Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.26 AVERAGE
4.26 AVERAGE
emotional
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Loved this book! I found it to be a bit slow at parts, but overall I found this to be a captivating and thoughtful read. I was blown away by the amount of research the author did and felt empowered by the beautiful friendship of Yungxiang and Meiling, especially when times were tough. They made each other better and I loved watching their friendship blossom.
I did not expect the plot twist with Dr Wong, so that was also a pleasant surprise. It was nice to see the women come out on top and for justice to be served .
I did not expect
Book Club read! Would have preferred the book to be creative nonfiction than historical fiction, but the history/topic itself kept me reading. Recommend, but probably wouldn’t have picked up/finished it wasn’t for book club.
emotional
inspiring
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:
Yes
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Lady Tan’s Circle of Women is a historical fiction based on a real physician from the Ming dynasty. As someone that doesn’t know much about 15th century China, I found that this provided an interesting, surface-level introduction into the topic. The story does contain graphic descriptions of foot-binding, arranged marriage, traumatic child birth, and death, however, I did not mind because those themes are realistic to the time period.
This novel was fine and kept my attention, but there were a few things that keep me from giving a higher than average rating. I felt like this was manufactured for a ladies book club. While I appreciate the strength that some of the female characters exhibit and that the author tries to illustrate the bonds between women, I often felt that the women characters were somewhat awful to each other. I also disliked that the author seemed to gloss over how terrifying arranged marriage between 15 year olds would actually be. The main character gets sold and sent away from her family. I suppose her husband could be handsome and kind and she could hope she would conceive a son on their wedding night as was described, but it felt a little too “happily ever after” for me. Lastly, there was a murder mystery plot twist that seemed a little out of place - I would have preferred it be more developed or left out completely.
This novel was fine and kept my attention, but there were a few things that keep me from giving a higher than average rating. I felt like this was manufactured for a ladies book club. While I appreciate the strength that some of the female characters exhibit and that the author tries to illustrate the bonds between women, I often felt that the women characters were somewhat awful to each other. I also disliked that the author seemed to gloss over how terrifying arranged marriage between 15 year olds would actually be. The main character gets sold and sent away from her family. I suppose her husband could be handsome and kind and she could hope she would conceive a son on their wedding night as was described, but it felt a little too “happily ever after” for me. Lastly, there was a murder mystery plot twist that seemed a little out of place - I would have preferred it be more developed or left out completely.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Miscarriage, Death of parent
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
tense
fast-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
informative
sad
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
slow-paced
Well written historical fiction featuring a strong woman as the central character. Always interesting to imagine life in an earlier century, particularly in a place like China.
emotional
hopeful
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:
No
I enjoyed this book! It was interesting learning about a time period and type of history I don’t usually get to read about, and the friendship between Yunxian and Meiling was incredible - definitely my favorite part of the book how clearly it was the most central and intense relationship of either of their lives. The author did a good job of setting the book in its historical context as well - things like the foot binding and 15 year old concubines was rough for me, but did seem portrayed how a woman in this time would have thought about it. I did listen to this at 2x speed and feel like I missed a few things or would have appreciated it more if I took longer on it, but a good book.