China Dolls (See) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
(Starred review.) [T]hree young women, Grace, Helen, and Ruby, meet and form an unlikely but strong bond in San Francisco in 1938.... The story alternates between their viewpoints, with each woman’s voice strong and dynamic, developing a multilayered richness as it progresses. The depth of See’s characters and her winning prose makes this book a wonderful journey through love and loss.
Publishers Weekly


In 1938, three friends are competing for a single job as showgirl on San Francisco's Chop Suey Circuit, the glittery underworld of all-Asian revues.... With the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese Americans are being interned, among them Ruby. Did one of her friends betray her?
Library Journal


The lives of three young Chinese-American women...intersect in valuable and often violent ways in... pre-WWII San Francisco.... In her impeccably researched and distinctive historical saga of desire and ambition, betrayal and revenge set amid the glitz and debauchery of burlesque entertainment..., See  again lavishly explores the thorny intricacies of female friendships.
Booklist

The episodic and creaky plot staggers under the weight of See's considerable research into the careers and lifestyles of the actual stars of the all-Asian revue craze of the 1930s and '40s. Still, a welcome spotlight on an overlooked segment of showbiz history.
Kirkus Reviews