| older posts | categories & tags | photos | send me an email |
That said, our last selection, Anchee Min's Empress Orchid was not my favorite read. The novel is a fictionalization of the life of Tsu Hsi, mother of China's last emperor. While the story is compelling and rich, I felt that Min was unable to pare down the massive history of this woman's life into a cohesive novel. She was seemingly distracted by all the forces that surrounded Orchid--from the whole of Chinese history to the power struggles inherent in royal family relationships to one woman's desire to find love. Overall the novel is unfocused and meanders from one key moment to another without the meaning and importance of those moments being fully portrayed. For a plot-driven story, the novel never seems to truly define the plotline beyond "this big thing happened and then another big thing happened." That said, Min uses language as a paintbrush portraying the beauty of Imperial China's Forbidden City and the life of a Chiang Dynasty concubine who went on to rule China for 49 years.
From what I can tell, the rest of the book club agreed with me. We were happy to learn more about this amazing woman (even in fiction) and we enjoyed the read, but overall it just wasn't a great book. Thumbs decidedly to the side.
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Empress Orchid:
Brief Gaudy Hour from quelle surprise
Brief Gaudy Hourby Margaret C. BarnesMy paternal grandparents were at one time big book people. In the early part of their married life they lived on a farm near Houston, Idaho. "Houston, IDAHO?" you ask. Yeah, so do people around... [Read More]
