excellent book
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I read her previous book empress orchid and was moved by it , she makes you feel like you are there... so when I saw this one i couldn't resist and I haven't been able to put it down I am sad its ended... Really great books recommended to everyone
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Poorly written and historically inaccurate
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This book and Empress Orchid were written as if for school girls. They are historically inaccurate and conform to the worst stereotypes of the Empress Dowager Cixi.
In the first book, to suggest that Orchid learnt sexual skills in a brothel is laughable and demeans the subject. It is orientalist fantasy of the worst sort. Anchee Min did not even get the name of Cixi's sister correct - showing she did not do her research. In the Last Empress, Min changed history by making the Pearl Concubine commit suicide in the well. This is a blatant untruth which anyone who has done the required historical research will know, especially those who have bothered to read the testimony of the Pearl Concubine's own sister. Also, Cixi refused to give her brother official rank but Min makes him an imperial minister. These are examples of numerous historical bloopers that Min makes throughout both books.
Avoid this book if historical truth matters. I know this is fiction, but there are some liberties that historical fiction writers should not cross - and that is rewriting proven historical facts.
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A worthy continuation
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While Empress Orchid dealt with a young girl's introduction into the dying beast that was China's political world, The Last Empress is a much finer portrayal of an aged queen's perspective of a world she cannot change.
I was already charmed by Anchee Min's style and the depth of her research in the first novel, but the second only strengthens that impression. Perhaps most heart-breaking even than the successive losses and coups which the Empress faces during her lifetime, is the gradual realization of her own mistakes. Hindsight is ever-present in Orchid's story and that in itself makes her as human and tangible as if she were sitting right in front of us, telling her story.
A superb novel and a brilliant conclusion to such a poignant tale of politics, love and destiny.
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Decline and Fall of the Q'ing dynasty
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This was a fascinating follow-on to "Empress Orchid", and if you've read that, you'll certainly enjoy this completion. I found it interesting because of the historical events surrounding the period, i.e. the slow bleeding away of China and western rapacity, the Boxer rebellion and the eventual collapse of the Q'ing dynasty and the empire following the Empress Dowager's death. Anchee Min has a gift for getting under the skin of her strong female heroines (cf "Madame Mao"), and I wonder if this is because of the very personal experience she writes about in "Red Azalea", i.e. her relationship with her female squadron leader and the lack of male company during her youth? Anchee paints her heroine as almost blameless, whereas the standard veiw is that the Empress Dowager was a disaster for China, reactionary and anti-Western; in the book she comes across as balancing the opposing factions within the Court. There is far less of the personal interaction than in Empress Orchid, probably because there is no seduction or out-manoevring of her rivals in Court as she has already attained power by the time the book starts. But it was a cracking read, as they say, perhaps less intense than Empress Orchid but balanced by the historical interest.
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Another Stunning Novel ...
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What a fabulous follow up to Anchee Min's Empress Orchid! I read the first whilst on holiday last year (and to be honest it was a last minute pick up in the airport before heading off...and I only bought it as my travel companion recommended her to me (as a male I don't think many men would be attracted to such novels). This book takes you further into the life, loves and tribulations of Orchid; and what a fabulous look into an amazing world it is. This book kept me enthralled from the first page to the last. Although sad in lots of ways, Orchid led a stunning life and what a book to tell it. Another marvellous achievement by Anchee Min! Thanks!
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