Reviews tagging 'Death'

A Imperatriz de Ferro: A concubina que criou a China moderna by Donaldson M. Garschagen, Jung Chang

3 reviews

josiee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad tense slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

katy_bee's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

4.75

I'm not normally a non fiction reader but I was enthralled by this. Chang is a very readable author with a lot of information presented in a really accessible way. While she clearly admires dowager empress Cixi and wants to rehabilitate her reputation, she also describes her errors and flaws. I knew little about this period in Chinese history and I fascinated by the political intrigue and wider social impact. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Suicide, Torture, and War

builtonbooks's review against another edition

challenging informative slow-paced

2.75

It starts fast with interesting accounts about Cixi's early court life. The middle part starts to slow down as the author starts tackling the laborious politics and bureaucracy of running a country. The last third is an even slower read as things unravel for Cixi and the Qing dynasty.

Overall it was an informative read. It took a month though because it gets dry at times as it covers the different aspects of her life and rule, as well as the changing landscape China at the turn of the century. I had the good fortune of some background knowledge of Cixi and the later Qing dynasty because I took it up briefly in school and that helped a lot. It is not an easy read but it is informative.

It is very important to note though that the book overwhelmingly showcases Cixi in a positive light. While it does make mention of many of her heinous acts, it will sweep it away with reason of culture, traditions, political machinations etc… The back of the book has around 10 pages of bibliography, but I do wonder about the conclusions the author made while writing this work. Some of them are only conjectures pulled from letters or second hand sources, but it has been presented as a fact of the life of Cixi. 

TL;DR: If you are interested in reading this book, by all means; but I do recommend after finishing it to research further and look at other sources and experts. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death