Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Reader Advisory Blog: snow flower and the secret fan

Showing posts with label snow flower and the secret fan. Show all posts

Book-to-Movie: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

Lisa See's riveting work of historical fiction Snow Flower and the Secret Fan tells the story of two best friends in ancient China, following their lives from girlhood to motherhood and old age. They commemorate special moments in their lives on a silk fan, until a miscommunication threatens to tear their friendship apart. The film adaptation, which premieres in movies today, also introduces a second storyline set in modern times. Check out the book that inspired this blockbuster film adaptation! (And don't forget to submit your review to the Summer Reading Club for a chance to win the prize of the week!)

Book-to-movie Alert: Snow Flower & the Secret Fan

Fox Searchlight has released a trailer for Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, the film adaptation of Lisa See's novel about two female best friends in ancient China. The movie introduces a second, parallel storyline set in modern-day Shanghai, which follows the descendents of these two friends. Directed by Wayne Wang, it stars Bingbing Li, Gianna Jun, Vivian Wu and Hugh Jackman. Scheduled for release on July 15, you still have four months to check out the book and read it before going to see the movie this summer.

Being Mortal by Atul Gawande

Genre: Adult Non-Fiction
Rating: 5 out of 5

"Being Mortal is about the limitations of what modern medicine can provide for people as their lives draw to a close. Gawande argues that the objective of medicine should not merely be treatment and survival; medical care should also ensure dignity in death and having control over one's final moments. He argues that instead of aggressively fighting the inescapable realities of aging, we should ask the hard questions of ourselves and our loved ones -- What makes life worth living? When should we try to extend our lives, and when should we choose a better quality of our remaining days over extending their quantity?

This book is difficult to read. Not because of the way Gawande writes -- his style is highly engaging, and he never lapses into excessively scientific jargon or overly simplistic explanations -- but because of the tough subject matter. Gawande draws on his own experiences as a doctor and peppers his book with honest and humane stories of his patients, friends, and family; the stories he tells make the book more accessible, and also more heartbreaking. (And that's not a bad thing.)

No one likes to think about their loved ones', or their own, impending mortality. But it's important to have these hard conversations, because as Gawande says, "endings matter." - Amanda