Reviews with content warning for Vomit - Lady Tan's Circle of Women

One of my favorite books, I think this should be required reading in schools because it’s so informative about older history and the roles women played in it, and it emphasizes the importance of love and solidarity between women, no matter their status

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puali's review against another edition

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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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furorem_vulpes's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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hjb_128's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective tense 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? It's complicated

4.75

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thebookkeepers's review against another edition

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emotional informative relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

This story was equally horrifying and captivating. I’m so grateful to have not lived as a woman in China during the 15th century. The medical portions of this story sometimes flew over my head and I would've liked a little more with the ending character arc with the MC’s mother-in-law. I was thoroughly impressed with the author's deep level of research in this book, which lived up to my expectations from previous reads of hers. This was enthralling and hard to put down. I very much enjoyed it and seeing all the different women and caste representations from this point in history.

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