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tericarol21's review
4.0
Old fashioned and charming...this is a slow-moving story of an English woman and her son living in mid-19th century Bangkok, teaching and learning and developing a wide variety of friendships while in the employ of a capricious and moody king. There is enough historical detail that i actually had to stop and look up whether it was history or a novel (apparently mostly the former, strung together with imagined pieces to fill in gaps).
Contrary to some descriptions, this is 0% romance. It is an intricate look at life in a closed system ruled by one man's temper and interpretation of tradition and communication. It is fascinating to imagine the lives of the women--thousands of them--who never see the world outside the walls of their portion of the palace-city, and to reflect on the incredible hard work of one foreign woman and how much she could change things, even when she felt spectacularly ineffective.
Slow, but lovely.
Contrary to some descriptions, this is 0% romance. It is an intricate look at life in a closed system ruled by one man's temper and interpretation of tradition and communication. It is fascinating to imagine the lives of the women--thousands of them--who never see the world outside the walls of their portion of the palace-city, and to reflect on the incredible hard work of one foreign woman and how much she could change things, even when she felt spectacularly ineffective.
Slow, but lovely.
tanya_bookish_topics's review
2.0
I wasn't the biggest fan of the book. Too many boring descriptions. I gave up reading it. Also, I didn't like the way she spoke of the Siamese culture and people. It was very condescending. Not impressed with this book.
peridotmage's review
5.0
Really glad I finally got around to reading this. It can get a little tedious in parts, as it feels it necessary that you understand the political climate of the time before it gets back to any of the story, but it carries itself nicely. Having each chapter read more like an individual story made it an easy read.
I've seen reviews that judge the book poorly because Anna disapproves of slavery & prostration & so forth... people, relax. Everyone has opinions. Even people in books. Especially people who are based on real people. If you're passionate about something, you get out & you do something about it, & she did, & that's great. Get off your Prime Directive horse.
I've seen reviews that judge the book poorly because Anna disapproves of slavery & prostration & so forth... people, relax. Everyone has opinions. Even people in books. Especially people who are based on real people. If you're passionate about something, you get out & you do something about it, & she did, & that's great. Get off your Prime Directive horse.
raehink's review
3.0
This book tells the story of the real Anna Leonowens and her experiences teaching the children of King Mongkut in the 1860s. The facts are based on Anna's own letters written home to England. Although much of the story will never be known, this is probably the closest we will come to an accurate rendering of the events.
spencecommasarah's review
3.0
Four stars for historical value, one off for probable fictionalization on some bits.
Two stars for fluency. Some parts, particularly the final third of the novel, lacked the flow of normal consecutive events. I regard this as an interesting point of which to compare the musical; if someone wants to continue understanding the events, I would look for Anna's own book or the Mongkut biography.
Two stars for fluency. Some parts, particularly the final third of the novel, lacked the flow of normal consecutive events. I regard this as an interesting point of which to compare the musical; if someone wants to continue understanding the events, I would look for Anna's own book or the Mongkut biography.
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