Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See

10 reviews

pointeshoebookworm's review against another edition

adventurous informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Death, Child death, Alcohol, Vomit, Grief, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Medical content, Mental illness, Abortion, and Infertility

micaelamariem's review

emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Lady Tan’s Circle of Women was a beautiful historical fiction novel inspired by a real woman during 15th century China who learned medicine and treated other women despite society’s ill regard of women doing so. I loved watching Yunxian learn all the rules of society and then disregard them when she could, struggling with what she believed was right and what was expected of her. This novel isn’t just about that, though. At its core, it is a novel about friendship, and how, no matter how many things try to pull two friends apart, they wouldn’t let their friendship crack. The novel made me cry and angry at parts (like how women were treated in the 1400s) but that shows how much of an emotional tie I had to these characters. There was also so political intrigue in the book and that definitely kept me on my toes. Just a note though: not a book to read if you’re squeamish, as there is an emphasis on childbirth, smallpox, and foot binding that is a bit graphic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Blood, Grief, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Body shaming, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Violence, Alcohol, Death of parent, Infertility, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexism, Vomit, Abandonment, Bullying, Chronic illness, Ableism, Medical content, Medical trauma, Cancer, Death, Child death, and Classism

mermaidsherbet's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Miscarriage, Violence, Bullying, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Grief, Misogyny, Pandemic/Epidemic, Blood, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

Minor: Child death, Infidelity, Trafficking, Vomit, War, Abortion, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Rape, Suicide, Abandonment, Classism, Slavery, Drug use, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Ableism, Body shaming, Torture, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Murder, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Infertility, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Fatphobia, and Adult/minor relationship

vireogirl's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Stirring story but such a hard time to live. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Trafficking, Violence, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Child death, Confinement, Death, Medical trauma, Sexism, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Classism, Death of parent, Sexual content, Blood, and Slavery

Moderate: Alcohol and Grief

annamay1021's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Child death, Alcoholism, Blood, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Grief, Medical trauma, Medical content, Death of parent, Miscarriage, Death, Abortion, and Confinement

Moderate: Rape

lillygabriella's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Chronic illness, Classism, Death of parent, Miscarriage, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, Sexism, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

Moderate: Vomit, Violence, Trafficking, Suicide, Murder, Infertility, Death, Child death, Child abuse, Cancer, Alcohol, Slavery, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Infidelity, Abortion, and Excrement

sarah984's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative medium-paced

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

3.0

This was an interesting book about a historical Chinese doctor. I liked the detail of the medicine (most of which are based on real cases) and daily life during the time period. However I found the voice kind of bland and the tone was preachy in places. I was a bit disappointed that arguably the most interesting parts of her life occur after the book ends.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, and Medical content

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Classism, Confinement, Mental illness, Misogyny, Child death, Abortion, Blood, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Miscarriage, Murder, and Vomit

Minor: Slavery, Torture, Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Excrement, Infertility, and Sexual content

katiefronk's review

adventurous challenging emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Blood, Death, Medical content, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Alcohol

Minor: Death of parent

heatherjchin's review

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Gore, Murder, Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Pandemic/Epidemic, Terminal illness, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Grief, Infertility, Medical content, Child death, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Infidelity, Abortion, Alcohol, and Sexism

Moderate: Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent

Minor: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Mental illness, and Vomit

betag1013's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Classism, Death of parent, Grief, Pregnancy, Body horror, Death, Infertility, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Medical content, Child death, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Medical content, Miscarriage, Body horror, Chronic illness, Classism, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Vomit, Alcohol, Misogyny, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Infertility, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Sexual content