them a job with a nightclub that specializes in "Chinese girls". The tale, told in alternating voices, follows the ups and downs of their careers through the war years and after.

I started reading and I could not stop (which for me is unusual as I tend to read in spurts). Three young women of vary different personalities and backgrounds, who harbor secrets under all that glamor. A work of historical fiction that was liberally sprinkled with real names of the entertainment world, both of Hollywood and the Chinese-American nightclub circuit. When I finished I found some old videos of a few of the performers from the old Chop Suey Circuit.

I found this book a little YA(ish) but I still enjoyed it. The story was some what predictable, but character development was really good.

Lisa See is always on the top of my list when looking for women’s historical fiction. This time she takes us to San Francisco’s pre-WWII Chinatown. Three women’s lives intertwine. Grace, a runaway from the Midwest, Ruby, a Japanese girl, who is posing as Chinese, and Helen, from a wealthy Chinese family forge a friendship as they look search for jobs in the nightclub business. World War II breaks out and their friendship is strained. Although this isn’t my favorite Lisa See book, I always appreciate looking at aspects of history about which I knew nothing—in this case the “Chop Suey” entertainment circuit and the animosity between the Chinese and the Japanese during WWII. Ed Sullivan, a gossip columnist, also shows up in the books.

What a wonderful story Lisa See delivers to us once again. We follow the lives of these three women who are introduced to us at a young age in San Francisco, as we share in their friendships and heartaches. The story is told from the perspectives of each of our main characters, Grace, Helen, and Ruby, so we get a glimpse into the reasons for their actions.

Grace is a young and innocent chinese girl that has fled to San Francisco in search of a better life. Grace is probably the most talented of our characters, but she will not experience success until later in the novel. Grace is an honorable friend who would do anything for those that she loves, so when her friendships with Helen and Ruby become stressed, her whole world is cast into turmoil.

Helen comes from a noble and wealthy Chinese family and lives with her entire family in a compound in the middle of Chinatown. Her family's status has given Helen a life of privilege, allowing her to not really want for anything. There is more to Helen that meets the eye as she fled from Shanghai with her family during the war, so she struggles to start her life over again.

Our third main character is Ruby, whose actions are wild and unpredictable. Ruby uses her body and beauty to help her advance quickly among the Chinese nightclubs. Ruby has her own dark secret, that once uncovered, will knock her status rank out from under her.

The main characters are brought together from odd circumstances, and even though they have different roles in various nightclubs, their friendship remains strong. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor the boundaries of their friendship becomes tested, sending the girls lives in separate directions. Lies and secrets keep them apart for years afterward leaving them yearning for the lost relationships.

Lisa See does a great job, as she always does, of setting up the time period for us. I learned several things from this novel about how oriental people were treated during this time, even before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. With themes of love, friendship, secrets, and forgiveness, I think you would enjoy this book as much as I did. It would be a great novel to read for personal leisure or as a book club discussion.

I listened to the audio version of this book. The narrator irrated me to no end. Despite this, I did finish listening to it. The subject matter was interesting: Asian-American singer/performers during the 1930's through the 1950's, covering pre-war to post-war America. In particular, the author spoke of the animosity between Japanese and Chinese-Americans; especially by the Chinese who lived in their native country during the time Japan attacked them - very brutal warfare. The author also included the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII. Thus, she illustrated an epoch from several different points-of-view. See also made clear the nature of prejudice, and the fact that it exists among and between all races in varying degrees. We cannot seem to escape this fact. The main purpose of See's book was to make people aware of the part Asian-Americans played in the entertainment field during this time, and how this contributed to the disintegration of traditional cultural barriers.

Overall, I received this historical fiction novel favorably, despite the narration. It was not mind-altering, but it was informative within its context. It was not my favorite novel by Lisa See, but I did gleen a little entertainment and knowledge from her book. In that regard, it was a relative success.

This sage of three Oriental women spanned decades, but the story presented a fascinating adventure into the lives of these women. The story begins before the beginning of WWII and ends in 50 years later in 1988. The journey centers in San Francisco, but encompasses Ohio, Florida, and other areas. I listened to an audiobook read by Jodi Long, who presented the book in an interesting manner. I enjoy learning and this book taught me many lessons: friendship, loyalty, and passion. Lisa See balances the ups and downs of these three women, and their deep secrets from one another. I will truly miss hearing of Ruby, Grace, and Helen.

Another good novel by Lisa See. China Dolls is the story of Three young women who meet in SanFrancisco in 1938 and become dancers in a nightclub. The novel spans the war years and ends in 1988.

Helen, Grace, and Ruby are three young Oriental girls in San Francisco who meet and become friends as dancers in The Forbidden City nightclub. The book takes them from 1938 to 1948, through loves and losses, a World War, and times of happiness, sadness, and anger.
Each chapter of the book is narrated by one of the girls, but I found it difficult to keep them apart. There was very little that was different enough about each of them to be able to tell by the reading who was speaking. I also didn't find that their behavior rang true much of the time.
I'm usually a big fan of Lisa See's books, but this one was a little bit disappointing.

Engaging story about three Asian dancers (two Chinese, one Japanese) in San Francisco during WW II. It was a bit overly dramatic at times, but the characters were well drawn and the story held my attention.

The story of Grace, Helen and Ruby, Chinese Americans coming of age during the World War II era, is told in alternating points of view from each of the three women. They meet by chance while auditioning for the part of showgirl at a nightclub in San Francisco, and soon become good friends, vowing to never let anything come between them. But through the years their friendships are tested as each tries to outshine the other; secrets are revealed and loyalties are betrayed.

The women’s characters are well-developed, as are their family, friends and coworkers. Rich with historical detail, the World War II era comes to life. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, paranoia and suspicion are heightened, and we vividly experience the prejudice, discrimination and racism of the times through each of the women’s eyes. Written with cringe-worthy realism, the author vividly portrays an unfortunate period of history where bigotry became acceptable, and even encouraged, to promote patriotism.

Perhaps it was the alternating viewpoints, the large number or characters or the need to fill in a lot of back story, but for me, the book had a slow start. At first the women seemed a lot alike. But once war broke out, their lives took different paths and the plot began to accelerate, following each woman’s life through the end of the war. The novel closes with a jump 50 years into the future, providing a satisfying epilogue to each of their stories.

Audio Production:

Jodi Lang’s narration was performed with emotion and enthusiasm. It took me an hour or so to get comfortable with her style, but once I did, the characters came alive.

Having multiple points-of-view and only one narrator, as opposed to using an ensemble cast, made the audio a little more difficult to follow, especially in the early part of the novel when we are still learning the back story. Plus, there were many secondary characters and their relationships to each women to remember. Jodi did change her voice while performing the narration for each of the girls, but Helen and Grace sounded too similar at times. While this book requires some additional concentration, experienced audio listeners should enjoy the production.

Three young women with ambitions to perform meet in San Francisco before the outbreak of WW II, and vow to be friends forever. Of course, reality gets in the way, along with secrets, history, race, cultural identity, jealousy, and especially secrets. The novel spans the war years in particular, and then ends in 1988.

“China Dolls”, begins at the end of the 1930’s, when three young women of Asian descent and highly different backgrounds, meet and become friends. The effects of the Depression are still evident, and WWII is about to begin. The book, however, doesn’t concentrate on the German involvement, but rather on the involvement of the Japanese, and it reaches back into history to expose the cruelty of the Japanese when they bombed China in 1937, at the beginning of the second Sino-Japanese War. It exposes the fury that the Chinese people harbor toward the Japanese, and also the racial bias that existed towards those of Japanese heritage after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, but it also clearly illuminates the generalized prejudice of Americans toward all those of Asian background, particularly the Chinese, whom they insultingly refer to with many racial slurs, i.e, slant eyes, chinks, etc. The Chinese are inhibited from getting gainful employment, even after being trained in a profession. Helen’s brother was a dentist but was only able to work as a chauffeur. Marriage between the races was a crime. Hate and prejudice reigned. The book also exposes homophobia at that time, and the general atmosphere of disapproval that existed for the performers who worked in the nightclubs, even as they flocked to their shows.
Grace Lee was well brought up. She came from a small town in Ohio and was woefully naïve. Her parents operated a laundry. Helen came from a wealthy family in San Francisco’s Chinatown, her family supplied businesses. She was sheltered and controlled by her family. Ruby came from a traditional Japanese family, a family of fishermen. She was a free spirit. Each had a secret.
Grace ran away from home at 17, because of her father’s physical abuse, and while interviewing for a job as a dancer at The San Francisco Exposition, essentially a World’s Fair to begin in 1939, she met a young man named Joe, with whom she was immediately smitten. She, however, does not get the job dancing there; they are not interested in Asian dancers, so she and Joe part ways. As the story develops, their paths cross again.
After being turned down for that job, Grace meets Ruby. Ruby, like Grace, is looking for a job as a dancer in the flourishing nightclub business of Chinatown, and they unexpectedly become friends. They serendipitously meet Helen, who offers to help them find an apartment. They quickly form a triumvirate. A very properly brought up Chinese young lady, with very strict rules to follow, Helen is surprisingly persuaded by them to also apply for a job as a dancer, although she has no experience dancing or working in show business, they offer to teach her. Helen is unsure, her father would be horrified. She knows he would believe that this kind of a job would bring shame upon the family, and as a traditional Chinese, he believes a woman is of less value than even the worst man. Helen decides to defy her father and take the job when she gets it. The money is better than what she earns in her position at the Telephone Exchange, and she convinces her father that she can better help with their finances by adding more money to her brother Monroe’s school fund. The money persuades her father to allow his “worthless” daughter to take the job. Over the next decade, all three women experience ups and downs, romance, success, failure, joy and tragedy. Chinese proverbs pepper the pages. Sometimes, their friendship stretches the bonds of loyalty and sometimes it ignores them. The effect of world events on their lives and individual futures, rolls out over the pages.
The injustice of the Japanese internment camps is exposed and described in detail. The roundups, helplessness of the victims and panic of the accusers is objectively presented. The cruelty of those in power, their bias and mistrust are all evident. Japanese-Americans were treated almost as poorly as the Jews in Germany, when they were rounded up, although their ultimate fate was far better than those who fell under the hammer of Hitler. They were suspect, and therefore interned like criminals, forced to give up their homes and possessions, confronted by armed guards and vicious dogs, not because of anything they did, but because of the behavior of their Emperor, Emperor Hirohito, who declared war on the United States. America’s behavior was shameful and inexplicable, regardless of its fear of the unknown enemy.
The narrative uncovers the strict culture of the Chinese almost 8 decades ago, the misogyny, the need for a woman to know her place in the world and the family structure. She was required to be absolutely obedient to the patriarch and to provide support for all the males in the family, financially, and in terms of housekeeping and cooking. A hopefully propitious marriage was arranged for her, and her future was planned by her parents.
Ultimately, it felt like it took too long for the war and the racism to be introduced into the narrative. Almost half the book passed before the issue of the Japanese Internment Camps came up. It also seemed to take too long for the issues between the Chinese and Japanese to be introduced. America’s Japanese-American families lost many young men who volunteered to fight for America, in spite of the injustice and cruelty of being uprooted, carted off like animals, and placed in camps. They were Americans, after all; they loved America and wanted to support its war effort. Some made the ultimate sacrifice.
This story begins when Grace is 17, and except for a brief foray into a time forty years later when the story is summed up, it ends when she is 27. She reinvents herself as necessary in order to survive the lean years that come and go. All three women have surprising strength and ability to endure. When Ruby‘s cultural background was betrayed by an unknown person, there were dreadful consequences. The guilty person is not exposed until the very end of the book, but the reader may very well guess who the culprit is, before the last page. The ghastly reason for Helen’s secret shame and behavior is also revealed near the end of the book.
In the time period in which this book occurs, all stripes of prejudice are aired and put on trial, and prejudice is found guilty. The background of the story in the nightclubs of Chinatown is based on historic facts. Charlie Low did open up The Forbidden City, there were famous Chinese dancers and performers and famous Hollywood stars frequented the clubs. There was a “Chinese Frank Sinatra”.
I discovered that there is another book from which Lisa See did a lot of research, for when I looked into the history of Chinatown nightclubs, it popped up on the screen. I thought I was reading a review of “China Dolls” and didn’t realize until after that it was a review of a non-fiction book, written by Trina Robbins, Forbidden City: The Golden Age of Chinese Nightclubs. Lisa See lists it in her bibliography.
The reader of this audio was good, but she was not able to develop a clear individual voice for each woman and so I was often confused, was it Grace or Ruby speaking? That said, it did not inhibit my enjoyment of the book.