Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See

20 reviews

erinwolf1997's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Infertility, Sexual content, Torture, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Child death, Infidelity, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

ixris's review against another edition

adventurous informative reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

I went into this knowing very little about Ming dynasty Chinese medicine. The book is extremely well researched and based on the life of real-life Lady Tan, who treated women where it would be unseemly for a man to touch them. 

This is not well hinted in the copy, but this book is VERY interested in pregnancy, being pregnant, bearing sons, etc. There are a lot of sequences involving childbirth, and some of them are intense. 

That being said, the book is about women and women friendships. The friendship between Lady Tan and Meiling is so wonderful and believable, in all its sweetness and rawness. That is the heart of this book. 

Solidly women's fiction historical, it was highly recommended by the indie bookseller where I bought my copy. I have to say I deeply agree. It was a refreshing change from what I've been reading lately! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Infertility, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

dmsmith914's review against another edition

emotional inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Death, Gore, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

thewolvesread's review against another edition

informative mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I'm never drawn to historical fiction, but read this one for an irl book club. I ended up liking it. It was continuously intriguing and kept having to google some of the historical facts in it because wanted to learn mnore.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexism, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Abortion

Minor: Cancer

mdwsn27's review against another edition

informative mysterious slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Fatphobia, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

carminhomarrana's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

erintempleton's review against another edition

informative reflective sad

• Loveable characters? No

3.25

alexa, play 'labour (the cacophony)' by paris paloma.
this book also reminds me of Silence by Shusaku Endo (1966) and The Tale of Princess Kaguya (2013). The former because of its overwhelmingly depressing narrative, and the latter for its portrayal of a strong-willed woman trampled by a male-dominated society. if your expectation is to see a group of women trash the patriarchy, this is absolutely not the book for you.

the first thing i'll say about this book is that it was pretty gross. there were several times while reading it that made me feel physically sick to my stomach for one reason or another (see: foot binding, extreme misogyny, medical content, emotional abuse, 14 year old concubines, etc.), so it was not an overall enjoyable read for me personally. the narrative just kept doubling down on the harsh realities of being a woman during this time, so much so that i found myself drowning in their collective fear and hopelessness quite a lot; the balance of light and dark was overwhelmingly dark. i can appreciate the realism and the research behind all these things, but i did not have a good time ingesting them.

the second thing i'll say is that i didn't love the delivery of the info dump sessions. it was kind of unique to couch them in lessons and oral teachings, but it felt so stiff every time someone would ask yunxian to recite Confucian ideals or medical information. like sneaking vegetables into a child's food except they're so big that you can pick them out. i learned a lot, but i didn't feel like i was reading a story at times.

i think i'm still processing what i was meant to take away from this book, especially after the post script note explaining what happens to yunxian's family later on. i get that her medical practice was her legacy, rather than her family, but that just makes all of her sacrifices for the latter feel so hollow and meaningless. she suffered for her entire life and never fought the system that made her suffer, and the system does not reward her for that suffering in the least. it feels a lot like the story of moses coming down the mountain post-exile with the ten commandments to find the israelites worshipping an idol of another god. what was it all for, then? 
(also wikipedia says that tan yunxian had two sons, and they both died young, so why didn't we get THAT in this story?)

on a positive note, i was very surprised at the through-line of yunxian and meiling's relationship; that served as a balm for the rest of the novel, and i was surprised at how direct Lisa See was in comparing them to traditional spouses. they had a beautiful connection, and it rightfully took up a lot of space in the novel. added a whole star to my rating.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Medical content, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Infertility, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Abortion, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Cancer and Vomit

abitterknitter's review against another edition

hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Cancer, Child death, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

kappafrog's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I love the idea behind this book of fleshing out what Tan Yuxian's life might have been like. This was rich with historical details. I really appreciated how See struck a balance between making the female characters in a deeply patriarchal world sympathetic while not being afraid to show the ways they perpetuated many of their culture's harmful practices against women. While this did make the protagonist less likeable the older she got, I still found it a compelling story. We as modern readers (rightly) find footbinding disgusting, but it was reality for centuries of women in China, and See did a good job exploring the realities of how women had to cope with that system.

At the core of this book is the way communities of women in Ming China could band together to support each other, and that made for a very good read. I'd also note that the relationship between Meiling and Yanxian came across as pretty sapphic, with Yanxian frequently struck by Meiling's beauty. I thought it was realistic that they didn't pursue a relationship, but I felt like the romantic aspect between them was an important part of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Terminal illness, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Excrement, Vomit, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, Abortion, and Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cancer, Fatphobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Alcohol, and War

puali's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

“It takes a lifetime to make a friend, but you can lose one in an hour,” she recites. “Life without a friend is life without sun. Life without a friend is death.” 

While this novel wasn’t quite what I expected, I enjoyed it all the same. I wish that the story started at another point in Tan Yunxian’s life, or perhaps that it had been told in a nonlinear way. This is because it felt like we barely got to see her “circle of women,” which is what I wanted to read about the most. 

Apart from that, I appreciated the level of detail when came to Chinese medicine and traditions. I’m always keen on learning about cultures that my education system failed to teach me about, so when I come across novels like this, I absorb as much information as possible, and then keep on researching on my own. Fair warning though: this story goes into great detail about foot binding. I’ll admit, I was a bit uncomfortable reading through said passages…

All in all, worth the read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Miscarriage, Sexism, Blood, Medical content, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Body shaming, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Terminal illness, Vomit, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Cancer, Torture, Abortion, and Death of parent