My Ethereal Visit to Fictional 19th-Century China

I finished reading Snow Flower and The Secret Fan last night. The only reason I read the book is that my friend told me that it was a quick read, and that once I started reading it, I would find it so engrossing I wouldn't be able to put it down until I finished it. The book started slowly and painfully and I didn't think I was ever going to get interested. I was thinking it was another one of those all-drama, exclusively female, sappy fluffy stories like "Beaches" or "Steel Magnolias," neither of which I could tolerate very well. That may have had something to do with the fact that I was a teenager when those movies came out, and I was completely unable to relate to that kind of tedious sentimentality, which was what I was afraid I was going to feel while reading Snow Flower. However, about halfway through the book, it had hooked my interest and I knew it was no Steel Magnolias.
When I woke up early Monday morning (4 a.m.), I really wanted to find out what was going to happen. I read it for about an hour. After I fell back asleep, I woke up again around 7:30 a.m. and still really wondered what was going to happen next. I was getting close to the end by that time. When I was at work, I wished I could be at home, finishing the book. I started reading as soon as I got home. I sat in the kitchen, tears streaming down my face about the sad parts, as I knew the book was coming to an end. Part of the sadness stemmed from how I started to believe that it was just going to end very sadly, but it did not. People around me always think it's funny when I cry because of a story in a book. Luckily, no one at home noticed this time. To me, books are much more personal than movies are, because what the writers and characters say and go through is so much more intense and believable. I don't know if it's necessarily a sign of a good book if it brings me to tears, because I'd rather not be sad. It would be great if more books would leave me feeling exhilarated and giddy. Snow Flower helps focus on the fact that pain and sadness are inevitable in life. The main character is surrounded by death and tragedy, two constants in her life. I suppose reading what she's been through helps me realize how much tragedy and death I have been able to avoid thus far. Even a day after finishing it, I still felt pangs of sadness about only the story. As silly as it seems, at least I don't cry about movies.