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A review by tericarol21
Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon
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.