This book was very hard for me to take at times. I understand that what was presented was the way of things in China back then, but it's just so infuriating at times. I also understand that it's not necessarily supposed to be infuriating since many Chinese women truly did see their bound feet and such as a point of pride and disrespecting one's family or in-laws was seen as greatly shameful. But it still was such a cultural disconnect. I never really enjoyed Snow Flower, and Lily became much harder to take after her turn for the worst late into the story. She warns you from the onset that she has done something that she can never be forgiven for, but when it happens, you are still just appalled on the behalf of all involved. That said, the prose is lovely and the story is one definitely worth telling, from the tiny details about the fried taro and the reused high-end clothes to the death of a girl during her foot-binding. It is a harsh tale about a girl who can only follow the path she has been raised into, yet who still manages to find her own power and independence.