Author: Anchee Min
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| Front Cover |
I found this book really interesting because Min really dug deep into the life of a peasant in the mid 1800's.
The book starts off as the present Empress Orchid, speaking about her journey in the past to get to her position now. The suffers that Orchid has to go through throughout her life is unbearable. It made me think about the times back then in early China, the women basically had no power to do anything to serve in court, or have their own say in things. It was all up to the men to make all the biggest decisions and the women's job was to stick to their embroideries.
At the age of 17, she competes to be one of the 7 wives for the Emperor of China. She completes all the stages to become one of the wives.
"The eunuchs checked our birth signs, star charts, height, weight, the shape of our hands and feet, our hair. They counted our teeth. Everything had to match the Emperor's own charts." (pg.27)
One of the many reasons I found this book good, is that there were things I had never thought of that popped up in the book that surprised me. It was the part of history that I have never learned before.
Orchid had a main eunuch (servant) by her side that was very loyal and faithful. An-te-hai would snoop around the palace just for the latest news and he knew exactly how to cheer her up, how to help her when she is distressed. An-te-hai is probably my favorite character in the book.
I was fairly happy with what turned out to be when Orchid had a boy as a child that pushed her ranking to the same as the first wife for the Emperor. Orchid proved to be a responsible woman that can think for herself and all of China. She worked really hard to try to bring up her only son correctly instead of lavishly with gifts and golds. She would want her son to watch his father suffer on his death bed for him to remember how it is like to suffer in life if he does not work hard as an Emperor in the future.
What really disappointed me, was that Orchid and An-te-hai didn't get together afterwards. I wished that they did because An-te-hai could be the best husband ever. An-te-hai offered to do so many things that could cause an immediate death sentence but he does everything for his master anyway. But no, Orchid falls in love with a commander instead (sad face).
The ending was also disappointing me because for one thing, An-te-hai left his overcoat on her future coffin beside the dead Emperor when Empress Orchid had a chance to big farewell to her husband before the people outside closed the tomb. I believe An-te-hai left the overcoat there for her to wrap herself in if she ever decided to stay with her husband inside. Orchid had had thoughts about staying in the warm tomb when she was looking at the coffins. Or... An-te-hai left his overcoat for Orchid to stay behind just a while longer for the commander, Yung Lu to go inside and push Orchid out of the tomb. When Yung Lu came in, they had a sexual interaction and I wasn't sure if An-te-hai wanted that to happen.
The ending did not give me a full understanding of the Empress Orchids' son's death. In the beginning of the book, she had mentioned that her son, Tung Chih had later on, died. Things weren't really cleared up in the end but it might be because Min wanted people to read her sequel to this book.
This book is great for people who love reading romance, and historical books. I was really engaged with this book from the hardships described for a woman during the early ages in China. I still really wished that Orchid and An-te-hai had done something together as lovers, it would've been interesting to see what would happen.
Overall, I give this book a 4/5 stars.
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