A must...For anyone.
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An amazing book by such a strong woman, I picked this book up and didn't put it down, I wept, laughed and felt so much for the charatcers in this book, it started my fascination with this time period and culture, and also the incredible Anchee Min- I must recommend that everyone watch the interview on youtube with Anchee Min, and must recommend this:Red Azalea amazing...I love Empress Orchid so much, and the follow on is pretty spell binding too.
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Amaaaaaaazing!!!
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After I had seen this book on richard and judy and as I already had an interest in chinese history I decided to buy the book and i wasn't dissapointed.
Anchee Min recreates the lost splendours of imperial china and the forbidden city with amazing accuracy. I couldn't put the book down and have read it three times, most recently last week and I have just found out that the next instalment about the Empress Dowager "The last empress" is now out and have already ordered it! I hope it's as good as the first and i'm really impatiently waiting for it to arive. I recomend "Empress Orchid" to everybody.
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Fascinating and Brilliant.
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Before I brought Empress Orchid I read a review written by someone else that said that it was such a super book it had inspired them to want to visit The Forbidden City.
Having read the book myself, I have to say I agree.
Brilliantly written, the storyline itself was gripping as well as eye-opening and fascinating.
As someone who was totally ignorant on matters such as Chinese history, Emporers, Eunuchs, etc. I didn't find it hard going at all and in fact, couldn't put it down - Anchee Min's writing style is amazing.
I thoroughly enjoyed every page and would recommend it to anyone wanting a gripping read.
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Brings the Forbidden City to life
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I loved it. The story of a girl overcoming hardships, set in the Forbidden City. She goes from nothing to becoming one of the most formidable women in China at the time. It's a work of fiction but is based on a real character, the Empress Dowager. This book only takes us through her early life though, before she becomes the Dowager empress and the story continues with the sequel. It was wonderful to soak up the atmosphere, pomp and ceremony from the pages and I can't wait to read what happens to her next.
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Fascinating!
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During the last days of the Ching dynasty and the opium wars of the nineteenth century Orchid a young girl from an aristocratic but impoverished family auditions to become one of Emperor Hsien Feng's concubines. She does this to escape marriage with an unsuitable cousin and rescue her family from poverty. She successfully gains a position not just as one of the Emperor's three thousand concubines, but as wife number four. A prestigious position in the hierarchy, but one that still does not bring her close enough to Hsien Feng to attract his attentions. Orchid learns how to satisfy a man sexually just so that she can bribe her way into the royal bed!
Successfully giving birth to the Emperor's only son does not however bring Orchid the happiness she hoped for. She continues to feel very dissatisfied with the restrictive life she is forced to live within the walls of the Forbidden City, surrounded by the other royal wives, concubines and enuchs within a web of conspiracies and jealousies. Hsein Feng dies at a very young age and Orchid along with another wife Nuharoo become Empress's to support her son the young child Emperor Tung Chih.
Maybe the author has twisted the historical facts, but this is a novel and an enjoyable way to learn something about the history of China.
It gives us an interesting account of life in the royal court at the time, described in intricate detail, even the colour schemes of the décor! My only real disappointments were that the characters lacked depth and that the story ended when Orchid was only thirty. However what the characters lacked the very vivid descriptions of life style certainly made up for. Some I found rather disturbing such as the description of the indignities that Orchid underwent during her interview. Then very much later in the book (page 316) One-cough's description of how to perform a successful beheading.
To summarise Ancheee Mins fictional novel based on historical facts about a strong independent young woman, who goes on to become a famous historical figure is fascinating.
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