Reviews with content warning for Suicide - Lady Tan's Circle of Women

"No mud, no lotus."

This was a beautiful and heartbreaking tale of resiliency and friendship.

We follow the main character, Tan Yunxian, from childhood to old age as she grapples with gendered power dynamics caused by the Confucian belief system in late 1400s China, and how she and her close circle of beloved women keep each other alive and well. Yunxian is trained by her grandparents to carry on the family legacy of doctor, specifically a women's doctor- pushed by her Grandma Rue, who I absolutely adore. This creates the main struggle through the story- how can she practice medicine when strictly forbidden by her formidable mother-in-law, and in turn society as a whole? With the help of her mischievous mid-wife best friend, Meiling, naturally. Betrayal, family intrigue, sorrows and successes ensue. This was an enjoyable slow-burn, deeply submersing the reader into the environment.

The story is told through the lens of normalized patriarchy, which I worry some will misunderstand as praise for said system. However, this is the story of the real woman doctor Tan Yunxian (1461-1554) who's book "Sayings of a Female Doctor" was denied publication- so she self published. I get the feeling that Lisa See did this historical figure justice.

I read this book via libro.fm

The narrator, Jennifer Lim, has the most calming voice, but also so dynamic. One line she perfectly executed a high lady's soft lilt, the next she is a raspy grandfather. Each character was distinguishable, I loved her representation and hearing how names are pronounced has been so helpful.

Content warning: Detailed descriptions of medical conditions, foot binding, suicide, family trauma, loss of parent, loss of child, birth descriptions.

Content Warnings

lillygabriella's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

Ok, first for the nitpicking. A lot of research was done on this book, and as far as I know most of it was good. But the author specifically states at the beginning that this is set before Columbus even stumbled across the Caribbean islands, and the author forgot that peanuts are native to the Americas so would not have been around in Ming Dynasty Chinese food. I know it's difficult for many people to imagine cultural cuisine without the addition of American foodstuffs, potatoes and tomatoes having become a staple part of several European cultural traditions for instance. But I double checked on Google just to make sure I was not remembering my history incorrectly. This is a minor issue, and only bothers me because when reading historical fiction and hitting a detail that I know for a fact is false it throws off my suspension of disbelief. It is also the main reason I no longer enjoy reading western/European based historical fiction. I know just too much to not be bothered by the inaccuracies.

All that out of the way, this book was excellently written, with all characters having depth and I enjoyed learning details about life in Ming Dynasty China. I also appreciate the extensive references listed in the back of the book. The foot binding references are detailed and designed purposefully I believe, to make the reader uncomfortable. Some people may find it astonishing that foot binding tradition lasted so long (about 1,000 years) but I would like to remind those people that when a practice becomes tradition it is very difficult to break, and the longer it is held the more difficult the breaking will be.

Anyway, I enjoyed the book very much and highly recommend it to anyone who read the blurb and was intrigued.

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