Empress Orchid

by Anchee Min | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 0747568332 Global Overview for this book
Registered by Drusillamac of Glasgow, Scotland United Kingdom on 4/21/2006
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2 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by Drusillamac from Glasgow, Scotland United Kingdom on Friday, April 21, 2006
Blurb on the back:
To rescue her family from poverty and avoid marrying her slope-shouldered cousin, seventeen-year-old Orchid competes to be one of the Emperor's wives. When she is chosen as a lower-ranking concubine she enters the erotically charged and ritualised Forbidden City. But beneath its immaculate facade lie whispers of murders and ghosts, and the thousands of concubines will stoop to any lengths to bear the Emperor's son. Orchid trains herself in the art of pleasuring a man, bribes her way into the royal bed, and seduces the monarch, drawing the attention of dangerous foes. Little does she know that China will collapse around her, and that she will be its last Empress.

Journal Entry 2 by Drusillamac from Glasgow, Scotland United Kingdom on Monday, April 24, 2006
I am passing this one onto laura0141.

Journal Entry 3 by laura0141 from Glasgow, Scotland United Kingdom on Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Thanks for lending me this, drusillamac. I'm going to start it tonight.

Journal Entry 4 by laura0141 from Glasgow, Scotland United Kingdom on Tuesday, May 2, 2006
A gripping read and not the salacious piece I expected after reading the blurb on the back. I'm haunted by the idea that at least some of it is historically accurate and really admire Anchee Min's characterisations.


I'll hang on to this until after the book group meets on the 13th and then return to drusillamac.

Journal Entry 5 by Drusillamac from Glasgow, Scotland United Kingdom on Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Thanks Laura0141. I am looking forward to reading this as part of our bookgroup :-)

Journal Entry 6 by Drusillamac from Glasgow, Scotland United Kingdom on Wednesday, August 16, 2006
I finished this book last night as part of my reading group schedule. It came highly recommended to me so I had high expectations of it.

The beginning of the book was rather vivid and descriptive. As my mother, a previous reader, commented you could almost smell and see some of the scenes Min wrote. However, as the book went on, I began to find it dry and boring. Orchid's obsession with the Emperor and his 'sudden' sexual fascination for her didn't quite wash with me. Towards the end I began to feel Min was repeating herself. In the later stages of the book, it seemed all Orchid was doing was dealing with court admin!

The potential relationship with Yung Lu could have been interesting. Sadly, the climax came in the last few pages and seemed rather out of context compared to the slow pace the book had taken previously. Also, I didn't completely understand the meaning. Perhaps the book group will throw some more light on this book.

This book is being reserved for the book group meeting and a mass release following that.

Released 17 yrs ago (11/10/2006 UTC) at Postal Release in TitleTrader.com, A book trading site -- Controlled Releases

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