Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I was very excited to read China Dolls for two reasons; I have read and really enjoyed Lisa See's other books, and I was intrigued by the quote, attributed to Buddha, before the title page..."Only three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth." I THOUGHT this meant I was about to embark on a novel of discovery of long buried and fascinating secrets. I wasn't. I found this book to be so far below the standards of other books by this author, I often wondered if she had REALLY written it; the style of writing and quality of language usage were a disappointment. Although the story itself...three young Asian women living in San Francisco before, during and after WW2 while trying to become nightclub stars... had promise, so much of it was just too incredible. For example, the three women meet and, within 5 minutes, become best friends; Helen, who has led a very sheltered life in her family's compound, has never danced in public, let alone taken a dance lesson...and yet, after her new friends show her a few steps on the sidewalk, she passes the audition and gets a job in the night club show. I also found the characters to be too simplistic, shallow and under-drawn...at times, the three women seemed more like three 7-year-olds "playing grown-up." There is such a disconnect between these women and the characters of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan or Peony in Love. The same goes for the general style of narrative; there is one paragraph in particular where Helen is describing their Christmas celebration which was so simplistic as to be almost juvenile; "I gave Grace rouge; she gave me a hat. I gave Eddie a necktie; Grace gave him a scarf. Eddie gave me a one pound box of candy." The telling of the narrative was a constant and continuous recurring cycle of ups-and-downs/ happiness/ jealousy/ envy/bitchiness...over and over again. ..Helen and Ruby were friends and Grace was left out; then Grace and Ruby were friends and Helen was left out... I finished reading this book ONLY because I needed to write this review. If this had been a library book, I would have returned it unfinished...and I RARELY don't finish a book that I have started