- Hardcover: 352 pages
- Publisher: Houghton Mifflin; 1 edition (Jan 6 2004)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0618068872
- ISBN-13: 978-0618068876
- Product Dimensions: 23.7 x 16 x 3.1 cm
- Shipping Weight: 590 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #496,555 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Talk about story arc: poor girl from rural China auditions for a job as royal concubine, winds up as emperor's wife number four, gives birth to the "last Emperor," rules China as regent for 46 years. The fascinating, implausible life of Tsu Hsi, or "Orchid," was reviled by the revolutionary Chinese, but here it receives a sympathetic treatment from Min (Red Azalea; Becoming Madame Mao), who once again brilliantly lifts the public mask of a celebrated woman to reveal a contradictory character. Sexually assertive, intellectually ambitious, socially striving, Min's Orchid is also "isolated, tense, and in some vague but very real way, dissatisfied." Even after giving birth to the emperor's only son, Orchid feels trapped by the stultifying imperial rituals and persecuted by the other residents of the Forbidden City: six other royal wives, 3,000 invisible concubines and 2,000 scheming eunuchs. In addition to these powerful distractions, she has to discipline her overindulged son, outmaneuver the ruthless politician Su Shun (who wants her buried alive when the emperor dies) and advise the ailing emperor how to fend off both the Boxers and the Western "barbarians." Min, herself a survivor of China's Cultural Revolution, has done a prodigious amount of on-site research to capture the glorious, hopeless last days of the Ching dynasty. At times her writing is textbook-flat, and she sometimes loses track of her teeming cast of characters (for example, Orchid's dangerous mother-in-law and mentally ill sister). But readers will be enthralled by the gorgeously woven cultural tapestry and the psychologically astute portrait of the empress-a talented girl from the provinces who married (way) up.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
In her second powerful and brilliantly conceived fictionalized portrait of a strong and controversial woman intrinsic to Chinese culture, Min continues to fulfill her mission to tell the truth about her homeland, particularly China's long tradition of demonizing women. In Becoming Madame Mao (2000), Min portrays a vilified twentieth-century figure. Here she steps back to the nineteenth century to illuminate the extraordinary life of the Last Empress of China, Tzu Hsi, or Orchid. The official version castigates the empress as a conniving concubine responsible for the collapse of the Ch'ing Dynasty as China came under assault by European powers, but Min considers her a shrewd and courageous survivor, political tactician, and leader worthy of deep respect. Writing with vigor, clarity, and lavish detail, Min tells Orchid's consuming story through the empress' sharp eyes as she rose, through great sacrifice, from abject poverty to the lonely position of fourth concubine to become the besieged emperor's most trusted advisor and mother of his only son and heir. Steeped in the Forbidden City's elaborate mythology, etiquette, and ritual, Min evokes a doomed realm so opulent, complex, and bizarre that it seems as fantastic as an alternative world in science fiction, but Orchid is 100 percent human, and her earthy story is true and significant. This bewitching novel ends with the empress' struggle to secure power after the emperor's death; Min plans to dramatize Orchid's ensuing 46-year rule in the second installment of her insightful, magnetic, and quietly revolutionary resurrection of a remarkable woman. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
an easy read,
By
This review is from: Empress Orchid: A Novel (Hardcover)
This is a fictionalized account of Empress Tsu His (known as Orchid) who was the power behind the throne of the Ch'ing Dynasty in the 19th century. According to the author the characters are base on real people and the events kept closed to the events in history. The decrees and poems were translated from the original documents:In the 1850's European incursions and peasant rebellions were already undermining the Dynasty. At the same time Orchid born in to poverty came to the Forbidden City to be one of the emperor's seven wives. The young emperor Hsien Feng had neither the temperament nor the training to lead his country. Of all his wives and concubines, Orchid was the only one to produce a male heir giving her privileges. At the emperor's death in 1861, Orchid through the power of seduction and murder and with her diplomatic and manipulative skills took control of the court and became the ruler. This book is the description of a woman managing to come to power in a male-dominated society where love is survival, seduction is power and treachery is a way of life. The story is told in the first person, Orchid tells her story with passion. I found Min's writing compelling and the descriptions (of palaces, dresses and events) very colourful making the subject fascinating and different. The story is slow moving an easy read. I think people that follow historical fiction will enjoy this book, I surely did.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Invites the reader to more,
By A Customer
This review is from: Empress Orchid: A Novel (Hardcover)
Knowing relatively little about this place or time, this book held my interest and invited me to learn more. I may find out that there were gross misprepresentations of fact but suspect that the book was of sufficient accuracy to be worth the my time. Anchee Min painted a sweeping portrait of life in the Chinese imperial court with its opulence and varied layers motives and relationships. Fictionalized or not, it does give insight into the histroy of China and the events and beliefs that have brought it into the present time. If you are seeking a strictly informational book, you will be disappointed but I doubt that this was ever the author's intent.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mind Candy for the Imagination,
By wskrz "wskrz" (Denver, CO) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Empress Orchid: A Novel (Hardcover)
Empress Orchid is one of those books that once you start reading, not only is it difficult to put down, but the story wraps itself around you and is reluctant to let go. Min's narration is lush and captivating. I'm looking forward to the other books in the series!
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