Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See

21 reviews

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

rottenwatermelon's review against another edition

informative mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Cancer, Child death, Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

etherealskies's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Sexism

Minor: Cancer and Suicide

micaelamariem's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

Lady Tan’s Circle of Women was a beautiful historical fiction novel inspired by a real woman during 15th century China who learned medicine and treated other women despite society’s ill regard of women doing so. I loved watching Yunxian learn all the rules of society and then disregard them when she could, struggling with what she believed was right and what was expected of her. This novel isn’t just about that, though. At its core, it is a novel about friendship, and how, no matter how many things try to pull two friends apart, they wouldn’t let their friendship crack. The novel made me cry and angry at parts (like how women were treated in the 1400s) but that shows how much of an emotional tie I had to these characters. There was also so political intrigue in the book and that definitely kept me on my toes. Just a note though: not a book to read if you’re squeamish, as there is an emphasis on childbirth, smallpox, and foot binding that is a bit graphic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

elizabethww's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

I'm in awe. Lisa See's writing is breathtaking. Her research is in depth and never-ending. Even the Acknowledgments gave me a lump in my throat. Read this book. Savor it. I'm sad that it's over.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexism, Terminal illness, Torture, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, and Slavery

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Cancer, and Abortion

This novel is historically written based on extensive research about late 15th and early 16th centuries in China.

rschroath's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Miscarriage, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Cancer

flowchelle's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative inspiring fast-paced

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

5.0

This book was a book club choice that I was looking forward to but didn’t know I would love so much! I learned a ton and felt like the story was intense at times but digestible! The overall themes had a lot of depth and writing was so well done that I couldn’t put it down at times! I’ve thought so much about the journey of each character and how interwoven they all become! Highly recommend! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Terminal illness, Blood, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Classism

bedtimesandbooks's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Infertility, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexism, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Classism

lillygabriella's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

Ok, first for the nitpicking. A lot of research was done on this book, and as far as I know most of it was good. But the author specifically states at the beginning that this is set before Columbus even stumbled across the Caribbean islands, and the author forgot that peanuts are native to the Americas so would not have been around in Ming Dynasty Chinese food. I know it's difficult for many people to imagine cultural cuisine without the addition of American foodstuffs, potatoes and tomatoes having become a staple part of several European cultural traditions for instance. But I double checked on Google just to make sure I was not remembering my history incorrectly.  This is a minor issue, and only bothers me because when reading historical fiction and hitting a detail that I know for a fact is false it throws off my suspension of disbelief. It is also the main reason I no longer enjoy reading western/European based historical fiction. I know just too much to not be bothered by the inaccuracies.

All that out of the way, this book was excellently written, with all characters having depth and I enjoyed learning details about life in Ming Dynasty China. I also appreciate the extensive references listed in the back of the book.  The foot binding references are detailed and designed purposefully I believe, to make the reader uncomfortable.  Some people may find it astonishing that foot binding tradition lasted so long (about 1,000 years) but I would like to remind those people that when a practice becomes tradition it is very difficult to break, and the longer it is held the more difficult the breaking will be.

Anyway, I enjoyed the book very much and highly recommend it to anyone who read the blurb and was intrigued.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Miscarriage, Sexism, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Trafficking, Abortion, Murder, and Alcohol

kcbatts's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Miscarriage, Medical content, Grief, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Child death, Slavery, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism

Minor: Cancer and Blood