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4.26 AVERAGE
4.26 AVERAGE
emotional
informative
tense
medium-paced
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
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:
No
This is the Lisa See I love. Perhaps because her female characters were based on real people, they seem much more emancipated than her female characters in some of her other books. Granted, there were still plenty of foot-bindings, beatings, and misogyny, yet these females had careers and opinions that they weren't afraid to embrace. I don't think I've enjoyed a Lisa See book this much since "Snowflower and The Secret Fan".
adventurous
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:
Yes
Riveting, couldn’t put it down. So well researched, was sad to finish it.
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Classism
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
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:
Complicated
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I definitely liked this more than See's The Island of Sea Women. Both books chose fascinating subject matter and reflected a great deal of careful research; they also suffered a bit from the need to provide so much context/ backstory to the reader, which had a tendency to result in dialogue that seemed forced or unrealistic. The problem was less pronounced in Lady Tan's Circle of Women due to the fact that our main character, Yunxian, begins the narrative as an 8-year-old being tutored in the life of a woman, quickly transitioning to serving as her grandmother's protegee as a doctor-for-women in training; Yunxian's role as a student means that she is naturally the recipient of a large amount of information.
I very much enjoyed Yunxian's friendship with Meiling, which I believe is the central relationship in the novel. There's an inherent tension existing between them, despite their close bond, because Yunxian comes from wealth and status, whereas Meiling is working class & her career as a midwife inherently makes her "impure" by necessitating contact with blood. While Meiling struggles with jealousy that Yunxian does not have to worry about money, Yunxian envies the fact that Meiling moves freely in the world, whereas Yunxian has known only her parents' compound, her grandparents' compound, and her husband's compound. One of the most touching moments in the book comes when Yunxian violates the prohibition against touching blood to care for Meiling after she is issued 30 lashes for the "crime" of offending the Empress' eyes by having a miscarriage in front of her.
The other conflicts that drive the narrative are Yunxian's inability to please her mother-in-law, Lady Kuo--including Yunxian's "failure" to give birth to a son and heir--and the mysterious death of Spinster Aunt (on the same night that Master Yang’s concubine delivers a boy), resulting in an inquest where the drowning is ruled accidental, though Yunxian notes several obvious discrepancies in the evidence. The latter comes back into play much later when Yunxian learns that Meiling's miscarriage was caused by known abortifacient herbs Doctor Wong sent for Yunxian's maid, Poppy, to prepare in a tea for Yunxian. Though I suspected from the beginning that Doctor Wong fathered the concubine's child, I was still shocked to learn that Lady Kuo made the arrangement in the first place, seeing it as the best way to fulfill her duty to ensure male heirs to continue the family line / perform ancestor worship.
I also loved Miss Zhao, Yunxian's father's concubine, and the way that her relationship with Yunxian developed over the course of the story.
I learned a lot about foot-binding, arranged marriages, and gender roles & medical beliefs / practices in 15th & 16th century China.
In her Afterward, See talks about how she stumbled upon the topic for Lady Tan's Circle of Women, the experts she consulted as she constructed the narrative, and the ways that she built her story around the sparse information recorded about Yunxian's personal life. These details only enhanced my appreciation for See's novel. I will definitely be reading more of See's work.
I very much enjoyed Yunxian's friendship with Meiling, which I believe is the central relationship in the novel. There's an inherent tension existing between them, despite their close bond, because Yunxian comes from wealth and status, whereas Meiling is working class & her career as a midwife inherently makes her "impure" by necessitating contact with blood. While Meiling struggles with jealousy that Yunxian does not have to worry about money, Yunxian envies the fact that Meiling moves freely in the world, whereas Yunxian has known only her parents' compound, her grandparents' compound, and her husband's compound. One of the most touching moments in the book
The other conflicts that drive the narrative are Yunxian's inability to please her mother-in-law, Lady Kuo--including Yunxian's "failure" to give birth to a son and heir--and the
I also loved Miss Zhao, Yunxian's father's concubine, and the way that her relationship with Yunxian developed over the course of the story.
I learned a lot about foot-binding, arranged marriages, and gender roles & medical beliefs / practices in 15th & 16th century China.
In her Afterward, See talks about how she stumbled upon the topic for Lady Tan's Circle of Women, the experts she consulted as she constructed the narrative, and the ways that she built her story around the sparse information recorded about Yunxian's personal life. These details only enhanced my appreciation for See's novel. I will definitely be reading more of See's work.
challenging
emotional
informative
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated