Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

Not too sure about this one - it is definitely more directed to a female audience, so perhaps that is it?

It is not a particularly fast moving story, but is interesting in its setting - rural China, mid 19th Century - with a bit of range across the wealthy and the poor. It does footbinding, spousal abuse, cultural worthlessness of female children. On a more positive light it also does the secret female writing (nu shu), the matching of similar girls as life long friends(laotongs) and seasonal festivals and beliefs.

For me the two main characters just weren't that interesting, and the writing just wasn't that compelling. It came across to me as just being a bit ‘lite' - I needed a bit more grit. About 200 pages into the book (of 288) I was just willing myself to keep going. Luckily I was invested just enough to carry on... so many books to read, so not always willing to stick with something I am not enjoying.

I guess for me it ultimately sits around 3 stars.