Costco Connection - December 2006

book
pick
Family affair
Rich relationships feed author’s works
By J. Rentilly

WHEN IT COMES to what family is and what it Smithsonian, and then as an opera, staged at L.A.’s means, there are no easy answers. But with depth, Japan America Theatre. soulfulness, grace and stunning, lush prose, Lisa See See believes the experience of working in these reaches across generations, geographical borders different mediums—the museum (“purely visual,” and cultural differences, mining her own Chinese- she says) and opera (“purely emotional”)—prepared American heritage to shed light on the her to write Snow Flower, a sweeping subject of family. See is, perhaps, litera- but heartbreakingly intimate 19th- ture’s finest contemporary purveyor of century epic of friendship, regret, family, in all its myriad incarnations. oppression, survival and secret lan- “I don’t think I’d be the writer I am, guages set in China. The novel has or maybe even a writer at all, were it not sold more than 300,000 copies and for the family that I have, and the fam- has been translated into more than 30 ily history that I have,” says See, author languages. See recently returned from of this month’s Book Pick, Snow Flower an international book tour, where she and the Secret Fan, which has nested discovered that Italian and Polish near the top of the nation’s bestseller readers alike are bonding with the lists for most of the past 18 months. novel’s intricate tapestry of Chinese See spent much of her youth in Los history and tradition, star-crossed Angeles’ Chinatown, which her great- friendships and quest for family. grandfather, self-made Chinese immi- Lisa See “To my surprise, Snow Flower grant Fong See, helped to establish nearly a century seems to move people of every culture equally,” says ago, earning him the handle “Godfather of See with genuine humility. “I can only guess it’s Chinatown.” because we all have a mother. We all have a father.

PATRICIA WILLIAMS

“Those family relationships are really what We all have these families who have struggled and make us human: exploring them, transcending succeeded and failed and hurt and been joyful. We them, revealing them, giving in to them,” she tells all share that. Only the particulars are different—the The Connection. “Sometimes we deny them, avoid kind of teapot we might use, for example.”

them, despise them or abandon them. This is part of She adds, “But so much of the human experi-being human, working out these relationships— ence is remarkably universal, especially where it only I write it down.” comes to friendship and family, and I feel very for-

For See, who is one-eighth Chinese and the tunate to have reached such a large audience with daughter of acclaimed author and critic Carolyn my story.” C

See, the multigenerational, multinational family history was brought vividly to life by aunts and uncles aching to tell their own stories of crossing oceans, establishing new homes and businesses, forging love affairs and building their own families. The See family, in many ways, “defied all expectations, broke through all these barriers,” the author says.

A brief trip to China in 1989, her first and “kind of a long time coming,” put See on a journey that has deeply affected her life and career.

A month later, she began writing

On Gold Mountain: The One- Signed book

Hundred-Year Odyssey of My

Chinese-American Family, initiated, she says, as a “short letter, a ^giveawaycouple of pages, for my family; an COSTCO HAS 10 autographed update of sorts.” copies of Lisa See’s Snow

It grew into “maybe a magazine Flower and the Secret Fan to article” before becoming a bestselling, give away. critically heralded memoir, passion- To enter, print your ately told, featuring interviews with name, membership number, dozens of the See family’s friends, rela- address and daytime phone num-tives, collaborators and even enemies. See has ber on a postcard or letter and adapted the book twice to different mediums: first as send it to: Snow Flower, The a museum exhibit, launched at the Autry National Costco Connection, P.O. Box

Center in Los Angeles, with a sold-out stop at the

Pennie’s pıck

FRANCE FREEMAN

Pennie Clark Ianniciello Costco Book Buyer

J. Rentilly is a Los Angeles–based journalist who covers film, music and literature.

News about scheduled book signings at Costco and a book giveaway can be found in “Book Look,” only in the Online Edition at costco.com under “Costco magazine.”

EVERY NOW and then I come across someone who is so talented in so many ways that I can’t help but feel a bit envious.

Author Lisa See is that kind of person. Not only has she designed a walking tour of Los Angeles’ Chinatown, created a museum exhibit and written the words to an opera, she is also skilled in writing across genres. This month’s Book Pick, the novel Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, is a touching story of friendship—and just about as close to perfection as a reader can get.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is available at most Costco warehouses and at costco.com. C

34088, Seattle, WA 98124-1088, or fax it to (425) 313-6718.

No purchase is necessary. Entries must be received or postmarked by midnight, January 2, 2007. Void where prohibited. Employees of Costco and their families are not eligible. Winners will be notified by mail. One entry per household.