Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See

99 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

rnhgg's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Sexism, Violence, Murder, and Pregnancy

Minor: Death, Blood, and Death of parent

minniepauline's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful informative sad 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? Yes

3.75

I liked this novel, and I learned a lot from it. But I didn’t felt drawn in and immersed in the way I was hoping to feel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

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

tosy's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Torture, Blood, Vomit, and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual content

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

weiwuxivns's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

I really did enjoy how informative about ancient Chinese medicine and society this was, and inspiring in the placement of value and focus on women and their relationships with each other. The characters were written with realistic values yet overcame the societal constraints to form empathetic and loving relationships with each other in their own ways. I love it showed female companionship in literature doesn’t rely on simply girlbossing the women, instead describing female strength within the bounds of cultural norms.

I did fly through this book but I couldn’t find myself as emotionally invested as I thought I’d be. While there is significant character development of Yunxian, I did feel like her as a narrator and her interactions with most of the characters were held at a distance from me as a reader. I think more could’ve been done in the earlier parts of the book establishing her progressing relationship with Meiling, although most of the latter half makes up for it. There was a lot of time jumping and some of it was definitely necessary but I did feel at times I was missing parts of the character development and the life of the world around Yunxian.

That all being said this was definitely a good and reflective read, and I wanna believe although this was about platonic friendship, Yunxian and Meiling’s relationship definitely felt more than that :) would root for them to be lovers in a better era…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Miscarriage, and Blood

Moderate: Infertility and Misogyny

Minor: Child death and Chronic illness

ashima25's review against another edition

adventurous informative fast-paced

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

4.0

 A beautifully written and insightful novel that gave me a unique perspective on womanhood from a conservative background. As a young unmarried woman myself, I found the details on marriage, moving into the in-laws' house, pregnancy and post-pregnancy very informative and relished the atmosphere created by See, almost as preview of what could potentially come, albeit in vastly different circumstances and backgrounds. There was added delight in reading the Chinese euphemisms  for topics often brushed aside—such as moon water for periods and honey pot for chamber pots. 

While stronger character development would have further strengthened the novel, overall, it is an immersive read, rich in detail and written with great sensitivity in building authentic and fully-realized female characters of that time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Blood, Medical content, and Death of parent

Moderate: Child death and Infertility

Minor: Sexual content

dreamofbookspines's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.5

Very reminiscent of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan; I kept expecting the girls to be laotongs, because the relationship was so similar. I think See tried to do a little too much with this book: mystery! historical drama! character development! unusual career paths for women!

It was still really good and I would read it again, but if you made me choose between this and Snow Flower, the latter would win.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage, Blood, and Pregnancy

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