DAUGHTERS OF THE SUN AND MOON

DAUGHTERS OF THE SUN AND THE MOON by Lisa See

YELLOW LIGHT WITH CAUTION

AGES: ADULT

Daughters of the Sun and the Moon is being added to my SARAH'S FAVORITES BOOKLIST. Despite some intense content, this historical fiction read exposes troubling events in history surrounding Chinese women, and it treats the content with as much dignity and respect as possible. Lisa See continues to bring readers meaningful and moving reads that focus on the abuse endured by women within the Asian culture. They are not stories for the faint of heart, but neither should they go untold.

Set in 1870 in Los Angeles (post Mexican-American War, but pre-Southern Pacific Railroad Days), three Chinese women arrive finding themselves in very restrictive lifestyles. Beautiful Dove is born into the family of an imperial scholar who never amounted to much. When the matchmaker presents an opportunity for her to be sent to Los Angeles as a second wife to an important man that will use her as an arm ornament, her family jumps at the offer. Desiring love, she finds herself instead constantly put on display as a reminder to everyone of her husband's status and wealth. Petal is one of many mouths to feed in a peasant family. Considered worthless, she is sold by her parents. Thinking she is going to Los Angeles to be a bride, Petal devastatingly finds out she's been sold into prostitution instead. Moon is an educated woman as the daughter of a doctor. Unable to practice on her own, she marries a young doctor who studied under her father. She spends her days wondering if her marriage was one of convenience due to her skills or one of love.

As readers, we come to know each of these three women well and what their lives look like day in and day out. Each woman has longings of what she thought life would be that are buried underneath a mountain of expectation. That is until the Night of Horrors, a true event in Los Angeles history, happens. During the Night of Horrors, the anti-Chinese sentiment comes to a brutal climax, and all three women are changed forever because of it. Overall, I found this book to be a very stirring read.

Before I dive into the HEADS UP section of this book, I'm going to take a moment to compare this book to another popular novel on the market right now, The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett. In my personal opinion, I would hands down read Daughters of the Sun and Moon over The Calamity Club. Both books deal with prostitution, so what makes one different from the other? It really boils down to a couple of things for me. First, in Daughters of the Sun and Moon, the women involved in prostitution do not do so willingly. They have been sold or forced into it amounting to a form of slavery. The Calamity Club is more about choice not force in becoming a prostitute. (One of the prostitutes is trying to get her daughter back, so there is still some heartfelt emotion in the book.) Second, the overall feeling of The Calamity Club is one of continual crassness -the dress, the language, the lifestyle, etc. Daughter of the Sun and Moon is definitely more refined.

HEADS UP - Prostitution is a big topic in this book. While you do go into the bedrooms sometimes with the girls, it's in the conversation that happens not in the sexual acts. Rape occurs but with little detail. There is a very small amount of language, no f-bombs.