How long does it take to read Dreams of Joy?
Dreams of Joy by Lisa See takes about 6 hours 29 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 6 hours 29 minutes
A weekend read
First published 2011. 354 pages, about 97,350 words.
13 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 10 hours 49 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 6 hours 29 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 4 hours 3 minutes |
The page count is the median across 3 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
A continuation of "Shanghai Girls" finds a devastated Joy fleeing to China to search for her real father while her mother, Pearl, desperately pursues her, a dual quest marked by their encounters with the nation's intolerant Communist culture. In her most powerful novel yet, acclaimed author Lisa See returns to the story of sisters Pearl and May from Shanghai Girls, and Pearl’s strong-willed nineteen-year-old daughter, Joy. Reeling from newly uncovered family secrets, Joy runs away to Shanghai in early 1957 to find her birth father—the artist Z.G. Li, with whom both May and Pearl were once in love. Dazzled by him, and blinded by idealism and defiance, Joy throws herself into the New Society of Red China, heedless of the dangers in the Communist regime. Devastated by Joy’s flight and terrified for her safety, Pearl is determined to save her daughter, no matter the personal cost. From the crowded city to remote villages, Pearl confronts old demons and almost insurmountable challenges as she follows Joy, hoping for reconciliation. Yet even as Joy’s and Pearl’s separate journeys converge, one of the most tragic episodes in China’s history threatens their very lives.
Subjects: Fiction, Families, History, Chinese Americans, Birthparents, Identification
