Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - Lady Tan's Circle of Women

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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abitterknitter's review against another edition

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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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kappafrog's review against another edition

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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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nellebelle's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

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story_singer_101's review against another edition

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challenging emotional

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

4.0

This is a well-done book that takes the reader into the life and world of 15th-century China--with all its beauty and flaws. I appreciated how this book delved into Chinese medicine and that it didn't shy away from or romanticize the problems that 15th-century China faced. This is a book that deals with topics like foot-binding, concubines, slavery, pregnancy trauma, sickness, and sexism. It is also a book about the humanity of women, the value of female friendships, and the ways that women shine even in highly repressive contexts. I had been looking forward to reading it for a while now, and I'm glad I finally did. It's a well-told story, and I appreciated how the perspectives of the characters didn't seem to be too highly modernized to make it more palatable to a modern audience. That same lack of modernization, though, may cause pretty strong culture shock for some readers, especially if they aren't already aware of some of the cultural practices and issues of the time. So read the book. It's worth it. Just make sure you can handle it first.

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