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Available
Call number
Series
Collection
Publication
Random House (2011), Edition: First Edition, Hardcover, 368 pages
Description
Fiction. Literature. Historical Fiction. HTML:#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER � �Astonishing . . . one of those hard-to-put-down-until-four-in-the morning books . . . a story with characters who enter a reader�s life, take up residence, and illuminate the myriad decisions and stories that make up human history.��Los Angeles Times In her most powerful novel yet, acclaimed author Lisa See returns to the story of sisters Pearl and May from Shanghai Girls, and Pearl�s strong-willed nineteen-year-old daughter, Joy. Reeling from newly uncovered family secrets, Joy runs away to Shanghai in early 1957 to find her birth father�the artist Z.G. Li, with whom both May and Pearl were once in love. Dazzled by him, and blinded by idealism and defiance, Joy throws herself into the New Society of Red China, heedless of the dangers in the Communist regime. Devastated by Joy�s flight and terrified for her safety, Pearl is determined to save her daughter, no matter the personal cost. From the crowded city to remote villages, Pearl confronts old demons and almost insurmountable challenges as she follows Joy, hoping for reconciliation. Yet even as Joy�s and Pearl�s separate journeys converge, one of the most tragic episodes in China�s history threatens their very lives. BONUS: This edition contains a Dreams of Joy discussion guide. Praise for Dreams of Joy �[Lisa] See is a gifted historical novelist. . . . The real love story, the one that�s artfully shown, is between mother and daughter, and aunt and daughter, as both of the women who had a part in making Joy return to China come to her rescue. . . . [In Dreams of Joy,] there are no clear heroes or villains, just people who often take wrong turns to their own detriment but for the good of the story, leading to greater strength of character and more durable relationships.��San Francisco Chronicle �A heartwarming story of heroic love between a mother and daughter . . . No writer has better captured the voice and heart of Chinese culture.��Bookreporter �Once again, See�s research feels impeccable, and she has created an authentic, visually arresting world.��The Washington Post.… (more)
Media reviews
Although the ending betrays See’s roots in genre fiction, this is a riveting, meticulously researched depiction of one of the world’s worst human-engineered catastrophes.
With each new novel, Lisa See gets better and better. Each work is more tightly woven, richer with information, its characters more memorable than the last....And so it is with "Dreams of Joy," which picks up where "Shanghai Girls" left off, giving us the story of a young Chinese American woman's
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search for her father and her three-year odyssey in the People's Republic during Mao Tse-tung's Great Leap Forward. The scope of the novel is astonishing — including the ingenious ways Chinese women handled their menstrual periods and the carefully concealed and shocking stories of starvation in the communes, the suffocating collectives into which the country was divided...The novel is front-loaded with all of these revelations, and continues to move extremely quickly until the very end — one of those hard-to-put-down-until-four-in-the-morning books — but happily, the action is not all external Show Less
Crowd-pleaser See continues the story she began in Shanghai Girls with this compelling account of life inside the People's Republic of China during Mao's disastrous "Great Leap Forward." ...See writes vividly about China's people, places and customs; her descriptions of various state banquets will
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bring on hunger pangs. That such feasts were served while millions starved is a sobering history lesson in the midst of this engrossing saga about two tiger mothers of an earlier day.
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User reviews
LibraryThing member SqueakyChu
Dreams of Joy is a history lesson and a "rough awakening" story of a young Chinese-American woman who leaves her family in California, USA, to run off to China while it's in the throes of becoming a Maoist nation. Much more intense and interesting than its prequel Shanghai Girls in which we
I loved all the historical and cultural details which infused life and meaning into its characters. Conversely, I was appalled by the frightening description of daily life as food became increasingly scarce in the collective. This novel was very exciting even though its ending seemed a bit too contrived. My overall impression was that this was a worthwhile read, mostly for its picture of how the Chinese population endured the grim years of the Great Leap Forward. Its message also left me deeply thankful for the many freedoms I have in my own life and in my own country.
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followed the lives of sisters Pearl and May, here we follow Pearl's daughter Joy as she searches for her identity after learning some uncomfortable truths about her mother, her aunt, and her father. Joy's energy is totally consumed by embracing the idealism of growing communism in the Green Dragon, a collective of the "New" China. I loved all the historical and cultural details which infused life and meaning into its characters. Conversely, I was appalled by the frightening description of daily life as food became increasingly scarce in the collective. This novel was very exciting even though its ending seemed a bit too contrived. My overall impression was that this was a worthwhile read, mostly for its picture of how the Chinese population endured the grim years of the Great Leap Forward. Its message also left me deeply thankful for the many freedoms I have in my own life and in my own country.
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LibraryThing member SignoraEdie
I was delighted to receive this Advanced Reader Copy of "Dreams of Joy." For years I have been a fan of authors, Carolyn See and her daughter, Lisa See. Their works have invited me in to experiences and introduced me to memorable characters that I continue to carry with me. Also, I am currently
A sequel to her novel, Shanghai Girls, this novel picks up after the death of Sam and follows Joy, the birth daughter of May and adopted daughter of Pearl as she runs off to China to join the New Society of Red China under Mao and the Peoples’ Republic of China and to try to find her natural father, the artist, Li Zhi-ge. Joy is filled with idealism as well as anger toward her mother which gives her the energy to move forward into this great unknown. At times she appears so young and naïve as she heedlessly throws herself into harm's way seemingly unaware of the personal dangers of the communist regime. Pearl follows her into Communist China and remains, forming a life of survival for herself, so she can be near in case her daughter needs her, always hoping she will be able to eventually bring May back to the United States with her. Her love for her daughter shines out through the story.
The characters are beautifully developed and the story comes together. But what I appreciated most was the in-depth research that must have gone into the writing of this novel. So much about China is draped in secrecy. The years of their transition from socialism to communism were wrought with hardship especially for the peasants. The descriptions of life in the tiny Green Dragon village/commune in the Chinese countryside were riveting. When Joy marries Tao, one of the local peasants and moves into his family hut, she is filled with the belief that life will be meaningful. However, as time passes and Mao’s Great Leap Forward progresses (one of the world’s worst human-engineered catastrophes), life becomes harsh, and the descriptions of the struggle to survive the great famine are at times difficult to read. Through it all, May discovers that she is tougher than she thought and finds ways to survive and keep her infant daughter alive.
As with her other novels, the descriptions contained within “Dreams of Joy” will stay with me.
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taking a class on “Emerging China” and was interested to see what Lisa had to share about China in 1958 when this novel occurs. It did not disappoint!A sequel to her novel, Shanghai Girls, this novel picks up after the death of Sam and follows Joy, the birth daughter of May and adopted daughter of Pearl as she runs off to China to join the New Society of Red China under Mao and the Peoples’ Republic of China and to try to find her natural father, the artist, Li Zhi-ge. Joy is filled with idealism as well as anger toward her mother which gives her the energy to move forward into this great unknown. At times she appears so young and naïve as she heedlessly throws herself into harm's way seemingly unaware of the personal dangers of the communist regime. Pearl follows her into Communist China and remains, forming a life of survival for herself, so she can be near in case her daughter needs her, always hoping she will be able to eventually bring May back to the United States with her. Her love for her daughter shines out through the story.
The characters are beautifully developed and the story comes together. But what I appreciated most was the in-depth research that must have gone into the writing of this novel. So much about China is draped in secrecy. The years of their transition from socialism to communism were wrought with hardship especially for the peasants. The descriptions of life in the tiny Green Dragon village/commune in the Chinese countryside were riveting. When Joy marries Tao, one of the local peasants and moves into his family hut, she is filled with the belief that life will be meaningful. However, as time passes and Mao’s Great Leap Forward progresses (one of the world’s worst human-engineered catastrophes), life becomes harsh, and the descriptions of the struggle to survive the great famine are at times difficult to read. Through it all, May discovers that she is tougher than she thought and finds ways to survive and keep her infant daughter alive.
As with her other novels, the descriptions contained within “Dreams of Joy” will stay with me.
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LibraryThing member karenlisa
Dreams of Joy By Lisa See 19 years after we fell in love with the Shanghai girls we read about Joy, a young woman at the University of Chicago. Joy's mother Pearl and her auntie May are still living the American dream in California. But Joy is disenchanted with her freedoms. She does not value the
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independence and opportunites that await her young adult life. Instead, Joy dreams of China, and the ideals that she have been convinced are equality, simple communal living and a Shanghai that her mother and aunt grew up in that no longer exists. So begins the adventure and unfolding drama of her and her mothers journey to find the truth and happiness they both have long desired. Many sequels do not live up to the original story but in the case of Dreams of Joy, I enjoyed it even more. Definitely recommend this read. Show Less
LibraryThing member littlebookworm
This review contains spoilers for Shanghai Girls. This is the sequel to that book.
Joy has just learned that her entire life is a lie. Her parents aren't really her birth parents and she believe she's caused her father's suicide. Unable to bear the consequences and taught the ideals of Mao's China,
Lisa See's books have always been great reads, full of the detail and culture of the times they portray and rich with realistic characters. This book is no exception. While we saw the collapse of Shanghai in the last book, in this one we're witness to how it has changed. I went through a minor obsession with books about China a while ago and this book was a return to a culture that still fascinates me even as it is horrifying. In this book, we're in the midst of the 'Great Leap Forward'. American teenager Joy has to accept that the ideals she'd been taught about life in China were wrong, and that life could be immensely harder for her than it had ever been previously. She also has to learn - the hard way - that she isn't always right, and that stubbornness can lead to huge mistakes.
Meanwhile, it's Pearl who can see how much the China of her youth has changed, how some things are the same but others are incredibly different. I found all of this fascinating and particularly well done, evoking memories from reading Shanghai Girls a while ago while providing a new, refreshing storyline that breathed different life into characters I already knew. Only May is on the edge of this book; it's about mother and daughter, here, not about sisters, and the difficulty of parenthood on both sides of the equation.
If you've enjoyed other books by Lisa See, you will definitely enjoy this one too. I wouldn't recommend reading it prior to Shanghai Girls, but it does fill in the gaps reasonably well so I don't think a newcomer would be lost. Dreams of Joy definitely earns its spot next to her others as a moving story with well-developed characters and thoughtful questions set in a fascinating country.
Joy has just learned that her entire life is a lie. Her parents aren't really her birth parents and she believe she's caused her father's suicide. Unable to bear the consequences and taught the ideals of Mao's China,
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Joy flees to Shanghai, convinced she'll find the life she's always wanted in the arms of Communism. Pearl, her mother in love if not in body, immediately goes after her daughter. She knows how bad China is, while Joy has no idea. Getting into China is easy; getting out of China is very difficult. As Pearl searches for Joy and Joy searches for meaning, both women end up learning more about who they are and what they treasure most in their lives.Lisa See's books have always been great reads, full of the detail and culture of the times they portray and rich with realistic characters. This book is no exception. While we saw the collapse of Shanghai in the last book, in this one we're witness to how it has changed. I went through a minor obsession with books about China a while ago and this book was a return to a culture that still fascinates me even as it is horrifying. In this book, we're in the midst of the 'Great Leap Forward'. American teenager Joy has to accept that the ideals she'd been taught about life in China were wrong, and that life could be immensely harder for her than it had ever been previously. She also has to learn - the hard way - that she isn't always right, and that stubbornness can lead to huge mistakes.
Meanwhile, it's Pearl who can see how much the China of her youth has changed, how some things are the same but others are incredibly different. I found all of this fascinating and particularly well done, evoking memories from reading Shanghai Girls a while ago while providing a new, refreshing storyline that breathed different life into characters I already knew. Only May is on the edge of this book; it's about mother and daughter, here, not about sisters, and the difficulty of parenthood on both sides of the equation.
If you've enjoyed other books by Lisa See, you will definitely enjoy this one too. I wouldn't recommend reading it prior to Shanghai Girls, but it does fill in the gaps reasonably well so I don't think a newcomer would be lost. Dreams of Joy definitely earns its spot next to her others as a moving story with well-developed characters and thoughtful questions set in a fascinating country.
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LibraryThing member streamsong
This is the sequel to Lisa See's Shanghai Girls, which ends on a cliffhanger when daughter, Joy, runs away from problems at home. She idealistically heads to Communist China of the 50's to help build a new country during Chairman Mao Tse-Tung's Great Leap Forward.
I’ve enjoyed Lisa See’s
The novel has enough twists to be a page turner, although like other reviewers, I felt the happily ever after ending a bit contrived. Recommended for those interested in historical novels or China. I would suggest reading Shanghai Girls first.
I listened to this on audiobook and was not fond of the reader. The book is very long—13 hours-- and the reader chose to read at least half of it in a strained, tear-laden voice. It’s an emotional book with stressful incidents in the characters’ lives, but 6 hours of someone fighting back tears is waaaaaay too much.
I’ve enjoyed Lisa See’s
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portraits of life in China in her other books and this one is no different. It is filled with well-researched details of life in the beginning of Mao’s regime. We see China from the viewpoints of one of Mao’s elite artists, average city dwellers in Shanghai and peasant workers on a farming collective. It is one of the most vivid descriptions of the resulting famine that I have ever read.The novel has enough twists to be a page turner, although like other reviewers, I felt the happily ever after ending a bit contrived. Recommended for those interested in historical novels or China. I would suggest reading Shanghai Girls first.
I listened to this on audiobook and was not fond of the reader. The book is very long—13 hours-- and the reader chose to read at least half of it in a strained, tear-laden voice. It’s an emotional book with stressful incidents in the characters’ lives, but 6 hours of someone fighting back tears is waaaaaay too much.
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LibraryThing member LoisCK
Beyond belief is this novel "Dreams of Joy" by Lisa See. It is the sequel to "Shanghai Girls", contininuing the story of Pearl and May, two :"beautiful girls" of Shanghai now living in 1950's California and their daughter, Joy. It starts off with drama of the hightest order: Joy finds out that the
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woman she thought was her mother, Pearl, is really her aunt and her aunt, May, is her mother. This knowledge comes shortly after her dear "father" has committed suicide because of her; or so she believes. So what does this college aged young woman who has been betrayed by her precious family do? She goes to communist China all by herself after her boyfriend refuses to go with her, telling her their dreams of communism have all been just talk and that he is more interested in his own future as a dentist. She actually gets to China all on her own and is immediately accepted by her biological father who is being trundled off to a commune in punishment for his art - which was of those two beautiful girls when they all lived in Shanghai. If I had not received this book as an early reviewer I would have put it down. Not only is the plot totally unbelievable and the characters more charicatures than real people, it is not written well. Lisa See knows a lot about China and it's history, but she teaches rather than shows in her novels (I have read "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan") by throwing in little text book descriptions of facts rather than making them relevent to the story and characters. For readers who love her other work, you will probably love this book: lots of drama about life in China but for those who want rich characters, engaging plot lines and the use of language that inspires this is not the book for you. Show Less
LibraryThing member elbakerone
In 2009's bestselling book Shanghai Girls Lisa See told the story of two sisters - Pearl and May - and their journey from Shanghai, China in the 1930's to Hollywood, California in the 1950's. Following the dramatic and emotional not-quite-conclusion of that work, See picks up the story in another
The title of this book has a bit of a dual meaning in that the characters from book one are desperately seeking a happy, joy-filled ending; and also, the central heroine of this story is Joy - the daughter from Shanghai Girls - who ventures out on the reverse trip of her mother and aunt, traveling from California back to China. Joy is seeking both her birth father, the artist Z.G. Li and what she views as an idealist society in Chairman Mao's communist republic, but she soon learns that ideals and reality rarely line up. Pearl follows her daughter, seeking to bring Joy back home, and both women face questions of the true meanings of home and family.
As with many of her previous novels, Lisa See's signature style of emotionally charged character drama is alive in this book. The landscape and daily details are vividly described; and contrasting themes of love and loss intertwine with a story about the turbulent political climate of China in the late 1950's and early 60's. I really enjoyed how this book answered the questions I was left with after Shanghai Girls. At times I found Joy's rebellious spirit to be a frustrating character trait, but she definitely grew throughout the story. I appreciated that she was a unique individual with a perspective similar to Pearl's and May's, yet distinctly her own. Overall, See has created yet another magnificent and captivating work!
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beautifully-written and phenomenal book, Dreams of Joy.The title of this book has a bit of a dual meaning in that the characters from book one are desperately seeking a happy, joy-filled ending; and also, the central heroine of this story is Joy - the daughter from Shanghai Girls - who ventures out on the reverse trip of her mother and aunt, traveling from California back to China. Joy is seeking both her birth father, the artist Z.G. Li and what she views as an idealist society in Chairman Mao's communist republic, but she soon learns that ideals and reality rarely line up. Pearl follows her daughter, seeking to bring Joy back home, and both women face questions of the true meanings of home and family.
As with many of her previous novels, Lisa See's signature style of emotionally charged character drama is alive in this book. The landscape and daily details are vividly described; and contrasting themes of love and loss intertwine with a story about the turbulent political climate of China in the late 1950's and early 60's. I really enjoyed how this book answered the questions I was left with after Shanghai Girls. At times I found Joy's rebellious spirit to be a frustrating character trait, but she definitely grew throughout the story. I appreciated that she was a unique individual with a perspective similar to Pearl's and May's, yet distinctly her own. Overall, See has created yet another magnificent and captivating work!
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LibraryThing member Camellia1
This book is a continuation of the story Lisa See started in Shanghai Girls. In this story the main character is Joy, the daughter of chinese immigrants to the US. Joy returns to China during Mao's Great Leap Forward both to find her family there and to avoid problems with her family in the US.
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This book was pretty hard to read because of Joy's stubborness and ability to make one bad choice after the other. I kept hoping for one of the other characters to knock some sense into her. The descriptions of life in the Chinese countryside were interesting, if very depressing. Overall, this was not a bad book, but not one of my favorites, either. Show Less
LibraryThing member Gingersnap000
"Dreams of Joy" is the third novel which I have read from Lisa See and was delighted to have be awarded the book to review as a Librarything Early Reviewer. This novel is part two of the "Beautiful Girl" saga and you must read See's book "Shanghai Girls" to fully enjoy Dreams of Joy. Pearl and May
The sisters lives was turned up side-town when their father lost every thing to the Green Gang and was forced to sell the girls to Old Man Louie to marry his sons and move to America. Before entering the country May gives birth to Z.G. daughter, Joy, but is Pearl who pretends to be the child's mother to protect her sister arranged marriage.
Joy is the protagnist of "Dreams of Joy" who discovers the truth about her biological parents. Grieving from the suicide of Sam, the man she believed to be her father and hating her Auntie and Mother from keep the truth from her for 18 years, she runs away to China to find her "real" father.
This is not modern day China but late 1950's China under strict Communist Rule. Joy does find her father but her Mother is fast on her trail to bring her home. The novel is a rude awakening of the horrors of China at that time. It is no wondering that my parents who always finish my dinner by stating, "There are starving children in China and you should be grateful that you never go to sleep hungry."
If enjoyed the historical fiction of "Shanghai Girls",you will be enthralled by "Dreams of Joy."
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were beautiful sisters from a weathly family who modeled for the artist Z.G. as part of the "Beautiful Girls" poster series. The sisters lives was turned up side-town when their father lost every thing to the Green Gang and was forced to sell the girls to Old Man Louie to marry his sons and move to America. Before entering the country May gives birth to Z.G. daughter, Joy, but is Pearl who pretends to be the child's mother to protect her sister arranged marriage.
Joy is the protagnist of "Dreams of Joy" who discovers the truth about her biological parents. Grieving from the suicide of Sam, the man she believed to be her father and hating her Auntie and Mother from keep the truth from her for 18 years, she runs away to China to find her "real" father.
This is not modern day China but late 1950's China under strict Communist Rule. Joy does find her father but her Mother is fast on her trail to bring her home. The novel is a rude awakening of the horrors of China at that time. It is no wondering that my parents who always finish my dinner by stating, "There are starving children in China and you should be grateful that you never go to sleep hungry."
If enjoyed the historical fiction of "Shanghai Girls",you will be enthralled by "Dreams of Joy."
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LibraryThing member cacky
Put on your running shoes for Lisa See’s Dreams of Joy as this book hits the track running without stopping until the end. See’s sequel to the wonderful Shanghai Girls won’t disappoint.
Dreams of Joy picks up at the very devastating end of Shanghai Girls as Joy leaves her LA home after
Pearl, filled with her guilt of the deception and not being a good mother, follows Joy to a China she no longer recognizes. Their reunion is awkward but Pearl’s mother-love will not deter her from rescuing her daughter.
I thought much of the storyline to be implausible. For example, by page 30, Joy, a nineteen year-old American, manages to arrive unquestioned in Communist China and find her father in Shanghai without knowing his comrade name or address. Or that Joy has a nice chat with Chairman Mao at an art exhibit. However, I overlooked such improbabilities because of the masterful way See handles the very complex emotional issues of Joy and Pearl – their loves, their losses, their redemption and their forgiveness.
Lisa See excels in her descriptive prose and there wasn’t a landscape, a dress, a room, a person that I couldn’t visualize with clarity. But be forewarned that See does not falter in her chilling descriptions of China’s famine in the early 1960’s when up to 45 million people perished due to starvation.
I highly recommend this book.
Dreams of Joy picks up at the very devastating end of Shanghai Girls as Joy leaves her LA home after
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learning of the deception of her birth mother, May, and Pearl, the aunt who raised her as her own. Joy is heading for the airport to start her trip to The People’s Republic of China to find her birth father and live her idealized vision of a communist homeland. At the same time she is running from the guilt and shame of her part in the suicide of Sam, the only father she had known.Pearl, filled with her guilt of the deception and not being a good mother, follows Joy to a China she no longer recognizes. Their reunion is awkward but Pearl’s mother-love will not deter her from rescuing her daughter.
I thought much of the storyline to be implausible. For example, by page 30, Joy, a nineteen year-old American, manages to arrive unquestioned in Communist China and find her father in Shanghai without knowing his comrade name or address. Or that Joy has a nice chat with Chairman Mao at an art exhibit. However, I overlooked such improbabilities because of the masterful way See handles the very complex emotional issues of Joy and Pearl – their loves, their losses, their redemption and their forgiveness.
Lisa See excels in her descriptive prose and there wasn’t a landscape, a dress, a room, a person that I couldn’t visualize with clarity. But be forewarned that See does not falter in her chilling descriptions of China’s famine in the early 1960’s when up to 45 million people perished due to starvation.
I highly recommend this book.
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LibraryThing member Katie_H
This wonderful and well researched novel continues were "Shanghai Girls" left off. Idealistic Joy has run away and is headed to China to meet her birth father and help build the New China. Pearl, her mother, follows on the twisted adventures, facing a past that she planned to leave behind forever.
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The author crafts the setting perfectly, helping the reader fully imagine the sights, smells, and sounds of China in the late 50's. She includes rich details such as propaganda artwork, brands of cosmetics, regional flavors, to hygiene practices. Admittedly I know very little about Chinese history, so this was the first I'd ever heard of the "Great Leap Forward." The atrocities described in the book and utter starvation experienced by the village people are shocking, heartbreaking, and difficult to read at times. The story really helps the reader understand why the Chinese citizens went along with the agenda that the government was selling. Lisa See includes a useful list of print and film resources in the Acknowledgments, which I intend to use to learn more about the period. Technically "Dreams of Joy" stands alone as an independent work, but in order to fully understand Joy's motivation and background, it is important to read "Shanghai Girls" first. I couldn't put this book down and finished it in a day. Show Less
LibraryThing member Sararush
I was really moved by Lisa See’s latest novel Dreams of Joy. It’s a sequel of sorts to her previous novel, Shanghai Girls. It isn’t necessary to have read Shanghai Girls to understand the major events which motivate the characters in this novel. However, I do recommend Shanghai Girls because
Dreams of Joy opens when the young, impulsive and naïve Joy runs away to China after learning some buried family secrets. Joy is enamored with the Communist ideals and is hoping to connect with her father, a famous artist. Joy’s actions leave her mother, Pearl, no choice but to risk her freedom and follow Joy to China. Lee manages to tie the storyline into Mao’s The Great Leap Forward a massive production campaign with tragic consequences and contrast this program’s effects in both city and village life. Parts of the story involving this arc are simply horrifying and other were poignant as Joy becomes disillusioned with her beliefs and Pearl copes with the dramatic changes to her home, Shanghai. Dreams of Joy is a sweeping novel driven by intriguing characters. Highly Recommended.
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it is an excellent book. Dreams of Joy opens when the young, impulsive and naïve Joy runs away to China after learning some buried family secrets. Joy is enamored with the Communist ideals and is hoping to connect with her father, a famous artist. Joy’s actions leave her mother, Pearl, no choice but to risk her freedom and follow Joy to China. Lee manages to tie the storyline into Mao’s The Great Leap Forward a massive production campaign with tragic consequences and contrast this program’s effects in both city and village life. Parts of the story involving this arc are simply horrifying and other were poignant as Joy becomes disillusioned with her beliefs and Pearl copes with the dramatic changes to her home, Shanghai. Dreams of Joy is a sweeping novel driven by intriguing characters. Highly Recommended.
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LibraryThing member pdebolt
I wish I had read Shanghai Girls before reading Dreams of Joy; however, I had read two of Lisa See's novels prior to this one and thought they were remarkably well written. Apparently this is the sequel to Shanghai Girls, and I enjoyed it regardless of not knowing the background encompassed in
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Shanghai Girls. It is a remarkable journey into China, its history and culture through two different perspectives. I hope to read Shanghai Girls and see this book through that added perspective. Lisa See's research is as noteworthy as her writing. Show Less
LibraryThing member JGoto
Lisa See's sequel to Shanghai Girls, Dreams of Joy, was fairly engaging. It mainly held my interest because of the vivid descriptions of life in China during Mao's Great Leap Foward. Nineteen year old Japanese-American, Joy Chin, moves to China with high hopes and ideals, but after a period of a
"Everyone still pretends to be open, welcoming, and enthusiastic about the Great Leap Forward, but there's a furtiveness to them that reminds me of rats slinking along edges of walls."
See's strength is in portraying the setting. Her characters are not as convincing. Joy is planning to escape her village and unhappy marriage when she realizes she's pregnant. Suddenly, her love for her unborn child makes her change her mind: She knows she must stay in the poverty-stricken village, living with her abusive husband and his family of 10 in a filthy 2 room shack with barely enough to eat, for the sake of her child. All this because it is, after all, his ancesteral village. Even taking into account that she is a naive girl, raised with Chinese-American values in the 1950s, her reasoning is downright absurd. Joy's mother, Pearl, and her father, Z.G., are not much more convincing.
Yet despite the lack of character depth, and the all too tidy ending, See's portrayal of the hardships imposed on the Chinese people under Mao's rule make Dreams of Joy worth the read.
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few years, she gradually loses faith in the Communist government."Everyone still pretends to be open, welcoming, and enthusiastic about the Great Leap Forward, but there's a furtiveness to them that reminds me of rats slinking along edges of walls."
See's strength is in portraying the setting. Her characters are not as convincing. Joy is planning to escape her village and unhappy marriage when she realizes she's pregnant. Suddenly, her love for her unborn child makes her change her mind: She knows she must stay in the poverty-stricken village, living with her abusive husband and his family of 10 in a filthy 2 room shack with barely enough to eat, for the sake of her child. All this because it is, after all, his ancesteral village. Even taking into account that she is a naive girl, raised with Chinese-American values in the 1950s, her reasoning is downright absurd. Joy's mother, Pearl, and her father, Z.G., are not much more convincing.
Yet despite the lack of character depth, and the all too tidy ending, See's portrayal of the hardships imposed on the Chinese people under Mao's rule make Dreams of Joy worth the read.
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LibraryThing member angela.vaughn
I think this may have been worth the wait. Lisa See is by far, my favorite author, and this book is proof of her literary abilities. [Dreams of Joy] is the sequel to [Shanghai Girls] and even if it has been a while since you last read the book (or if you never read the book at all), you are sucked
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into this drama unfolding in front of you. See paints a picture so vivid of the land and people that you can't help but actually feel the pain, suffering, heartache, and joy and excitement when they do. This book is a must read. Enjoy! Thank you so much for the ARC! Show Less
LibraryThing member MargaretdeBuhr
Lisa See continues the story from Sganghai Girls - it was wonderful reading. Coudn't put it down. She definitely understands the Chinese culture during Mao's reign. The characters were well developed.
LibraryThing member bachaney
Lisa See's newest novel, Dreams of Joy, is a sequel to her 2009 novel, Shanghai Girls. If you have not read Shanghai Girls and you are thinking about this novel, I recommend that you start with the earlier novel first, since Dreams of Joy literally picks up right where Shanghai Girls left off and
Joy, a young Chinese American woman who has grown up with her mother, Pearl, and aunt, May, in LA's Chinatown has just discovered her mother and aunt's horrible secret, and in her anger, she decides to flee to China to live the communist ideal and find her father, ZG. At first Joy is in awe at the China she discovers, and she believes she has found the perfect society. Joy's mother, Pearl soon follows her daughter and tries to open her eyes to the reality of life in the New China. Will Joy see the truth before it is too late?
I really enjoyed this novel. See uses two narrators for this story--Joy and Pearl--and alternates their voices in different chapters. This technique gives the reader a full perspective of the New China, Joy's idealistic view, and Pearl's view which is clouded by her memories of the old China, before Mao's revolution. The novel also provides a satisfying end to the story of Pearl and her sister May, which I really enjoyed when I read Shanghai Girls. I enjoyed seeing how their lives come full circle when Pearl returns to Shanghai and is reunited with people from their past. But the best, and most horrific yet compelling, parts of this novel were the scenes See describes in the New China during the Great Leap Forward. This is a very real and terrible human tragedy, and See does not gloss over it. Although parts of her story were hard to read because of it, I think it's good for us to be reminded of this tragedy.
I can't recommend this book enough. If you are a fan of See's, go get this books now!
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the novel assumes you know the central characters. Joy, a young Chinese American woman who has grown up with her mother, Pearl, and aunt, May, in LA's Chinatown has just discovered her mother and aunt's horrible secret, and in her anger, she decides to flee to China to live the communist ideal and find her father, ZG. At first Joy is in awe at the China she discovers, and she believes she has found the perfect society. Joy's mother, Pearl soon follows her daughter and tries to open her eyes to the reality of life in the New China. Will Joy see the truth before it is too late?
I really enjoyed this novel. See uses two narrators for this story--Joy and Pearl--and alternates their voices in different chapters. This technique gives the reader a full perspective of the New China, Joy's idealistic view, and Pearl's view which is clouded by her memories of the old China, before Mao's revolution. The novel also provides a satisfying end to the story of Pearl and her sister May, which I really enjoyed when I read Shanghai Girls. I enjoyed seeing how their lives come full circle when Pearl returns to Shanghai and is reunited with people from their past. But the best, and most horrific yet compelling, parts of this novel were the scenes See describes in the New China during the Great Leap Forward. This is a very real and terrible human tragedy, and See does not gloss over it. Although parts of her story were hard to read because of it, I think it's good for us to be reminded of this tragedy.
I can't recommend this book enough. If you are a fan of See's, go get this books now!
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LibraryThing member Carolee888
‘Dreams of Joy’ is the sequel to ‘Shanghai Girls’ but it does very well as a standalone book. Before writing this book, Lisa See was invited to visit Huangcun Village in Anhui Province in China. In the Acknowledgments, you can read more about her inspiration for this book. In Anhui she
The location of the story was changed so she could create Green Dragon. But the stone bridge, temple in the story and gorgeous landscape where of Anhui. This is special to me since some family friends lived in Anhui during the Great Leap Forward. Most people are familiar with the Cultural Revolution but not with the Great Leap Forward which preceded it. This was Mao’s big experiment. He wanted to surpass Great Britain and later the United States in production of agriculture and manufacturing. To do this, he had 700 million people put into communes in the countryside. Some of the people were delegated to smelting iron instead of farming sapping the workforce. Leaders of the commune were trying to impress Mao and beat the other communes in production so they ordered changes to proven farming practices. Those changes would have tragic consequences later.
Lisa See wove the lives of Pearl, May from ‘Shanghai Girls’, and the daughter, Joy into the stories that she heard in Anhui. The character, Joy grew up in Los Angeles’s Chinatown with her mother and her aunt. She was young, naïve, trusting and believed everything that she heard from a group in college. The FBI considered that group to be Communist.
Joy thought if she was in China she would sing songs in the fields, sharing meals in the commune and everyone would be equal. She overheard an argument between her mother and her aunt one night. It uncovered a secret about her, one that she could not understand. Then she felt that she really didn’t belong with her aunt and mother that she could understand them anymore. She wanted to find her birth father now that she knew that had two fathers.
Pearl to me is the universal symbol for mother, protective, always loving and caring for all children even all human kind. As you read the book, you may want to think about whom Joy ultimately symbolizes.
The book is easy to get into and holds your attention all the way through. The characters are well developed and some of the scenes of beauty are so intense that you need to stop and enjoy them. Also some of the scenes are so horrible that they are difficult to imagine that they are true.
What are the conditions like when people become inhuman? What caused Mao’s big experiment to fail so bad that even he admitted his failure? During the Great Leap Forward, it is not known for certain how many millions of people starved to death, were tortured and killed. Why did this experiment go wrong? Why didn’t the commune workers rebel? There are answers in this book. How could the concentration camps in Germany have happened? Under what conditions do people become inhumane? I highly recommend this book to everyone who loves to learn about Chinese history and wants to understand some deeper questions.
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heard stories about living in the countryside in the communes during the Great Leap Forward.The location of the story was changed so she could create Green Dragon. But the stone bridge, temple in the story and gorgeous landscape where of Anhui. This is special to me since some family friends lived in Anhui during the Great Leap Forward. Most people are familiar with the Cultural Revolution but not with the Great Leap Forward which preceded it. This was Mao’s big experiment. He wanted to surpass Great Britain and later the United States in production of agriculture and manufacturing. To do this, he had 700 million people put into communes in the countryside. Some of the people were delegated to smelting iron instead of farming sapping the workforce. Leaders of the commune were trying to impress Mao and beat the other communes in production so they ordered changes to proven farming practices. Those changes would have tragic consequences later.
Lisa See wove the lives of Pearl, May from ‘Shanghai Girls’, and the daughter, Joy into the stories that she heard in Anhui. The character, Joy grew up in Los Angeles’s Chinatown with her mother and her aunt. She was young, naïve, trusting and believed everything that she heard from a group in college. The FBI considered that group to be Communist.
Joy thought if she was in China she would sing songs in the fields, sharing meals in the commune and everyone would be equal. She overheard an argument between her mother and her aunt one night. It uncovered a secret about her, one that she could not understand. Then she felt that she really didn’t belong with her aunt and mother that she could understand them anymore. She wanted to find her birth father now that she knew that had two fathers.
Pearl to me is the universal symbol for mother, protective, always loving and caring for all children even all human kind. As you read the book, you may want to think about whom Joy ultimately symbolizes.
The book is easy to get into and holds your attention all the way through. The characters are well developed and some of the scenes of beauty are so intense that you need to stop and enjoy them. Also some of the scenes are so horrible that they are difficult to imagine that they are true.
What are the conditions like when people become inhuman? What caused Mao’s big experiment to fail so bad that even he admitted his failure? During the Great Leap Forward, it is not known for certain how many millions of people starved to death, were tortured and killed. Why did this experiment go wrong? Why didn’t the commune workers rebel? There are answers in this book. How could the concentration camps in Germany have happened? Under what conditions do people become inhumane? I highly recommend this book to everyone who loves to learn about Chinese history and wants to understand some deeper questions.
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LibraryThing member bakersfieldbarbara
What a wonderful way to learn history. Dreams of Joy is not about joy as we think of the happy name, but of the catastrophic life of Joy, a Chinese girl who recently found out that her aunt is really her mother and the 'mother' who raised her is her aunt. Joy runs away to Shanghai in early 1957 to
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find her birth father and when she finds him, she ignores all dangers of the Communist regime, blinded by her own stubbornness and idealism. Her mother, Pearl, follows her, hoping for a reconciliation. The story that follows explains so much of that era, even down to the way they dress, take care of their physical needs, feminine needs and the starvation that killed so many thousands. "The Great Leap Forward" is something I knew nothing about and the famine which wiped out thousands was just something of a headline here in the USA for me. I grew up hearing "eat that. The Chinese people are dying for a kernal of rice," and yet I was not aware of why eating all of my food and not wasting it was important in that time frame. These people were dying daily, just because their leaders wanted to make changes and would not admit to failure. Beating the United States was paramount, and even though the leaders ate well, threw parties, and got fatter, Joy's family was suffering and literally working themselves to death. One of the saddest things for me to read was how horrible her marriage turned out, from day one. Her defiance toward those trying to tell her he was worthless fell on deaf ears, and she suffered because of it. In the end, all ends well, but the book takes you on a journey you won't soon forget. This is a book I highly recommend. Show Less
LibraryThing member amandacb
An enjoyable read, Dreams of Joy further explores the relationship between mothers and daughters. Joy, who escapes to China from mainland America, must grapple with getting to know her father, a famous artist. She must also deal with Mao's Great Leap Forward and the disillusionments therein. Pearl,
The novel is quite interesting as one reads about the village communes and how they were affected by the Great Leap Forward. I found the ending of the novel to be rushed and too tidily done--I find it hard to believe that *everything* worked out in the end, as that doesn't seem realistic or in line with the rest of the book. However, that doesn't mar the fact that I enjoyed reading Dreams of Joy and would recommend it to historical fiction fans.
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her mother/aunt, follows her to China.The novel is quite interesting as one reads about the village communes and how they were affected by the Great Leap Forward. I found the ending of the novel to be rushed and too tidily done--I find it hard to believe that *everything* worked out in the end, as that doesn't seem realistic or in line with the rest of the book. However, that doesn't mar the fact that I enjoyed reading Dreams of Joy and would recommend it to historical fiction fans.
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LibraryThing member julyso
Dreams of Joy is about a daughter and her relationship with her real mom and her aunt. Pearl and May made mistakes when raising Joy...Joy finds out a huge secret and leaves to go to China to find her birth father. Joy ends up living in a rural commune, falls in love, and gets married. She also
For some reason, I just didn't fall in love with this book. I have read Lisa See's other novels and have loved them. I had a hard time buying an American girl deciding to marry and live in poverty. Joy also drove me a bit crazy by not leaving sooner when she had the opportunity. I loved learning about this time period in Chinese history. I found it very interesting.
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lives though the Great Leap Forward and barely survives a famine. It is her mother and her birth father who save her.For some reason, I just didn't fall in love with this book. I have read Lisa See's other novels and have loved them. I had a hard time buying an American girl deciding to marry and live in poverty. Joy also drove me a bit crazy by not leaving sooner when she had the opportunity. I loved learning about this time period in Chinese history. I found it very interesting.
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LibraryThing member ddelmoni
This is my third Lisa See novel (Snow Flower & Shanghai Girls) all of which were interesting. For me, Dreams of Joy is now See’s best and better than its predecessor. Knowing I was getting this novel as an ARC, I read Shanghai Girls where the story begins, and am very glad I did. Even though
Though See does an excellent job of describing life behind the 'Bamboo Curtain' in the 1950s and the period of Mao’s ‘Great Leap Forward’, the trials and tribulations of Joy, at times, seem a little farfetched. It was almost impossible to believe that any 19 year old girl in 1957 would run away to Communist China. It was also difficult to believe that she would find her biological father almost immediately. Other moments, like her marriage and rescue, were predictable. See, however, has become so skilled as a story teller that the blending of characters, atmosphere, culture and history in her narrative makes flaws barely noticed.
I am a lover of historical fiction and Dreams of Joy entertained, educated, frightened, and enlightened me. I can’t ask for any more.
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Dreams of Joy stands on its own, it may be difficult to truly understand Joy’s idealism and even Pearls realism without reading the previous novel. Though See does an excellent job of describing life behind the 'Bamboo Curtain' in the 1950s and the period of Mao’s ‘Great Leap Forward’, the trials and tribulations of Joy, at times, seem a little farfetched. It was almost impossible to believe that any 19 year old girl in 1957 would run away to Communist China. It was also difficult to believe that she would find her biological father almost immediately. Other moments, like her marriage and rescue, were predictable. See, however, has become so skilled as a story teller that the blending of characters, atmosphere, culture and history in her narrative makes flaws barely noticed.
I am a lover of historical fiction and Dreams of Joy entertained, educated, frightened, and enlightened me. I can’t ask for any more.
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LibraryThing member Quiltinfun06
In Dreams of Joy, Lisa See continues the stories of sisters Pearl and May who we meet in Shanghai Girls. As the last book closes, Joy discovers truths about herself that she never knew before. The woman she has called Mother, Pearl; really isn't her mother. Pearl's sister May is. Joy flees the
Joy does not make this journey alone. Her mother, Pearl,has gone to China too to find Joy and return her safely home.
Lisa See does an incredible job depicting the reality of what China was like under the Mao rule. She gives a history lesson while unraveling an amazing story of survival, love and family. Her attention to detail clearly portrays the horrors of this time period.
I have read all of Lisa See's novels and find Dreams of Joy to be the best she has written so far. I highly recommend that everyone read both these novels Shanghai Girls and Dreams of Joy books you will never forget.
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United States to Red China to search for her real father and to seek exhile from the memory of her American father's suicide which she feels responsible for.Joy does not make this journey alone. Her mother, Pearl,has gone to China too to find Joy and return her safely home.
Lisa See does an incredible job depicting the reality of what China was like under the Mao rule. She gives a history lesson while unraveling an amazing story of survival, love and family. Her attention to detail clearly portrays the horrors of this time period.
I have read all of Lisa See's novels and find Dreams of Joy to be the best she has written so far. I highly recommend that everyone read both these novels Shanghai Girls and Dreams of Joy books you will never forget.
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LibraryThing member JulieC0802
I knew when I finished Shanghai Girls that the story wasn't finished. I was thrilled to hear that Ms. See felt the same way. In Dreams of Joy we are continued in the story of Pearl, May and Joy. Really, this is Pearl and Joy's story. It's a story of love, mother love, family, self-acceptance,
I thought it was an excellent sequel to a book that I had cherished.
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self-reliance and determination. I thought it was an excellent sequel to a book that I had cherished.
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LibraryThing member MargaretdeBuhr
Lisa See continues the story from Sganghai Girls - it was wonderful reading. Coudn't put it down. She definitely understands the Chinese culture during Mao's reign. The characters were well developed.
Awards
Historical Novel Society Editors' Choice (Literary)
Original publication date
2011-05-31
Physical description
368 p.; 6.44 inches
ISBN
140006712X / 9781400067121