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Reeling from tragedy, Orchid reluctantly assumes greater power over late 19th-century China. And as her nation is divided by opposing factions, only she can keep China from tearing itself apart.
The thrilling new novel from number-one New York Times best-selling author Lisa See explores the lives of a Chinese mother and her daughter who has been abandoned and adopted by an American couple.
In a voice both haunting and startlingly immediate, Nitta Sayuri describes her life as a geisha. Taken from her home at the age of nine, she is sold into slavery to a renowned geisha house. Witness her transformation as you enter a world where appearances are paramount, virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder, women beguile powerful men, and love is scorned as illusion.
From the best-selling author of Red Azalea, this extraordinary novel tells the stirring, erotically charged story of Madame Mao Zedong, the woman almost universally known as the 'white-boned demon,' whom many hold directly responsible for the excesses of the Cultural Revolution. Bringing her lush psychological insight to bear on the facts of history, Min penetrates the myth surrounding this woman and provides a "convincing, nuanced portrait of a damaged personality" (Entertainment Weekly) driven by ambition, betrayal, and a never-to-be-fulfilled need to be loved.
Out of the stories heard in her childhood in Los Angeles's Chinatown and years of research, See has constructed this sweeping chronicle of her Chinese-American family, a work that takes in stories of racism and romance, entrepreneurial genius and domestic heartache, secret marriages and sibling rivalries, in a powerful history of two cultures meeting in a new world.
On her 40th birthday, Madame Wu carries out a decision she has been planning for a long time: she tells her husband that after 24 years their physical life together is now over and she wishes him to take a second wife. The House of Wu, one of the oldest and most revered in China, is thrown into an uproar by her decision, but Madame Wu will not be dissuaded and arranges for a young country girl to come take her place in bed.
Reeling from tragedy, Orchid reluctantly assumes greater power over late 19th-century China. And as her nation is divided by opposing factions, only she can keep China from tearing itself apart.
The thrilling new novel from number-one New York Times best-selling author Lisa See explores the lives of a Chinese mother and her daughter who has been abandoned and adopted by an American couple.
In a voice both haunting and startlingly immediate, Nitta Sayuri describes her life as a geisha. Taken from her home at the age of nine, she is sold into slavery to a renowned geisha house. Witness her transformation as you enter a world where appearances are paramount, virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder, women beguile powerful men, and love is scorned as illusion.
From the best-selling author of Red Azalea, this extraordinary novel tells the stirring, erotically charged story of Madame Mao Zedong, the woman almost universally known as the 'white-boned demon,' whom many hold directly responsible for the excesses of the Cultural Revolution. Bringing her lush psychological insight to bear on the facts of history, Min penetrates the myth surrounding this woman and provides a "convincing, nuanced portrait of a damaged personality" (Entertainment Weekly) driven by ambition, betrayal, and a never-to-be-fulfilled need to be loved.
Out of the stories heard in her childhood in Los Angeles's Chinatown and years of research, See has constructed this sweeping chronicle of her Chinese-American family, a work that takes in stories of racism and romance, entrepreneurial genius and domestic heartache, secret marriages and sibling rivalries, in a powerful history of two cultures meeting in a new world.
On her 40th birthday, Madame Wu carries out a decision she has been planning for a long time: she tells her husband that after 24 years their physical life together is now over and she wishes him to take a second wife. The House of Wu, one of the oldest and most revered in China, is thrown into an uproar by her decision, but Madame Wu will not be dissuaded and arranges for a young country girl to come take her place in bed.
For young Peony, betrothed to a suitor she has never met, lyrics from The Peony Pavilion mirror her own longings. In the garden of the Chen Family Villa, amid the scent of ginger, green tea, and jasmine, a small theatrical troupe is performing scenes from this epic opera, a live spectacle few females have ever seen. Like the heroine in the drama, Peony is the cloistered daughter of a wealthy family, trapped like a good-luck cricket in a bamboo-and-lacquer cage.
Only 25 and newly crowned, Elizabeth vows to rule the country as both queen and king. But her counselors continually press her to form an advantageous marriage and produce an heir. Though none of the suitors have yet worked their way to her throne, the dashing - though married - Lord Robert lays claim to Elizabeth's heart.
Inara Erickson is exploring her deceased aunt's island estate when she finds an elaborately stitched piece of fabric hidden in the house. As she peels back layer upon layer of the secrets it holds, Inara's life becomes interwoven with that of Mei Lein, a young Chinese girl mysteriously driven from her home a century before. Through the stories Mei Lein tells in silk, Inara uncovers a tragic truth that will shake her family to its core - and force her to make an impossible choice.
In The Butchering Art, the historian Lindsey Fitzharris reveals the shocking world of 19th-century surgery on the eve of profound transformation. She conjures up early operating theaters - no place for the squeamish - and surgeons, working before anesthesia, who were lauded for their speed and brute strength. They were baffled by the persistent infections that kept mortality rates stubbornly high. A young, melancholy Quaker surgeon named Joseph Lister would solve the deadly riddle and change the course of history.
Young Peony is sold into a rich Chinese household as a bondmaid - an awkward role in which she is more a servant, but less a daughter. As she grows into a lovely, provocative young woman, Peony falls in love with the family's only son. However, tradition forbids them to wed. How she resolves her love for him and her devotion to her adoptive family unfolds in this profound tale, based on true events in China over a century ago.
Few books have had such an impact as Wild Swans: a popular best seller which has sold more than 13 million copies and a critically acclaimed history of China; a tragic tale of nightmarish cruelty and an uplifting story of bravery and survival.
He was born Temujin, son of a khan, raised in a clan of hunters migrating across the steppe. Temujin's young life was shaped by a series of brutal acts: the betrayal of his father by a neighboring tribe, his family left to die on the harsh plain. But Temujin endured, and from then on, he was driven by a fury to survive in the face of death, to kill before being killed, and to conquer enemies from beyond the horizon.
On a warm Florida evening, Karen Gregory saw a familiar face at her door. What the beautiful young woman could not know was that she was staring into the eyes of her killer - a savage monster who would rape her, stab her to death, and leave her battered body on the floor outside the bedroom. Detectives frantically sifting through the evidence were tormented by one disturbing question after another....
Shanghai, 1912. Violet Minturn is the privileged daughter of the American madam of the city's most exclusive courtesan house. But when the Ching dynasty is overturned, Violet is separated from her mother in a cruel act of chicanery and forced to become a "virgin courtesan." Half-Chinese and half-American, Violet grapples with her place in the worlds of East and West - until she is able to merge her two halves, empowering her to become a shrewd courtesan who excels in the business of seduction and illusion, though she still struggles to understand who she is.
Hoping to improve their social standing, May and Pearl's parents arrange for their daughters to "Gold Mountain men" who have come from Los Angeles to find brides. But when the sisters leave China and arrive at Angel's Island (the Ellis Island of the West, where they are detained, interrogated, and humiliated for months) they feel the harsh reality of leaving home. And when May discovers she's pregnant, the situation becomes even more desperate. The sisters make a pact that no one can ever know.
Lily is haunted by memories of who she once was, and of a person, long gone, who defined her existence. She has nothing but time now, as she recounts the tale of Snow Flower and asks the gods for forgiveness.
Nefertiti and her younger sister, Mutnodjmet, have been raised in a powerful family that has provided wives to the rulers of Egypt for centuries. Ambitious, charismatic, and beautiful, Nefertiti is destined to marry Amunhotep, an unstable young pharaoh. It is hoped by all that her strong personality will temper the young Amunhotep's heretical desires.
Seventeen-year-old Orchid belongs to an aristocratic family that has fallen on hard times. Unexpectedly, she is chosen as one of the emperor's lesser concubines. Within the Forbidden City are thousands of women hoping to bear the emperor a son and become his empress. Orchid, determined and resourceful, schemes her way into the royal bed and seduces the emperor. But as the opium trade erodes the might of the Ch'ing dynasty, Orchid find herself at the center of a crumbling nation.
A colorful depiction of one of history's least understood women, The Empress Orchid is another enthralling masterpiece for Anchee Min.
"Powerful and brilliantly conceived....[An] insightful, magnetic, and quietly revolutionary resurrection of a remarkable woman." (Booklist)
This is a great story. Some people have complained that the narrator was reading too slowly and pausing for too long. I think that they overlooked the fact that the story was from the perspective of an old Empress Orchid recounting the story of her youth and the slower reading and pauses fit in with that scenario. This was a very interesting audio book.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful
I couldn't put this book down. I loved learning about the Manchu religious philosphies and way of life. I always wondered why the Chinese didn't act as quickly as Westerners during times of war and now I know about their beliefs and customs that influenced their decisions. Very good read and I am looking forward to the next 2 volumes. HURRY UP ANCHEE MINN!!
7 of 7 people found this review helpful
This was a great book. I loved it and would listen to it again. The narrator was annoying because you can hear her swallowing and it was a little disgusting, but the book was so well written and so interesting, I could not wait to get back to the story every evening. I don't know anyone who read it or listened to it that did not love it. Do order this.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful
The Empress Orchid is a fascinating look into the inter workings of China's Imperial Court. However, the narrator was absolutely the worse I've ever heard. I almost never complain about the narration, but this narrator is terrible. Not a single sentence was completed without loud slobbery swallowing. I read the other reviews which criticized the narrator, but I was interested in the story so I knew what I was getting. Why or why do producers of audiobooks allow such terrible narrations.
Background on the stories reveals that the writer and others are trying to rehabilitate the last Empress Dowager. Apparently, in the 1900's stories about Empress Dowager Cixi's cruelty and manipulations were highly exaggerated to make a good story. Somewhere in the middle is probably the truth.
Great story if you can tolerate the narrator.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful
This might be the best book in the world, I'll never know because I couldn't get beyond the ragged breathing & salavating of the reader. My fault, I should have previewed it prior to my purchase... next time I'll know better!
5 of 5 people found this review helpful
Loved it. Had lots of interesting information and a plot that kept you wanting to listen! Great listen - or read!
5 of 5 people found this review helpful
This is a great story set in a difficult time in Chinese history. It was very descriptive of the culture and of the practices of the time. People have said that the narrator is slow, but that I believe that it just underscores the fact that everything moves much more slowly in China. Everything is done at a different pace and the traditions and customs are most important, whether or not they are practical.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful
I agree with the previous reviews rergarding the narration- there was very annoying mouth noises and the narrator sounded as thought she was bored to tears while reading, or just arrogant. I also did not appreciate her attempts at trying to sound masculine for the male part of the text and childlike for the youth part of the text. It was almost comical. I frequently found myself mocking her aloud while reading.
The story seemed interesting and historically accurate, and I think I will actually have to read the book to be able to enjoy this story.
*note-- the preview didn't capture the fullness of the profoundly irritating narration, which is why I purchased it. Next time I will read the reviews as well.
6 of 7 people found this review helpful
I very much enjoyed the story and generally enjoy audiobooks. However, in this particular recording every few seconds you can year the narrator swallowing her spit. Its very disgusting and distracting. Because of it I found it very difficult to finish the book. Who ever edited this book should have done a better job, a narrator cannot speak & swallow at the same time, it would have been easy enough but time consuming to edit out the swallowing noise.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
I enjoyed the story (I have a daughter from China) and the descriptive way it was written. However, I was very unhappy with the narrator...she sounded like she had a mouth full of saliva and her swallowing was audible (no pun) and distracting.
5 of 6 people found this review helpful