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3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Although not as enjoyable as Empress Orchid, it was still an incredible story!
Definitely not as good as the first book. I was bored throughout this book.
While the story was engaging, stylistically it was quite plain and not nearly as much of a page turner as Min's previous book, Empress Orchid.
It took me a long time to get through this book. I actually got 100 pages in and then abandoned it for so many years that I had to start back over at the beginning. I feel like I learned a lot about the last decades of imperial China, but at many points, the book read more like a history chronicle than a novel. It felt like a dry reporting of a series of facts filled in with some fictional dialogue and feelings.
The Last Empress tells the story of the Dowager Empress Tzu Hsi, who I know better as Cixi (just different ways of romanizing Chinese pronunciation). It is actually the sequel to a novel about Tsu Hsi's early years, when she was known by her given name Orchid. That book, Empress Orchid, which I have not read, covers her life growing up as a peasant, attracting the attention of the emperor and becoming his concubine, giving birth to his son, losing her husband during the exile imposed by the Opium war, and having a brief forbidden romance with one of her generals.
The Last Empress begins in her mid-twenties returning to Peking (Beijing)'s forbidden city palace as a widow. She and the emperor's chief wife, Nuharoo, co-raise Tsu Hsi's son Tung Chih to be emperor and co-regent during his youth. Through a series of tragedies and conflicts, Tsu Hsi ends up holding the true reigns of power in China through several decades and must deal with the threat of invasion from Japan, the conflict between her Manchu relatives and the wider Han population, the encroachment of foreigners looking to carve up China for their own gain, and the Boxer Rebellion. The novel follows her ups and downs, the political intrigue, and personal emotions of Tsu Hsi's life from her return to Peking as a young woman, to her death at the age of twenty-three as China's last empress and second-to-last regent before it became a republic in 1911.
Although this book did not hook me, it might be more interesting for readers who are driven by a love of history more than a need for meaningful character interactions. Tsu Hsi leads a lonely life as an empress limited by propriety and court culture. Her closest companions are her head eunuchs and her sons. Her former lover and other generals remain important to her, but mostly serve to carry out her will far from the palace, which she cannot leave. I think I would have preferred the first book about her early life because it focuses more on her relationship with the emperor, her lover, and the other wives and concubines.
The Last Empress tells the story of the Dowager Empress Tzu Hsi, who I know better as Cixi (just different ways of romanizing Chinese pronunciation). It is actually the sequel to a novel about Tsu Hsi's early years, when she was known by her given name Orchid. That book, Empress Orchid, which I have not read, covers her life growing up as a peasant, attracting the attention of the emperor and becoming his concubine, giving birth to his son, losing her husband during the exile imposed by the Opium war, and having a brief forbidden romance with one of her generals.
The Last Empress begins in her mid-twenties returning to Peking (Beijing)'s forbidden city palace as a widow. She and the emperor's chief wife, Nuharoo, co-raise Tsu Hsi's son Tung Chih to be emperor and co-regent during his youth. Through a series of tragedies and conflicts, Tsu Hsi ends up holding the true reigns of power in China through several decades and must deal with the threat of invasion from Japan, the conflict between her Manchu relatives and the wider Han population, the encroachment of foreigners looking to carve up China for their own gain, and the Boxer Rebellion. The novel follows her ups and downs, the political intrigue, and personal emotions of Tsu Hsi's life from her return to Peking as a young woman, to her death at the age of twenty-three as China's last empress and second-to-last regent before it became a republic in 1911.
Although this book did not hook me, it might be more interesting for readers who are driven by a love of history more than a need for meaningful character interactions. Tsu Hsi leads a lonely life as an empress limited by propriety and court culture. Her closest companions are her head eunuchs and her sons. Her former lover and other generals remain important to her, but mostly serve to carry out her will far from the palace, which she cannot leave. I think I would have preferred the first book about her early life because it focuses more on her relationship with the emperor, her lover, and the other wives and concubines.
This book was so beautifully written. I love Anchee Min's ability to bring us into a world that we otherwise would never have had access to. This book was compelling and everything the Last Empress went through was so confusing and difficult and amazing and profound. I loved reading about a powerful woman in a powerful role that she had to fight to maintain through it all.
This second book in the historical fiction duology follows Empress Orchid during her later years as China goes through the dark and violent years at the end of the nineteenth century.
As I found with the first book, this painted an interesting and sympathetic portrait of ‘The Dragon Lady’ and I enjoyed reading about the political manoeuvrings of the time.
However, the writing style also felt very distanced from what was happening and even though it’s told in first person, I didn’t feel connected to either the people or the events that were being explained and so ultimately, the book didn’t quite work for me.
As I found with the first book, this painted an interesting and sympathetic portrait of ‘The Dragon Lady’ and I enjoyed reading about the political manoeuvrings of the time.
However, the writing style also felt very distanced from what was happening and even though it’s told in first person, I didn’t feel connected to either the people or the events that were being explained and so ultimately, the book didn’t quite work for me.
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Reading Min’s perspective on the life of Tzu Hsi, and the parallel downfall of the Qing dynasty, feels unfortunately familiar to the division in much of modern politics and party divisiveness. And in the character of the empress, we can empathisize with her desire to change, to do better, to survive; her pain at not knowing the path; and the humanity of her mistakes.
În anul 1852, o frumoasă fată de şaptesprezece ani, dintr-o familie importantă, dar căzută pradă sărăciei, aparţinând clanului Yehonala, a ajuns la Pekin în calitate de concubină lipsită de importanţă a tânărului împărat Hsien Feng. Tzu Hsi, pe numele ei de fată Orhideea, era una dintre sutele de concubine al căror unic ţel era acela de a-i dărui împăratului un fiu.
Nu era o perioadă bună pentru a intra în Oraşul Interzis, care, alcătuit dintr-un imens complex de palate şi grădini, condus de mii de eunuci, era înconjurat de un zid ce îl izola în mijlocul Pekinului. Dinastia Ch’ing îşi pierdea vitalitatea şi Curtea devenise un loc cu vederi izolaţioniste şi xenofobe. Cu câteva decenii înainte, China pierduse primul război al opiului, dar de atunci se făcuse prea puţin în direcţia întăririi apărării sale şi a îmbunătăţirii legăturilor diplomatice cu alte state.
Între zidurile Oraşului Interzis, consecinţele unui pas greşit erau adesea mortale. Ca una dintre sutele de femei care îşi disputau atenţia împăratului, Orhideea a hotărât că trebuie să îşi ia soarta în propriile mâini.
Nu era o perioadă bună pentru a intra în Oraşul Interzis, care, alcătuit dintr-un imens complex de palate şi grădini, condus de mii de eunuci, era înconjurat de un zid ce îl izola în mijlocul Pekinului. Dinastia Ch’ing îşi pierdea vitalitatea şi Curtea devenise un loc cu vederi izolaţioniste şi xenofobe. Cu câteva decenii înainte, China pierduse primul război al opiului, dar de atunci se făcuse prea puţin în direcţia întăririi apărării sale şi a îmbunătăţirii legăturilor diplomatice cu alte state.
Între zidurile Oraşului Interzis, consecinţele unui pas greşit erau adesea mortale. Ca una dintre sutele de femei care îşi disputau atenţia împăratului, Orhideea a hotărât că trebuie să îşi ia soarta în propriile mâini.
Anchee Min is an awesome author! She was my first introduction to this phase in Chinese history and her descriptions gave me a very detailed look into the life of the Empress and to what her possible thoughts and feelings would have been as she faced the challenges she did. I agree with the author that she was very misunderstood and that no leader in history could compete with the challenges that she faced to keep her country in power. It has increased my interest in Chinese culture and history.