A review by loxeletters
Peony In Love by Lisa See

  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This book follows the three (subsequent) wives of a poet in 17th century China, through the eyes of Peony, his first wife. 

A central role in the novel is taken on by The Peony Pavilion, an opera telling the story of a young girl who dies and meets a man in a dream, who falls in love with her and resurrects her. Both in the novel and in the real world, this opera inspired young women to starve themselves to death out of "lovesickness", hoping to find true love in the afterworld.

This book deals with the different types of love  - mother love, romantic love, sexual love. It explores jealousy and selfless love in contrast, Chinese afterworld mythology, the meaning of women's writing, and the control women did or didn't have about their lives. 

The first part of the book, Peony falling in love and
dying from lovesickness
had the biggest effect on me. I felt Peony's pain and
her tragic end
made me shed more than a few tears. The following two parts, dealing with
Peony's struggles in the afterworld as a ghost without a dotted ancestor tablet and her efforts trying to make her almost-husband happy from beyond the grave
were still gripping but did not carry the same emotional punch. 

Here is where my issues with the book start: what Peony does to the second wive Tan Ze is horrific, and in my opinion the meaning and effects of her actions are not explored sufficiently. In fact, the ending of the book almost tries to absolve her of all guilt by framing the second wife Tan Ze as a jealous and insecure girl who is responsible for some of the other things Peony blamed herself for. This is unacceptable, in my opinion.

Secondly, some things just felt too contrived. From the start, many thing fall conveniently into place - which is fine sometimes, but it gets a bit much. One moment that really took me out of the story is the revelation that
Peony's mother wrote the famous poem on the wall during the massacre
. It just felt... too much. 

I love See's books for their beautiful historical settings, their eye to detail regarding traditions and culture, and their complex female relationships. In this book, our narrators existence as a
lonely "hungry ghost"
means we get little direct interaction between her and other characters for large chunks of the book. This is probably why the second and third part feel weaker to me than the first.

Nevertheless, I devoured this book. While I see the first part as being the strongest, and while I have big gripes with how the book deals with Peony's control over Tan Ze, I still had lots of fun reading it. I still was gripped. Lisa See remains an author I consistently enjoy and return to for beautiful historical fiction with a focus on women's lives and relationships.
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