Customer Reviews

Peony in Love: A Novel

5 star:		(75)
4 star:		(50)
3 star:		(29)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

"There are several elements here - Tang Xianzu's opera, the lovesick maidens, the history of The Three Wives' Commentary, and the societal changes that allowed it to be written. I know they're rather complicated and overlap a bit, so please bear with me." So says Lisa See, the author of Peony in Love in her notes at the end of the novel.

Fortunately, I also found the text of the notes on the author's web site under the heading `On Writing Peony in Love' while I was reading the book. If I hadn't, I'm sure I would have given up on this novel at about page 110. The notes provided much needed insight into the author's purpose and an invaluable historical context for what I was reading.

I did find the historical aspects and the vivid descriptions of the Chinese afterlife fascinating. Having already read Snowflower and the Secret Fan I didn't feel I needed another description of footbinding so I confess that I skipped that brief passage. The author's ultimate point is clearly the issue of women's voices and `a woman's need to be heard.' She makes this point strongly - and repeatedly. For all of that, there was still much to enjoy in the novel.

In my opinion, this book doesn't live up to her earlier novel, Snowflower and the Secret Fan. I really feel the publisher should change the Author's Notes to a Foreword and I urge anyone who chooses to read this to read the Author's Notes first.

The old theme of star-crossed lovers takes an Oriental twist in this historical period drama about a love-struck young girl, an enamored poet, and the opera that not only brings them together but casts them apart.

This story is about Peony, a young woman and only child of a wealthy family. Set in seventeenth century China, when well brought up young women weren't allowed to be seen or heard, especially by strange men, Peony's father organizes a theatrical performance of the opera "The Peony Pavilion", and although her mother doesn't want her to see it, arrangements are made for a screen to be erected, behind which the women can get a glimpse of the epic opera. Peony is a big fan of "The Peony Pavilion", having collected many editions, reading and memorizing many of the popular segments, but even though seeing it live is a big thrill, she becomes more interested in observing a young man sitting in the audience.

Risking her reputation, she wanders off on her own, and as fate would have it, she encounters the young man in an isolated place, where they discover that they enjoy each other's company very much. Unfortunately, Peony is already betrothed by way of an arranged marriage, and as the big day approaches she spends her days dreaming of the young man and obsessively recording her thoughts in an edition of the great opera, refusing food and ignoring the advice of the doctors and other experts that come to see her. From this point her life takes a dramatic turn with a cruel twist, and the story and the opera fuse together in elaborate fashion, becoming a dark fantasy full of ghosts, superstition and tradition.

The author lingers over the historical details, the proud traditions, the poetry of the opera and the protocols of the afterlife, as well as other remarkable activities such as foot binding and embroidery, and although this is an extremely poignant and melancholy book, it is so rich in description that you won't want to put it down. A dramatic, absorbing and informative story that will remain with you for a long time after you've finished reading it.

Amanda Richards, August 4, 2007

Lisa See creates a beautiful, palpable and completely predictable environment for her reader in Peony in Love. The settings and emotions were so evocative that I couldn't turn away from them. Yet...the plot twists aren't twists at all, and left me feeling more than a bit unfulfilled.

As I flipped from page to page, I couldn't help but know what was coming, and that I was being dragged on in a stagnant plot as See created nothing but filler. Even as the tale trudges on, the filler becomes no less obvious.

The entire beginning had built up to something amazing - whether amazingly happy, beautiful or sad was left to be seen. Instead of culminating with a breakthrough, it fell short to predictability.

As one reviewer said, this is not a traditional story told in the common-used Western world approach. This is a detailed, gritty and beautiful look into the life of a young girl so taken with the power of her first and only love that she dies from it.

Peony starts out as spoiled but she grows into a thought-provoking character after her chance meeting with Ren, the man who would have been her husband. After she dies from "lovesickness", she spends her time looking in on this man and her family from the spirit plane as a doomed hungry ghost, scavenging for food when the time comes and living in fear of being forgotten by those she loves. She must also deal with the cold hard truth of Ren finding happiness with other women, including an old enemy, Tan Ze.

Some might say her actions as a ghost with Ze are unsavory and make Peony into a villainess, and I will admit some of the things she does were questionable (such as having her stay up all night to have her write about "The Peony Pavillion," Peony's favorite play), but what you get is a girl filled with passion and her desire to be remembered. She tries to make up her actions when Ren's third wife, Yi, almost dies during childbirth and Peony saves both her and the child.

See's voice may start off slow and repetetive and some of her decriptions are purple prose (Peony talks about pearls filling her heart when she's happy), but her story picks up tremendously. She explores the surroundings of the people who populate the novel like a painter, with fine brushstrokes you wouldn't notice but definitely appreciate. She makes the Chinese afterlife into a real place, with all its levels and grim or happy fates. Lastly, she gives the reader a view of an unlikely love, of mothers and daughters, grandmothers and granddaughters, and husbands and wives. It may not be "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan," but it's a good story for the heartstrings.

Peony in Love: A NovelI was disappointed in Peony in Love after having read Snowflower and the Secret Fan by the same author. Peony in love is too far out and unrealistic for my reading. Peony spent 2/3 of the book dead, talking about what went on with her after death in the afterlife and that is not my cup of tea.

First, I want to make it clear that I am not giving this book three stars because I didn't like it. In my mind, three stars means the book was good/average.

I love historical fiction set in East Asia, and I am immediately interested by any kind of chthonic mythology/folklore, so I knew this book would be a good read for me. And it was, up to a certain point. The first third of the book had a lot of information about what it means to be a young, well-to-do woman in 17th century Chinese society. I was surprised at how cloistered the women were, and how difficult it must have been for them to suppress their personalities in favor of behaving like a model wife or daughter. If any reader is interested in Chinese women's history or Chinese social history, this book would be of interest. On the other hand, if you tend to get bored at a slow, unfolding plot, then this book might be difficult to get though. (One thing that bothered me in this part was that the pseudo-surprise right before Peony's, uh, adventure--I'm trying really hard not to spoil anything--could be seen from approximately 2.5 billion miles away, and since it was so obvious, the ensuing action was totally frustrating, constantly making me want to jump in the pages and smack Peony upside the head.)

The book takes a fairly radical turn about 1/3 of the way in. Here's where things started getting more interesting for me. The story becomes more than an exploration of the ways in which love can go on--it is a Bildungsroman, a treatise on "the woman's desire to be heard," a tale of love between a mother and a daughter, a display of women writers in 17th century China, and a story of misunderstandings and preconceptions coming to light and being resolved. I don't want to get any deeper than that because I hate it when reviewers give away plot points.

The reason I gave this book 3 stars was because it felt somewhat hurried and unfinished. I understand that this book is kind of like an expanded article on Chinese women writers, and that's fine, but sometimes I did get the sense that I was reading something that had not been planned around the characters... in other words, this book was started with a definite idea of what going to happen in the plot, and the characters just had to be squeezed into what the plot demanded of them. Most good books are just the opposite: the plot emerges organically from the development of the characters. Now, it's not always that a book suffers from the plot necessitating the characters (see: a whole lot of historical fiction), but it was just really apparent here. None of the characters really jumped off the page for me, especially the main character, who, in my mind, was bland at best and annoying at worst. Also, the book is FREQUENTLY overly didactic, and sometimes I had to roll my eyes.

So... bottom line: The best parts of this book are the information about Chinese social (women's) life/afterlife/marriage customs. Characterization and plot are sometimes patchy (in my opinion). I would recommend this book to anyone who likes Chinese history or just a good sentimental tale. I would NOT recommend this book to anyone who doesn't like social history, unconventional twists in the narrative, or slow, emotional plots.

I had been excited to see a new novel by one of my favorite authors and wanted more than anything to buy it. But when I read the reviews, I was daunted by the number of people recomending me NOT to read the book.

Nevertheless, I found myself at Borders with a dilhema - to replace my missing Snow Flower book or buy Peony in Love. After minutes of debating, I bought Peony, deciding to dismiss the naysayers as just people dissapointed over the lack of Snow Flower similarities. Besides, the beginning looked interesting.

However, when I got home, I almost immediately regretted my $20 choice. True, the beginning of the story was interesting, if not top notched. I noticed that the foot-binding scene was thrown in there almost randomly and the disbelief of shallowly falling for a man after seeing only his face behind a screen, just as some of the negativer reviewers pointed out.

But what the tipping point was happened after the first "book". Immediately, the story became a monotonous cycle of stalking and obsessiveness with a book. It was only my devotion that kept me reading.

Altogether, I was unsatisfied. I admire Lisa See for her attempt but I think she chose the wrong story to base her novel off of. I'd hate to compare it to Snow Flower but the harsh truth is, the two simply contrast in style and quality.

I grew up loving soap operas and romantic stories. I moved on from my teen novels and started reading my mom's romance novels when I was either fourteen or fifteen. But when I became an English major, I realized that there was so much more to life than the run of the mill "romance" and this one proves my point.

This is not a typical romance in that there is not a typical "happily ever after" ending. In western terms, this would be considered a very depressing story. You have to be able to appreciate the history and the Chinese culture to understand the story and to keep moving. I will admit that when I got to the end of the first part of the novel, I was mad. I even told my mother I didn't want to finish it. But I had loved "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" so much and just adore Chinese literature and culture, and so I decided to read on. I'm so glad that I did. If I hadn't, I honestly would have missed the best part of the story.The second half of the story is where you really see the character development and the incorporation of Chinese beliefs and history. The description is beautiful and I love the fact that the women are so strong!

In closing, I highly recommend this book if you are willing to stick with it through the rough parts. It's not a quick or easy read, but once you finish you will know a whole different meaning of love and have learned a bit of history all the same time.

This is the second book I've read from Lisa See. I loved Sunflower and the Secret Fan, but this one was very dissapointing. I felt like I was being let down each and every time with this story. I didn't connect as I did with the other book and I would not recommend this book. You can totally skip this one!

I loved Snowflower and the Secret Fan and couldn't dare to get my hopes up but I found this book equally excellent. Lisa's ability to create a visual around a world and time that is so different from today is amazing. I found myself torn from day to day thought, thinking about what I had just read and looking forward to reading the remainder of the book - sorry for it to end - like any good read should be.