Empress Orchid - Anchee Min

...(the eponymous Orchid) the last Empress Dowager of China, Anchee Min brings to life the beauty and opulence of the famous, walled Forbidden City with the city of Peking. Orchid (who takes the name of Lady Yehonara on marriage) is the fourth of seven wives, and with 3000 concubines also vying for the attention of the Emperor, she soon realises that intrigue, treachery and manipulation will be part of her life until she dies. The Forbidden City has ...
...death - for overstepping the mark. "One wrong move and your head could be chopped". (p21) One unfortunate soul is dismembered and kept in a jar. However, the rewards are high and competition is tough, not only to produce a male heir but to provide the emperor with vast numbers of children. Orchid bribes her way into her husband's bed (lets not forget he has over 3000 women at his disposal) but she must then work hard to keep his attention while risking ...

astrababe 16.02.2006 (21.02.2006) · Read full review
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Review of Empress Orchid - Anchee Min

...a real character: the Dragon Empress of China, Tzu-Hsi. The novel begins with Orchid, whose character and life is based on that of the Dragon Empress, walking from Wuhu to Peking with her family to bury her father at his birthplace. The family is so poor that partway through the journey they run out of money, and, once they reach Peking, have to move in with Orchid's uncle. At this time, Orchid is seventeen. Orchid's uncle suggests that she marry ...
...She's horrified by the idea but has to accept: after all, she has no other prospects. This changes however when her employer, Big Sister Fann, mentions the decree forbidding Manchu girls to marry until the Emperor has chosen his wives. This is a lucky break for Orchid as she is Manchu rather than Chinese, so she puts herself forward to enter the Forbidden City to be one of the Emperor's wives. Big Sister Fann, as she used to work in the Forbidden ...

sally.jenkins 04.07.2006 · Read full review
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Review of Empress Orchid - Anchee Min

Empress Orchid is the latest work by Anchee Min, the acclaimed author of "Becoming Madame Mao" and "Red Azalea." The book is based on the life of Orchid, a concubine in the court of Emperor Hsein Feng who later went on to become Empress of China, ruling for more than 40 years. The description on the back cover of the book sounds fascinating - a woman managing to come to power in a male-dominated society, trying to protect and preserve her country ...
...mostly on Orchid's life as Empress rather than her rise to power. In the end, the reader fails to bond with the characters because you never learn much about them. There are moments of interest in the book, but between the lack of character development and the excessive amounts of detail, the book goes from a potentially wonderful book to a 336 page read that drags on with no end in sight. When the end does finally arrive, it's both anti-climactic ...

mystikchick17 27.05.2005 · Read full review
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Review of Empress Orchid - Anchee Min

'Love is survival, seduction is power, and treachery a way of life...' Again I've been seduced by the cover, this intriguing caption, the blood-red cover, the inscrutable image of a young Chinese girl's eyes, and yes of course, the cursory glance at the back cover, where it reads: 'Orchid trains herself in the art of pleasuring a man, bribes her way into the royal bed, and seduces the monarch...' This was enough, I parted with the cash £6.99, ...
...even a little aroused, thinking that there would be perhaps some steamily erotic sex scenes between Orchid and the Emperor. The story begins with the death of Orchid's father and their ensuing poverty, they begin the long journey carrying him home to be buried. Reaching Peking they are taken in by a relative and begin to make a new life for themselves, but they are very poor and in order to secure their life in Peking Orchid is forced into an engagement ...

kitty17 14.04.2005 · Read full review
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Review of Empress Orchid - Anchee Min

...of Tzu Hsi the last Empress of China, a woman that a lot of controversy surrounded over whether it was China's or her own interests that were her motivation. Firstly I would like to point out that the description of the story on the back cover is rather misleading. I got the impression that the story was erotic and sensual, but this is not particularly the case. However I would like to point out that the story is told in first-person view and in ...
...Anchee Min manages to convey a sense of period through the way Orchid tells her story. She is able to show us her embarrassment, frustration and restraint. I find Min's style of writing compelling and addictive. Although she does not discuss any of the characters in depth I found her descriptions beautiful and the history fascinating. The books main faults are the characters. I personally found Orchid believable and likeable, however I enjoy flawed ...

Kittys_gremlin 14.02.2006 · Read full review
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Review of Empress Orchid - Anchee Min

...of Express Cixi, the last empress of China. It describes the journey of Orchid, a girl whose family's downfall leads her to become a candidate for one of the Emperor's new wife. Although she was not as beautiful and talented as the properly educated and high socially ranked Nuharoo, she was also chosen (alongside Nuharoo) as a concubine of Emperor Tsien Feng and became Lady Yehonala. The story describes the politics and struggle in the Forbidden ...
...power, for her to become Empress Cixi (not described in the book), is a result of a clear knowledge of the Chinese politics at the time (as Tsien Feng allowed her to help with his documents), the production of a son for the emperor and being a favourite of the emperor. The book was written well and described in great details about the life of Orchid. As I have some knowledge of chinese history beforehand, the traditions and ceremonies did not seem ...

immortal_pheebs 06.07.2006 · Read full review
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Review of Empress Orchid - Anchee Min

...girl's rise to the last empress of China. Being Chinese and somewhat aquainted with Chinese history, I was intrigued about how Anchee Min might attempt to portray Cixi. I have to say she did a fantastic job. The book had me addicted from start to finish, I couldn't even bear to part with it for toilet breaks (excuse the crudeness). The language was deliciously lyrical, and the characters SO intricately portrayed that they are almost palpable. The ...
...come to life, playing out every scene in front of you. There wasn't a single dull chapter that I wanted to flick through. Every word, every punctuation mark was savoured to the full. Don't get me wrong, this wasn't one of those ridiculous 'olde' books that do nothing but wax lyrical about trees and nature and beautiful women in incomprehensibly jargonic language, with no storyline. I hate those with a passion (they're for the pretentious readers ...

bellahuang86 15.03.2007 · Read full review
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Review of Empress Orchid - Anchee Min

...a hundred years, the last Empress of China, Empress Tzu Tzi had been synonymous with a cruelty, and credited with bringing the empire to its collapse. Almost all things bad are credited to her. AnChee Min, had created an interesting "fictional biography". She showed a sensitive understanding and interpretation of the events around the empress, and how it shaped her outlook. Instead of a face of a cunning but ignorant woman who happened to be powerful ...
...real life to her. Her she is depicted as an intelligent, filial woman who was determined to stay afloat. There was even an element of innocence in her quest for love. The stories in the palaces are always full of twists and turns. Many a best selling books are based on love triangles. This is a book that is based on the fight between 3000 women for a man's love. The twist is these women have no other "options", it is either this man, or no one else. ...

graceC 15.04.2006 · Read full review
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Review of Empress Orchid - Anchee Min

I felt that this book not only had a brilliant storyline but it also gave you an insight into a different world. I found it really interesting to read about how the 'forbidden city' worked and how different it is from our own world. The way that the life as wife of the emperor is perceived as the perfect life yet they themselves feel that it is the worst life possible. To see things from the inside was amazing and you learn so much from this book. ...

jammie2505 12.02.2007 · Read full review
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Review of Empress Orchid - Anchee Min