Reviews tagging 'Excrement'

Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See

5 reviews

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

jackiejae's review against another edition

challenging informative slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

Well-written but the subject matter was not for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

thesapphiccelticbookworm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Infertility, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Blood, Medical content, and Death of parent

Moderate: Infidelity, Mental illness, Slavery, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Rape, Suicide, Excrement, and Abortion

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

sarah984's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative medium-paced

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

3.0

This was an interesting book about a historical Chinese doctor. I liked the detail of the medicine (most of which are based on real cases) and daily life during the time period. However I found the voice kind of bland and the tone was preachy in places. I was a bit disappointed that arguably the most interesting parts of her life occur after the book ends.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Pregnancy, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Infertility, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Excrement, and Alcohol