Ties That Bind, Ties That Break

Yesterday, I was at the CCPS library when I saw a book entitled "Ties That Bind, Ties That Break" by Lensey Namioka. I was intrigued by the storyline, about a girl who refused to have her feet bound, and borrowed it.

When I brought it with me to the A.A., I was surprised when Kym told me that she had read the book. Later at dismisal, Sagarika and Rachel also noticed the cover. It's great that we're all interested in books!

The book starts off with the author, Ailin, meeting her ex-fiance (the man she was supposed to get married to) in a restaurant in America. Then, it flashes back to the time when she was 5 and refused to have her feet bound. In the past, women in China used to bind their feet with strips of cloth so that their feet would be permanently small. One of the reasons they did it because they thought that men would find them more beautiful with small feet. However, Ailin refused to follow this tradition and had to face the consequences for her choice.

I thought that the descriptions of Ailin's house and feeling were very vivid. However, I think that Ailin seems a bit too mature and knowledgeable for a 5-year-old at the start of the book. I don't know any 5-year-old who is able to think and articulate so well.

Overall, I give the book 4 out of 5 stars. The author was able to capture my attention and maintain it, and the descriptions of China and of San Francisco's Chinatown were simple, yet effective. Go read it in the CCPS library! It's call number is F NAM.

Lensey Namioka's website is at http://www.lensey.com/home.html if you want to see what other books this author has written.

The picture at the start of this post shows what happened to the bones in a women's feet when they were bound. The shoe is the kind of shoe that they would wear with their tiny feet.

What do you think about foot binding? Would you have let someone bind your feet?