Empress Orchid

I had high expectations for this book after hearing so much about it on GoodReads. It sort of fell short of those expectations though. I give it 3 ½ stars, which is not bad but I thought it was going to be a 4 to 5 star book.

The story itself was very good and it certainly started very well. Orchid is a very likeable character and because of her humble beginnings and barriers she has to battle you can’t help but like her. As woman living during the Ch’ing Dynasty in 1852 Orchid has many hurdles to overcome, especially when she is chosen as a royal wife against the wishes of the king’s mother. Despite the opulent appearance of royalty, court life was brutal with all the back stabbings, mind games, political alliances, and even too much downtime. Prior to reading the book I knew very little about Empress Orchid or Empress Dowager Cixi as she was known in real life, so I decided to do a bit of research after reading this book. The impression that I got through this research was that she was portrayed in a negative light as a very shrewd strategist. If the fictional account of Empress Orchid, however, has any note of truth I can’t say I blame her for using her intelligence and cunning to gain a foothold to power. It’s what any true leader has to do in that type of political environment where nasty rumors, poison and paid assassins are weapons of choice against enemies.

Min’s account of the Empress’s life gives the reader a better understanding of what lied behind this so-called shrewd woman. Starting from early on the fictional Orchid begins plotting with the help of her family on how to not only get the king to notice her, but to also remain his favorite. Not an easy task when you have a husband who boasts 7 Imperial wives and 3,000 concubines. Using her sexuality and keen intelligence she manages to position herself as his unofficial secretary to the king and produces an heir potentially securing her future. I won’t go into details, but Min follows the rise, fall and rise again of the Orchid’s power.

The book was very descriptive and very lush in detail, almost to a fault. I understood the opulence of the empire, but really I didn’t feel I needed to know every detail and what this or that was covered in and what jewels were used. I found it distracting and not conducive to the plot at all. Also, the king was so whiney that he was grating on my nerves for most of the book and unfortunately, he was a prominent character. The ending though is what really disappointed me. In my opinion it was lame. All this build up and then I blinked and missed it. I did enjoy the book though and learning about the sacrifices that Orchid had to make and about political and court life, but it’s not one that I would highly recommend.
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There are two basic schools of historical fiction, I think. The first kind wants you to understand what it was like to live in the time and place in question, and so drowns you in detail and asks you to learn to swim in it. (The platonic ideal of this school is Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series.) The second kind wants you to remember that the historical figures are people, just like you, and so makes everything as much like your own life as possible so that you can never forget this. This book is most emphatically of the second school. And I am not a fan.

The writing is incredibly flat and emotionless - I appreciate the descriptions of all the beautiful gowns, but they should not be the most moving thing in a book about a woman who gives up an ordinary life in order to become first the Emperor's concubine and later the Empress herself. And then between trying to make all the characters seem as much like ordinary people as possible and the terrible flatness of the prose, Tzu Hsi comes off as very, very passive. I don't claim to be an expert, but from what I have read about the woman from history, "passive" is not the word. ( )

A wonderful first-person historical novel based on the life of Dowager Empress Cixi, who ruled China in the waning days of the Qing Dynasty in the mid- and late-19th century. The novel actually only covers the first half of her life, as she rises up from an impoverished Manchu family to become the fourth level concubine to the Chinese Emperor; bearing his only son, she is able to become regent after her husband's untimely demise, probably due to stress because of his dire incompetence, as rebels and foreign powers invade the Empire. The book is well written and gives a relatively realistic look at life in the Imperial circle at the time, if somewhat simplified and occasionally pedantic, though not fatally so. The book reminded me of "Wicked", as Cixi has so often been cast as the evil Empress/Witch; this book seeks to humanize her, explain her motives in the given set of nearly impossible circumstances, though I think the author is a little more kind to her than Cixi is probably worthy. For instance, the history books say that Cixi performed a coup d'etat in overthrowing the Regent Su Shun, but in the book, Su Shun is the villain; I just don't know enough about the circumstances to judge, though it is probably certain that there were no innocents in that incident. The book leaves off as Orchid becomes Regent, and the following book, The Last Empress, tells the rest of the tale, and I can't wait to dive into that. This is the third novel by Anchee Min that I have read, and she is one of my favorites; if you like this, I highly recommend Becoming Madame Mao, who was a sort of 20th-century version of Cixi. ( )

Very well written! Many fascinating historical points but also a well-written and entertaining character base and story. ( )

This book drew me in mainly because of the interesting details about life in the Forbidden City. At times I had no idea where the book was going to take me, which helped to keep me interested. The story seemed a bit rushed towards the end and was by far my least favourite part but overall this was an interesting read that has me wanting to visit the Forbidden City. I was a tad confused by the very last part of the ending but I think that was because I was reading too much into it. ( )