Scan barcode
A review by melkelsey
Peony in Love by Lisa See
4.0
Book 149
First sentence: Two days before my sixteenth birthday, I woke up so early that my maid was still asleep on the floor at the foot of my bed.
I love Lisa See's books. Her passionate writing transports me, culturally and historically, to her substantive Asian settings. Authentic characters with rich inner dialogue and accessible internal conflicts, especially for female readers, are a hallmark of her work. Peony in Love is no exception.
Peony, a young girl on the cusp of an arranged marriage, becomes distraught after meeting and falling in love with a scholar at a performance of her favorite opera, The Peony Pavilion. Consistently written in first-person point-of-view, the second half of the novel is set entirely after Peony's death. While supernatural elements could have been unappealing, they proved to be a boon to the reader's thorough immersion into the period.
See's love of The Peony Pavilion opera and its lore of female writing didn't fully translate. I recommend starting by reading the author's note at the end. Or perhaps the author's lofty goals muddied their fruition. 3.5 stars
First sentence: Two days before my sixteenth birthday, I woke up so early that my maid was still asleep on the floor at the foot of my bed.
I love Lisa See's books. Her passionate writing transports me, culturally and historically, to her substantive Asian settings. Authentic characters with rich inner dialogue and accessible internal conflicts, especially for female readers, are a hallmark of her work. Peony in Love is no exception.
Peony, a young girl on the cusp of an arranged marriage, becomes distraught after meeting and falling in love with a scholar at a performance of her favorite opera, The Peony Pavilion. Consistently written in first-person point-of-view, the second half of the novel is set entirely after Peony's death. While supernatural elements could have been unappealing, they proved to be a boon to the reader's thorough immersion into the period.
See's love of The Peony Pavilion opera and its lore of female writing didn't fully translate. I recommend starting by reading the author's note at the end. Or perhaps the author's lofty goals muddied their fruition. 3.5 stars