Todas las flores de Shanghái: Una Novela

Por Duncan Jepson

Un épico viaje al corazón de Asia. Para todas las jóvenes chinas en el Shanghái de 1930 tiene prioridad el deber sobre los deseos personales. Para Feng eso significa convertirse en la esposa de un acaudalado hombre de negocios con un matrimonio arreglado por sus padres. En el cerrado mundo de la casa de los Sang, familia de gran ritual en público pero mucha crueldad en la privacidad del hogar. Feng deberá cumplir con su deber de dar un heredero varón a la familia. La vida a la que se ha visto obligada convertirá a Feng en una joven amargada y resentida que planeará una terrible venganza. Pero con los años viene un ajuste de cuentas, y Feng debe reconciliarse con los sacrificios y terribles elecciones que ha hecho con el fin de asegurar su lugar en la familia y la sociedad, aun cuando la marea violenta e implacable de la revolución devora a su país. Los lectores que disfrutaron con la novela Memorias de una Geisha de Arthur Golden o las novelas de Lisa See La telaraña china, El abanico de seda o La trama china, quedarán cautivados por el maravilloso debut de Duncan Jepson. Sugerente, evocador e íntimo, la novela de Jepson nos transporta a una China en el borde de la revolución de la mano de los testigos de ese colorido mundo en un momento tumultuoso a través de los ojos de una mujer forzada a una vida que no ha podido elegir y que la dirige a buscar una venganza amarga.

• Idioma: Español
• Editorial: HarperCollins
• Fecha de lanzamiento: 27 may 2014
• ISBN: 9780062336309

Duncan Jepson

Duncan Jepson is the award-winning director and producer of five feature films. He has also produced documentaries for Discovery Channel Asia and National Geographic Channel. He was the editor of the Asia-based fashion magazine West East and is a founder and managing editor of the Asia Literary Review. A lawyer by profession, he lives in Hong Kong.

Comentarios para Todas las flores de Shanghái

[dark_phoenix54 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

This first novel by Jepson gets off to a good start: Feng, a teenage girl in 1930s Shanghai, has been ignored by her parents all her life. Her mother has put all her attention and money into the older daughter, grooming her to marry into one of Shanghai’s top families. As the second daughter, Feng exists to never marry and to take care of her parent’s in their old age. Her grandfather, though, loves her and teaches her the Latin names of the plants in a public garden in Shanghai. Here she meets Bi, a poor young man whose mother is a seamstress. Their budding relationship is severed when Feng, through a quirk of fate, finds herself propelled into an arranged marriage with a member of Shanghai’s richest family. Thrust into a world she knows nothing about, Feng is utterly lost. She doesn’t know her new husband, she doesn’t know how to behave in this environment, and she doesn’t know anything about sex. She is changed radically by this turn of events; at the same time, China itself is undergoing radical change as the Japanese occupation ends and the Maoist revolution begins.This is a set up for an incredible story of a person’s and a country’s growing pains. But that is not what we get; Feng simply turns into a raging bitch, completely centered on herself. She takes on all the worst attributes of the Chinese upper class of that time and place. How the country is changing around her affects her hardly at all until the end; even then she has it much, much easier than many did at the time. It’s sad. I liked the author’s writing style; I hope he writes more because I feel he has great potential. The picture he paints of Shanghai in that era is marvelously written. But the characters are not well done. Feng evokes great sympathy at first and none at all later. Feng’s personality swings too far from one end of the spectrum to the other to be truly believable. I actually had more empathy with her husband, because, flawed and weak as he was, he at least was trying to change and grow.

[bookgirljen · Calificación: 2 de 5 estrellas]

I'm not sure what to think about this novel. I had a hard time connecting with the main character, Feng, from the beginning. She seemed so completely set apart from everything that was happening to her. And then in the middle of the story, she suddenly becomes incredibly angry to such an extreme that she makes some really terrible choices, and becomes completely unlikeable. I found some of the language in this story to be odd (some slang that I don't really think this character would have used), and some of the relationships hard to keep straight. Combined with a huge out-of-the-blue time jump in the latter third, and not feeling any kind of connection to the main character whatsoever, this all added up to a difficult book to stay engaged with.

[bookscookslooks · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

This books shares the story of a very young, very naive girl in pre-revolution China, Feng. She is the second born and all of her mother's energy has been poured into her elder sister. Her mother longs to enter "society" and is using the marriage of her first daughter to try and achieve this goal. When the seamstress comes to make the wedding dress Feng meets his son and imagines herself in love with him as she shares time with him in the family gardens.When her sister dies Feng is basically sold into the marriage her mother so much desired - to save face. Feng is totally unaware of the world around her except for the Latin names of all the flowers in the garden taught to her by her grandfather. He is against the marriage but he leaves rather than stand up to the force of his daughter in law.Feng enters into her new family totally unprepared for living in such a rigid household. No one has told her anything about life. My first problem with the book was that a seventeen year old girl, even in this time period could be THIS clueless. Feng did not even know what marriage was let along sex. She didn't realize that she would be leaving her family. I found it hard to believe. She read more like a pre-teen than a seventeen year old.After she enters the marriage and makes her "terrible revenge" she turns into a femme fatale with her husband. Where did this woman come from? A girl who knew nothing about sex now, with no further conversation or teaching from her husband is suddenly a tease extraordinaire? This change was a bit of a stretch for me.The back and forth of this woman in her feelings of love and hate were like whiplash. I could totally understand why she would hate her situation but the ways she chose to deal with it were a bit extreme to say the least. It made the book less believable and that's a shame because the writing was so good. I found myself drawn into the time and place with the flow of the words. I felt the emotions when they rang true but so many situations just felt so wrong. Maybe it is cultural? I don't know - I have read many a book that has taken place in China in different time periods and have not felt like this. It was definitely worth reading but I won't read it again.

[lovestampmom · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

All the Flowers of Shanghai...Before I give my review of this book, I have to clarify that I've read many books about China, Chinese Women and the Cultural Revolution. Being Chinese my self, surrounded by older Chinese women also gave me invaluable insights into the basic struggles and values of them. The bottom line is that I probably had a higher expectation for the book than most.

The story was told in the voice of Xiao Feng, as a letter to the daughter she never raised, recounting her own and her family's history. I love the beginning of the book, where Feng described her happy childhood in Shanghai during the 1930s, spending the day with her Grandfather around town, visiting public gardens, learning names of flowers in Latin and sampling street delicacies. The author's description of Shanghai, possibly in it's most delightful and successful era of history, where all fancy merchandises from all over the world were purchasable, was accurate and enlightening. I almost didn't want her simple childhood to end. Xiao Feng in this part of the book was naive, simple curious, smart, loving and forgiving. She knew that happiness does not come from beauty or wealth, but within.

I love the last 15% of the book as well, where Feng ended up in a sewing factory during the cultural revolution, being reformed and corrected by working hard and enjoying very little. There was a glimpse into the mind and functions of the Red Army members, who were barely immature teenagers themselves. Feng, in this section, did not talk much about her feelings, yet her actions showed she was loving and forgiving, too. The ending was abrupt, leading lots of questions unanswered.

Now it brings us to the major and middle section of the book, which I found unbearable, and not only because of the boring tone of her monologue and her description of mundane things over and over again. This section begins as Feng was married into one of the richest family in Shanghai, which I could not describe how she ended up without spoilers. Her husband was not good-looking, but loved and treasured her. This part should have had lots of potential for the author to develop conflicts and relationships, whether positive or negative, between Feng and her family...but no. Feng spent all her self dwelling in self-pity, repeating meaningless things around her and describing how she resists performing the marriage ritual with her husband, night in and night out. I had no idea how she transformed from the loving girl in the beginning to this materialistic, hateful, deceitful, angry, loveless and full of revenge character overnight. I did not see the causes or events leading to it. I almost stopped reading a few times to get over the torture. Her resistance of performing wife duties was a bit unrealistic and forceful as well, especially for women of that era.

All in all, there are much better books to understand China, and the mentality of Chinese women with.

[carolee888 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

I picked this out because of the lovely smiling woman on the cover. Yet, I didn’t see a relationship between the cover and the main character in 'All the Flowers in Shanghai". This story was set in the time just before the Chinese revolution and then immediately after. That period and the following one was a very cruel and scary one for China so I did not expect a lot of smiles and contentment but I was hoping for a sympathetic main character. At first, I liked the main character, Xiao Feng. Even though she didn't get love and support from her mother and sister, her grandfather provided her with kindness and caring. Xiao Feng seemed to take after him by learning the botanical terms for the garden flowers and feeling bad for the poor people at the market. This was when was she was a young girl. Her situation changed and she changed with it. She became mean and vindictive. It doesn't seem possible that this is the same person. I don't understand that. How can a person cast off their old personality and take on a new so completely. Hatred and anger seemed to pour out of the book. I started to not want to read about Xiao Feng! I had lost my sympathy for her. I hung on and finished the book but during the middle of it, but I really wanted to stop reading. I didn't check the author's name on the book. When I was reading about Xiao Feng's perspective, it struck me that the author was not a woman. I didn't feel like Duncan Jepson truly captured the woman's point of view. This is not to say that it a man cannot write as if he was a woman. I have read books by male authors who amazed me with their perceptiveness of what it is like to be a woman. Also, I would have preferred that the sex scenes were not so explicit. There seemed to be too much detail, not enough feeling. I thought that the end of the book was believable in terms of the historical situation but not with Xiao Feng. I didn't feel like I understood her. I think that author's "On My Mother" gives some insight as to why the author wrote the book in the way that he did. Also there is section labeled "Further Reading" that offers other books both fiction and non-fiction that I would like to explore. I don’t really want to recommend this book for reading. This book was received as a part of the Amazon.com Vine program but in no way influence my review.

[lauriebrown54 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

This first novel by Jepson gets off to a good start: Feng, a teenage girl in 1930s Shanghai, has been ignored by her parents all her life. Her mother has put all her attention and money into the older daughter, grooming her to marry into one of Shanghai’s top families. As the second daughter, Feng exists to never marry and to take care of her parent’s in their old age. Her grandfather, though, loves her and teaches her the Latin names of the plants in a public garden in Shanghai. Here she meets Bi, a poor young man whose mother is a seamstress. Their budding relationship is severed when Feng, through a quirk of fate, finds herself propelled into an arranged marriage with a member of Shanghai’s richest family. Thrust into a world she knows nothing about, Feng is utterly lost. She doesn’t know her new husband, she doesn’t know how to behave in this environment, and she doesn’t know anything about sex. She is changed radically by this turn of events; at the same time, China itself is undergoing radical change as the Japanese occupation ends and the Maoist revolution begins.This is a set up for an incredible story of a person’s and a country’s growing pains. But that is not what we get; Feng simply turns into a raging bitch, completely centered on herself. She takes on all the worst attributes of the Chinese upper class of that time and place. How the country is changing around her affects her hardly at all until the end; even then she has it much, much easier than many did at the time. It’s sad. I liked the author’s writing style; I hope he writes more because I feel he has great potential. The picture he paints of Shanghai in that era is marvelously written. But the characters are not well done. Feng evokes great sympathy at first and none at all later. Feng’s personality swings too far from one end of the spectrum to the other to be truly believable. I actually had more empathy with her husband, because, flawed and weak as he was, he at least was trying to change and grow.

[justabookreader · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

Feng is a young woman who is mostly ignored by everyone in her family with the exception of her grandfather who dotes on her. Her older sister is the one everyone’s hopes and dreams ride on but she’s cruel to Feng and the two have never had any sort of relationship. When her sister dies unexpectedly, Feng is forced to marry her fiancé to hold up the arrangements her parents made and Feng finds herself a wife to a son of a well-known and rich family in Shanghai with no idea how to fend for herself or any understanding of what’s expected of her.All the Flowers in Shanghai interested me because this is a time frame I’m unfamiliar with --- Shanghai in the 1930s --- and I don’t read much historical fiction set in China which was very appealing. While the setting was interesting, I didn’t care for any of the characters. Feng goes from being exceptionally naïve to bitter in an amazingly short time frame. Her mother, the social climber, is not even worth mentioning as she wasn’t much of a mother so much as person bartering away her daughters for social acceptance. In the end, this book is a letter to a daughter Feng doesn’t know but why she would write such awful things to her daughter I just don’t understand. Yes, she was looking for forgiveness in the end, but throwing every hateful thing she’s ever done out into the world --- both to the daughter and to her husband --- doesn’t portray her in a good way.Oddly, Feng gave her daughter away so that she wouldn’t have to face the life she did but the entire time I was reading, I kept wondering why she couldn’t leave any of her bitterness especially for her children. No, her life wasn’t an easy one but she didn’t want to see any happiness in her life and drove all of it away from her which meant she drove every family member away that she could. In the end of her life, she does begin to understand her hatred and deal with it but the letter feels like a poor apology and nothing more. She spent her whole life looking to get back at people and never sought to understand anyone’s motivation but her own and I couldn’t accept her mea culpa.Like I said, the setting is really appealing and I wish there had been more about the revolution and the changes China went through. Because the story is told through Feng’s perspective, it’s hard to see the impact of the changes and what little of the revolution Feng does come in contact with she doesn’t understand because of the secluded life she led.While I had trouble with the characters in this book, the writing is solid and has given me a new time frame for historical fiction to explore.

[corglacier7 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

I'll agree with the ER reviewer below who said Feng was hard to get into as a main character. I don't demand my protagonists be imminently likable on all counts--I've liked arrogant and even selfish leads in other books, because they're three-dimensional. But Feng felt really hard to connect to, distant and without much sense of who she was. It was like there was a wall between me as a reader and her thoughts and persona. I'd recommend Lisa See's "Shanghai Girls" as a better representative of the setting, and with a much more interesting female protagonist who has her flaws but remains well-rounded.

[curvymommy · Calificación: 2 de 5 estrellas]

I'm not sure what to think about this novel. I had a hard time connecting with the main character, Feng, from the beginning. She seemed so completely set apart from everything that was happening to her. And then in the middle of the story, she suddenly becomes incredibly angry to such an extreme that she makes some really terrible choices, and becomes completely unlikeable. I found some of the language in this story to be odd (some slang that I don't really think this character would have used), and some of the relationships hard to keep straight. Combined with a huge out-of-the-blue time jump in the latter third, and not feeling any kind of connection to the main character whatsoever, this all added up to a difficult book to stay engaged with.

[mcelhra · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

In 1930s Shanghai, women didn't have much control over their lives. When 18 year old Feng's parents arrange for her to marry into the Sang family, it doesn't even occur to her to object. She must do what is expected of her. Unfortunately, Feng is very naive and doesn't have any idea what her wifely duties will entail. Being visited by her new husband night after night wears her down and turns her bitter. She comes up with a terrible plan to exact revenge on her husband and his family.All the Flowers in Shanghai is definitely not a feel good book. Feng makes hard choices that I didn't agree with and she really isn't even all that likeable, especially in the middle of the book. I did enjoy Feng's relationship with her handmaiden Yan. I would love it if the author wrote a follow-up about what Yan's private life was like. In spite of my issues with the main character, I found the story interesting and engaging. I appreciated learning what life in China was like, especially for women, in the early 20th century. Learning about all the ritual and ceremony that was part of the culture then was fascinating.I'm glad I read this book. I'd like to read more books about China to learn even more about the history and culture there.

[momgee_1 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

Set in 1930's Shanghai, this is the story of Feng, second daughter to a middle class, socially ambitious family. Through a quirk of fate, Feng is married off to her older sister's fiancé. Feng felt betrayed by her family and this feeling turned her from a naive amiable young girl into a bitter and resentful young woman obsessed with revenge for what was "done" to her. Such a drama queen!She then decides to put on a happy face, outwardly at least, and be more sociable. This is not from maturing or trying to be a decent human being; it was more to spite her mother-in-law and to get her own way. "The beautiful quiet of my childhood had been interrupted forever, and like most people I did not notice its absence until it was too late. I learned to talk,eat chatter, and most seductive of all, found that I loved to be the center of attention. At the time I could sense the trap that Ma had laid for Sister but it was only now that I could see how delicious and irresistable it was. That Sister could have been no othr creature than the one Ma had created, for who could resist the lure of so much adulation?"At this point, I began to feel sorry for her husband, Xiong Fa. He seemed to be a decent sort even though he had been pushed into marrying Feng by his overbearing mother who kept reminding him of his duty to produce a male heir. Eventually, her guilt at one of her most heinous actions begins to haunt her. It didn't seem to change her behavior too much and I still found it difficult to like her character. All of her unhappiness was of her own doing as she managed to alienate all around her.Overall, an okay read, just not a stellar one, mainly due to Feng's unlikeability and the feeling that most of the supporting characters felt like nebulous beings, they were there but not fully fleshed out.On a positive note, I did like the location, the time frame, Jepson's descriptions of the culture with it's sense of duty in a patriarchal society. Although the Japanese occupation in Shanghai was glossed over, the timeframe when the communists under Mao were in power was interesting. I think I liked the end of the book the best. At the back of the book are some discussion questions and suggestions for further reading. Disclosure: A review copy of the book was provided by William Morrow through LT's early reviewer program.

[lahochstetler · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

This book examines the strictures that bound Chinese wives on the eve of the Cultural Revolution. Raised in a loving household, Feng recognizes that marriage marks the end of her girlhood, and the end of the sheltered happiness she feels in her family. Feng's sister's untimely death makes marriage immediate. While she is surprised to discover a tenderness for her husband, Feng finds living in his household terrifying and suffocating. Her mother and father-in-law rule the roost with an iron fist, and Feng finds life a misery. Much of the book deals with Feng's efforts to live in the Sang household, but the last part of the book takes a surprising turn. With the Cultural Revolution approaching Feng makes an unexpected choice. This was an enjoyable book, though much of the story, the restrictions and family terrors faced by Chinese wives, was familiar to me. Still, this is a book worth reading, and it reads quickly. I quickly became interested in Feng's character. I found her choice at the end of the book surprising and somewhat unbelievable, but Jepson infuses the book with a strong sense of Feng's heartbreak.

[brokenteepee · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

This books shares the story of a very young, very naive girl in pre-revolution China, Feng. She is the second born and all of her mother's energy has been poured into her elder sister. Her mother longs to enter "society" and is using the marriage of her first daughter to try and achieve this goal. When the seamstress comes to make the wedding dress Feng meets his son and imagines herself in love with him as she shares time with him in the family gardens.When her sister dies Feng is basically sold into the marriage her mother so much desired - to save face. Feng is totally unaware of the world around her except for the Latin names of all the flowers in the garden taught to her by her grandfather. He is against the marriage but he leaves rather than stand up to the force of his daughter in law.Feng enters into her new family totally unprepared for living in such a rigid household. No one has told her anything about life. My first problem with the book was that a seventeen year old girl, even in this time period could be THIS clueless. Feng did not even know what marriage was let along sex. She didn't realize that she would be leaving her family. I found it hard to believe. She read more like a pre-teen than a seventeen year old.After she enters the marriage and makes her "terrible revenge" she turns into a femme fatale with her husband. Where did this woman come from? A girl who knew nothing about sex now, with no further conversation or teaching from her husband is suddenly a tease extraordinaire? This change was a bit of a stretch for me.The back and forth of this woman in her feelings of love and hate were like whiplash. I could totally understand why she would hate her situation but the ways she chose to deal with it were a bit extreme to say the least. It made the book less believable and that's a shame because the writing was so good. I found myself drawn into the time and place with the flow of the words. I felt the emotions when they rang true but so many situations just felt so wrong. Maybe it is cultural? I don't know - I have read many a book that has taken place in China in different time periods and have not felt like this. It was definitely worth reading but I won't read it again.

[jo3jo_1 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

This was a wonderful debut novel by Duncan Jepson that gives us a glimpse into the life of Feng, a young Chinese girl. Footbinding is no longer practiced in 1930's Shanghai, but women still do not have many rights. Feng did not plan on having an eventful life, as the family had arranged for her older sister to reap all of the rewards from society.Feng seemed to be content living her life as the younger sister in the family, not having any expectations and being able to live her life as she wanted when the time was right. She had a special relationship with her grandfather who took the time with her almost every day to walk through the vibrant and colorful gardens to introduce her to all of the flowers.Young Feng has a rude awakening one day when her life takes a drastic change. For reasons that she doesn't understand, her parents decide to marry her into a wealthy family. She truly enjoyed her simple life and was not prepared for the stress and responsibility that came along with her upcoming nuptuals.Having to live her new life without the true love that she had hoped for, Feng becomes a bitter woman, looking out only for herself and finding small ways to punish those around her. This bitterness seeps into her heart and soul and will leave a mark on her for the rest of her life.I really enjoyed this novel as it gives me a glimpse into a specific period in China that was so educational. We watch as the various classes of society change as communism is put into place. It is through this change that Feng is brought back to the roots of the person that she is and is able to come to terms with the person that she has become. With themes of China, communism, family, and obligations this was a great novel and I also think it would make a great book club selection. I do not hesitate in recommending this novel.

[whitreidtan · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

China has long enchanted me (all of Asia does, actually) and the historic family dynamics with several generations living under one roof in harmony and in discord in this largest of all countries have long seemed exotic to me. The long history and the unknowns of a society so long closed to the West have always been appealing to learn about. The desire for a son and heir and the lack of worth of daughters is completely foreign but still fascinating to me. So this novel had all the hallmarks of a book I would thoroughly enjoy. Much to my surprise, I was left with a lukewarm reaction.In 1930's Shanghai, in a world on the verge of massive change, Feng lives with her mother, father, older sister, and grandfather. Her sister is the major focus of her mother's energies, leaving Feng, who, it is assumed, will care for her parents in their old age, to the love and company of her grandfather. While her sister, selfish, spoiled, and unfeeling, commands every bit of attention on herself and her upcoming marriage into a socially superior family, seventeen year old Feng wanders in the next door gardens with her grandfather, meeting a boy, Bi, from a distant village. As she starts to fantasize about life with Bi, she is only partially cognizant of the looming disaster in her own home. And when she, as a dutiful Chinese daughter, must step in and marry the unappealing suitor chosen for her sister, relinquishing all hopes of a quiet country life, she does so unhesitatingly.When she marries into the Sang family, Feng is young and clumsy, not the polished, slick young woman her sister was, and she suffers scorn and cruelty at the hands of her new in-laws. Her husband is kind enough but he is a dutiful son and under his parents' thumb so does as he is commanded without a thought to his fearful wife's wants or well-being. Feng is miserable having only her maid Yan in whom to confide and to trust for guidance and friendship. And it her maid Yan to whom she confide the terrible act of revenge she plots against her situation and all those who surround her. It is Yan who must carry out her mistress' awful plan, the plan that will haunt Feng for the rest of her life.Feng is an unlikable character, growing from a naive, uncomplicated young woman drifting through life into a bitter, nasty, warped, and hateful woman. Having been forced to live her sister's life, she finally becomes her cruel sister. Were this dislike on the reader's part intentionally incurred on the author's part, it would perhaps be acceptable but I suspect that in actual fact, we are to view Feng's changed character with sympathy given her situation. Maybe the cultural divide is too great or our experiences too different but I found myself unable to feel any sympathy and this colored how I felt about the novel as a whole. Certainly Feng had a neglectful upbringing, knowing that she was of no worth to her parents. Certainly she was in a loveless arranged marriage. Certainly she was ill-treated by her in-laws, holding no value to them except as a vessel to produce an heir. But the way in which she stewed over the injustices done to her and the life-altering revenge she chose to deny everyone who had wronged her what they had so hoped for (but which she never divulged so only she tasted the bitterness of her horrible, and ultimately regretted triumph) was beyond the pale.The writing itself is very evocative and draws the rarified world of upper class Shanghai well. As a domestic drama set mainly in the constrained world of women, there is little intrusion from the outside world. Surely there should have been though, as China suffered a brutal occupation and lengthy war with Japan, including the bloody Battle of Shanghai, a civil war between the Nationalists and the Communists, and the rise of Mao Zedong and his harsh policies. There is little mention of these massive changes during the narrative despite the fact that the Sang family, as part of Shanghai's wealthy ruling elite, would have been gravely (and likely very adversely) affected by each of these historical instances. And their passing references glossed over the brutality and hardship that would have accompanied these events.The characters in the novel are quite simple with only Feng and her husband showing any growth or dimensionality. The setting is interesting but given short shrift and the historical is all but ignored until the very end of the story. There are a few coincidences too fantastic, just a bit too deus ex machina in the plot and the great leap forward in time after Feng's son is born is slightly disorienting. This was a good enough read, spoiled a bit by Feng's character, but it missed out on being so much more given the time and the setting.

[chatterbox_1 · Calificación: 2 de 5 estrellas]

Let me start off by saying I love a good dark story, and I have no objections whatsoever to an unsympathetic narrator. So when I note that I found this novel deeply flawed and unlikeable, I'm not including those factors. And I'm judging it based on what I thought it would or could be -- not comparing it to works of Great Literary Merit, but measuring it against other sagas of its kind. And it simply doesn't work on that level, either.I can see what Duncan Jepson is trying to do -- to craft a story about the traditional roles of daughter, wife and mother in pre-Communist China, and the stresses that creates on the women who are bound by the role. The problem? It's indifferently executed, and the characters (especially that of Feng, despite the first-person narration) never really come alive on the page. By the time I had read 200 pages, I was rolling my eyes in disbelief and despite the downright melodramatic events, I simply didn't care what happened next to Feng or anyone else. The next major plot twist made me laugh, which I don't think was the author's intention.The flaws are evident from the beginning. Who is Feng? Is she really a subdued, passive younger daughter? Is she fearful and ignorant? It was slightly unbelievable to me that while her grandfather had taught her the Latin names of plants, no one, by the age of 17, had given her a glimpse into the facts of life. After all, this wasn't Victorian England, but China in the 1920s (just guessing at this date, going by subsequent events in the book) when even in middle-class households, it was hard to remain oblivious for long to such matters short of being sent to a convent school. Feng's naivete is just as unconvincing as her later decision to embark on a kind of Jacobean revenge tragedy. Similarly, I kept want to ask the real husband to stand up and be identified. On the one hand he's slightly shy, on the other he ((SPOILER ALERT)) seems to think that violence is part of sex and has no conception that it might be different. Just as Feng's behavior and switch in personalities is incomprehensible, so are those of her husband: they make Jekyll/Hyde look like an amateur. And let's not even get started on the holes in the plot, which I won't discuss for fears of major plot spoilers. Jepson's concept and ideas drive the whole book, leaving everything else on the sidelines. The result is heavy-handed and sometimes a bit bizarre. About two-thirds of the way through this book, it finally becomes possible to ascribe a rough date to the events when he mentions -- in passing, in the form of Feng's musings on events that have passed -- the war between China and Japan. Now, this very violent and terrifying conflict lasted for the better part of a decade. I note that another reviewer said he/she didn't mind that historical events weren't part of the plot, but I did, because those historical events couldn't help but shape the characters' lives in some way. Yet Jepson's characters might as well have been living on the moon as in China. This context doesn't need to be at the foreground or drive the plot, but it needs to be there, especially because the focus on the plot -- the subservient role of women in Chinese families -- was changing so dramatically at this point. Feng goes to tea dances, so that means the novel had to be set in the 1920s or 1930s, but... It's like writing a novel about slavery from the point of view of a slave in Alabama, when the reader has no sense of whether it's set in 1750 or 1850 until the slaves are suddenly freed. No, it doesn't add a flavor of reality, because the reader is deliberately kept from knowing things that Feng would have known at the time. She would have known about the conflict between Nationalists and Communists, and the war with the Japanese, especially given the presence of military-aged men in her family home. She couldn't have known the outcome, but it's incomprehensible that she would be so caught up in her personal life that she would be as oblivious as she sounds to this.I won't even address the final bizarre turn this novel takes. Honestly, the whole thing is deeply silly and I regret investing much of my time on reading it. If you want to read a novel about womens' lives in China, there are now MANY great choices. Read "Kinfolk" or "the Women's Pavilion" by Pearl Buck; "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" by Lisa See; "Spring Moon" by Betty Bao Lord; many of Amy Tan's novels. For me, this didn't even rise to the level of brain candy -- fun, fluffy reading with no nutritional value. If it didn't have to back to the library, I would have flung it from my window.

[thelostentwife · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

This book has huge strengths and just as big of weaknesses. But I’m in that strange place where the weakness isn’t really a big weakness to me, due to the other reading I’ve done about China during this time period. So – here is the weakness: There really isn’t much information about the historical situation in China, but this isn’t a book that really advertises that it has that information.This semester in school we talked a lot about history is based around wars and the events leading up to them. There is very little history taught in schools that centers around homemaking methods of women, or the methods of horse-shoeing by men. This is one of those kind of books, however. Historical fiction which takes a look at the way the women of 1930′s China ticked – their honor system, their treatment of daughters, their pride, and their choices.Duncan Jepson fully explores what might be one possible reason behind the actions of a woman leading to the removal of her daughter from her home. Feng is so sweet and pure at the start of this story as she explores gardens, and deals with grubby hands and the scorn of an older, “wiser” sister. Due to a twist in circumstances, Feng ends up married to a man not of her own choosing, and placed into a home that is, for all intents and purposes, a pit of vipers. My heart broke, not only while watching Feng transform into a woman who could hold her own, but also at the circumstances surrounding that change.Another slight issue I had with the book, however, was the sheer amount of time spent on things such as the leading up to and impregnating of Feng (which read a little like a sadistic porn novel), and the fact that Feng really had nothing to complain about with her husband, other than the fact of course that she didn’t choose or love him, which I admit is no small thing. Still, he treats her well – there’s no abuse or anything of the sort, so nothing to worry about with that, but.. I guess you’d need to read the book to understand why it bugs me a bit.Overall – I thought the story was a beautiful look at the history of the woman in China in the 30′s. The focus was so intent on Feng, her choices, her lifestyle, and her family, that everything else falls to the wayside. Lush language makes the book very easy to fall into, and I was up until 2am to finish it last night because I didn’t want to put it down.

[punxsygal · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

In 1930s Shanghai, Xiao Feng enjoys wandering the gardens with her grandfather while he tells her the names of the plants. Feng is the second daughter, the unimportant one. Sister is first. Sister wears the beautiful dresses and makeup, maintaining an active social life as the perfect husband is sought. The family’s hopes and resources are put to the goal of having Sister marry well and raise the social status of the family. But a tragedy happens and Feng’s world tilts. And with that begins a long slide into bitterness that will affect the family and the generation to come. And along with this begins the upheaval in China with the coming of Mao.The story, written by a man, was told in the first person of Xiao Feng. And he seemed to do well in capturing the doubts, humiliations and vengeful thoughts of the maturing Feng. This was not a book that I would say I “enjoyed”, as it was a dark tale. But once I started reading the tale held me in its grip.

[queenalyss · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

I enjoyed the novel as a pleasurable read. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary as far as a Chinese novel that follows a young woman being forced into marriage. However, it has a simplistic nature that was very appealing.

[melaniehope · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

I just finished reading this book and am slightly disappointed by the ending.The story is about a Chinese girl named Feng who is forced into an arranged marriage with a man she hardly knows. Feng is young and innocent and has no idea what is expected of her. Although her husband seems kinds, she does not love him, and in time she grows to resent her situation and becomes bitter and angry.As the story moves along there is much detail and time spent on Feng's early days married to her husband.Then we skip ahead 11 years or more to learn a bit more about Feng's son and the relationship between mother and son. Just a little bit of time is spent here before we near the end of the book. I was a bit confused about how Feng finally seemed happy, but after her close friend moves away, she immediately becomes angry and bitter and in a fit of rage, beats a young servant girl. Then Feng completely seems to go out of character for me by how she chooses to deal with her actions. Suddenly we are in the midst of the Revolution and very quickly the story ends. Although I think the ending seemed realistic enough for me, it did leave me feeling incomplete and I felt that we never really got to understand the main character.I did enjoy the story, but the beginning of the book seemed so different from the latter half of the story.

[alandee_1 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Removed from her simple and innocent childhood, Feng was thrust into a traditional marriage with the first son of a wealthy Chinese family. She was forced to adhere to ancient customs and rules. With her marriage, Feng gave up her old life and resented her family for not protecting her and the life she once knew. Into this repressed society she finds that all power is held by tradition, and when this young woman becomes a mother, her decision on the fate of her first born changes the rest of her life. While war and the revolution changed the lives of the Chinese, Feng nutured her hatred until a cruel act on her part led her to seek redemption. This is a sad commentary on the plight of Chinese women and will surely elicit compassion for the tortured soul of Feng.

[pjhess · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

I received this book from Library Thing Early review program. It takes place in Shanghai in the 1930's and it started off well but unfortunately for me quickly went down hill and was only able to recover a little on the last few pages. Feng was just not a happy person to read about and her misery just didn't feel real. I just couldn't feel anything for the character and unfortunately had to make my self finish the book.

[kathy_h_8 · Calificación: 2 de 5 estrellas]

It is difficult (for me anyway) to enjoy a book when I do not care for the main character. Initially, Feng comes off as simple...and although she certainly becomes less so, she does grow very bitter, and that was tiresome. I found Jenson's writing quite choppy but was able to appreciate his descriptions of clothes, home life and nature. Overall not a compelling read, or close to Memoirs or Snow Flower - done before and better.

[dgmlrhodes · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

In this debut novel by Duncan Jepson, Feng is a woman in China in the 1930's. Her older sister is being groomed to marry into a wealthy family and when she suddenly dies Feng must take her place. The story is very character driven and I enjoyed the main character Feng and her story. It is not often that a man can write in the voice of a woman and pull it off, but this character worked. The storyline is similar to a number of other books in this genre such as those by Lisa See and Amy Tan. In comparison, I felt that this book lacked the historical detail provided by those novels. However, this story had a nice plot twist and ended in an interesting manner. Overall, a nice start for the author.Reader received a complimentary copy of the book from the Library Thing Early Reviewers Program.

[milliehennessy · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Having read a few books with the same theme (well-off Chinese family falls into poverty thanks to the war), I didn't think that the plot itself was very original, however I found the characters to be engaging. Feng, who grew up mostly ignored by her parents while they prepped her sister for a life of social climbing and luxury, ends up marrying into the family her sister was supposed to marry into. Her bitterness at the way she was abandonded/traded away by her family, and at the way she is treated in her new family overcomes her. She takes this out on her first born child, as well as her trusted maid. She eventually becomes someone she hates, and as the war hits, she ends up completely reversing her lifestyle and working in the countryside at a clothing factory with a woman from her past.Overall, I wish there was more historical content. Having read a few stories in this time frame, I felt this one was lacking more of the emotional detail of the war, and mostly the changing times. It did seem as though suddenly everything went from ok to poverty stricken, and I got that life was hard for Feng, but there wasn't as much detail as I'd have liked. I liked her as a character though, and I could see her growth throughout the book. However, other than her maid, Yan, there wasn't much character development going on for anyone else. While I got a clear picture of many of the characters, they were fairly static.I did think that as a male writing a female perspective, Duncan was very convincing. Overall I enjoyed the emotional journey of the book, even if the historical journey was lacking.

[bwightman_3 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

I received this book through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program. I was not impressed by this book. I found it difficult to read as the main character's bitterness overtakes her life. The story is set in 1930s Shanghai, which was a very cosmopolitan city prior to the Japanese invasion and the Communist revolution. However, not much is made of these historical events and in many ways they seem to have little direct impact on the main character. I believe this book was chosen for me based on the fact that I enjoyed Lisa See's novels set during the same time period, but I don't think this book is of that caliber.

[annewk · Calificación: 2 de 5 estrellas]

The setting is promising -- 1930s China. The main character is a second daughter in a social-climbing family. In an unbelievable turn of events, this daughter is married off to the son of an important family. She couldn't be less prepared for the role -- or for marriage itself. So far so good. But the reader is never completely involved with this character. The most compelling characters are bit players, the girl's grandfather who loves her but seems to disappear after she marries, a young man from the country who also fades away, and the girl's servant, her only real friend in the husband's household, whom she mistreats as soon as she learns how to do that. War and revolution come,as we know from history, but this novel tells little about those, beyond common knowledge details (Mao posters, worker clothing). We see our heroine suffering deprivation but we don't really feel for her. And there are some amazing coincidences. This book was the author's first novel and I am afraid that shows.

[pdebolt_1 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

Duncan Jepson shows promise as a writer in this debut novel; unfortunately, most of the material in this book has been done too often to make All The Flowers in Shanghai memorable. It is the story of Feng, who steps in as the reluctant bride in an arranged marriage when her older sister dies. Feng spends a lot of time pining for a young man she knew briefly before her marriage and life within a wealthy home dominated by her father-in-law. There are glimpses of Chinese history that make the story line more interesting, but ultimately the characters are stereotypical and without much substance.

[goldnyght · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

I really enjoyed this book. It wasn't quite what I was expecting, but still a great read.

[beamis12 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

Won this book througt Library thing. It is very hard to like a novel when the main character is so unlikeable. Set in the 1930's during Mao's reign in Shanghai, I did like the history and wish their was more of it. Fengs bitterness kind of overtakes the novel and not in a good way. Was well written about the little regard held for woman in this culture and the cruelty of the in laws in the treatment of the new daughters who come to live in their houses. I did feel sorry for her little daughter who was a further victim of her mother's bitterness.