Dreams of Joy by Lisa See
Random House, 2011
I love Lisa See! I
originally discovered her after first reading Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of Geisha - one of my all-time favorite books. I was looking for more Asian
historical-fiction, and happened upon See’s SnowFlower and the Secret Fan. While I will admit it didn't really touch me in
the same way Memoirs did, I still
found it beautiful, informative, and haunting. I can still hear the crack of the foot bones as the foot
binding scenes played out from the page into my mind (shudder).
I love it when historical fiction spurs further research. I
remember reading Snow Flower and
simultaneously scouring the internet for information and pictures about foot
binding in feudal China (how did I not know about this before this
book?!). Naturally, when See’s Shanghai Girls came out, I immediately
bought and read it (it didn't hurt that the cover was also gorgeous):
I was taken on an amazing but heartbreaking journey of two sisters
(Pearl and May), and their travels from rich, excessive 1920’s Shanghai to
poverty, internment, and racism encountered in the American LA Chinatown. [Spoiler] The ending involves Joy – May’s
biological (and Pearl’s adopted) daughter finding out the family secret and
running away to China (during its early Communist Period).
I knew very little about Chinese history before reading Lisa
See’s historical fiction novels, and it’s safe to say I knew even less in
particular about 1950’s Communist China. Dreams
of Joy (the sequel to Shanghai) follows both Joy and Pearl’s journey back to China– Joy is running
away from her mothers and towards her biological father, while Pearl is trying
to stop her.
In between reading Shanghai
Girls and Dreams of Joy (years). I discovered Under the Hawthorn Tree by Ai Mi and the movie Mao’s Last Dancer (2009). I therefore had a little more information
on Communist China (Ai Mi’s novel in particular deals with the repercussions of
the late Maoist phase, and was fantastic), but Dreams really showed the disastrous details of peasant life during “The
Great Leap Forward” – a movement that I can assure you I had no knowledge of
until this book. Over the past few
weeks I lost a fair bit of sleep – after reading several chapters before bed, I would
always get lost in Wikipedia afterwards – researching Mao in general, the
history of Communist China, and then the details in particular of “The Great
Leap Forward”. There’s just something about a fictional narrative that makes
research so much more interesting. What an intense story – and it was based off
of real events.
Speaking of which – during the last few chapters (which I
couldn't put down), Joy sends her mother and father a picture of herself in an
attempt to show how emaciated she’s become out in the countryside. This
strangely reminded me of Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild - I remember reading about
the last pictures Christopher McCandless took of himself – his body having become
almost skeletal due to starvation. Since this was a biography/memoir of his life, I could actually go find these pictures after reading the books - and the
image still haunts me. Just the passage about Joy’s picture haunts me in the
same way – I almost wish I could have seen the photo, but I would imagine some
historical photographs exist of people in similar situation if I really tried looking.
I also appreciated Joy’s musing on oppression and uprising –
in the book, she mentions how, back in America, she used to wonder why the Jewish in
WWII didn't just stand up and fight back – how could Nazi's keep concentration
camps full of so many people and keep them down? Hunger, weakness. Her
realization of the similarities between her situation during The Great Leap
Forward and the Holocaust was eye opening, and reminded me that her prior
assumptions were sadly ones that many people probably have to this day. Also –
how do more people not know about things like The Great Leap Forward? I could
blame my age or ignorance, but I have a Master’s degree (albeit in Library Science
and not history, but still). Excuse any ignorance on my part for these casual
internet statistics – but it’s said that the Holocaust was the mass murder of 6
million Jews – The Great Leap Forward ended in disaster totaling anywhere
between 18 and 32 million deaths. I suppose I’m just baffled as to how I only heard
about this as an adult (I’m sure there are other such tragic points in history
that I could mention or learn about, but I think you see my
point). I guess I’m just more enticed to read great, informative historical
fiction.
On a different note, I loved seeing Pearl come back to Shanghai – to her
old home where she had so many happy memories with May in the 20's. I found
the small details, like fitting into her old extravagant clothes again, exciting – she had been through so many hardships. It felt like a comforting
nostalgia for her.
Alas, my ever present note from an adoptee/birth mother
perspective – wow. Joy certainly drove me crazy sometimes. Her anger at her
mothers for keeping her biological roots secret is warranted, but she certainly
took a long time to get over it. Not wanting to see the woman who raised her
again – or even cutting some slack for the woman from whose body she came from –
well. It angered me, but maybe I take these things too personally. It’s such a
controversial and personal topic, people are bound to react differently. Everyone's story is also different, I know. If I
knew Joy in real life, though – we would have been having a little talk about
respect for the two women who put her first. Fortunately, She did seem to come around in the end, (and I guess I'll cut her some
slack for it being the 50's/60’s – I suppose adoption was a lot more taboo back
then).
I’d certainly suggest reading Shanghai Girls before Dreams
of Joy, so that readers don't feel lost. For those that liked this duo, I would definitely recommend Ai Mi’s
translated novel Under The Hawthorn Tree –
although it focuses more on a romantic story, the characters are still dealing
with Maoist period China. Snowflower and the Secret Fan would also be a great
read for those who like Lisa See’s work - it’s likely her most well-known, and I
felt it stood up to the hype (although it’s set in feudal China, not Communist –
but this is just an opportunity to learn about another period of Chinese history).
I’d also recommend watching the 2009 movie Mao’s
Last Dancer - it’s set just after
the Maoist period, but after reading these books, you’ll likely understand the background a little bit more (also, it was just a great movie).
