Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See

1 review

greymalkin's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

While a lot of the actual incidents and illnesses were not easy to read in and of themselves, the book itself is a compelling read.  Dr. Tan was an amazing woman!  Incredible that she was a real person
and that many of the cases used in the book were actual cases she wrote up and published.
 

I really like how thoroughly Lisa See researches stuff and then ties it all together into a fascinating story rather than a bunch of research papers stapled together.   It was also really nice to have this deep dive into Ming Dynasty medical practices, an area that I know very little about.

Particularly I really liked how Ms. See walked that fine line of having a character who had internalized a lot of the patriarchal and elitist toxicity but didn't seem cowed by it.  The other characters, especially Miss Zhao, who taught her how to have healthy female friendships and to see beyond her tendencies to be self-centered were really well done.  The treatments are fascinating and I loved learning in the afterword that several treatments are still being used today, with success!
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