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The Last Empress: A Novel Review
The Last Empress is the story of Orchid's dramatic transition from a strong-willed, instinctive young woman to a wise and politically savvy leader who ruled China for more than four decades. In this concluding volume Min gives us a compelling, very human leader who assumed power reluctantly and sacrificed all to protect those she loved and an empire that was doomed to die. User Submitted The Last Empress: A Novel ReviewsNovember 25, 2008 Last Empress by Anchee Min I read this after reading "Imperial Woman" by Pearl Buck, so I now feel that I have a very good understanding of the last Empress of China and the politics of the time and the court. Both books dealt with the same character though with entirely different perspectives, national background of the author and generations. They were both fascinating in different ways. October 26, 2008 Sequel Lacking If I could be more exact on the rating, the first book I'd give a high four. This book, the sequel, I am giving a very low four, perhaps a high three. I was a little disappointed by it after enjoying the first one so much more. This one lacked more description then the first. By ending one chapter and beginning the next three or four years would suddenly pass, leaving a big gap in events that should be important to the plot. I hate a lot of gaps in a story, and this one had several. If the author had committed to writing fifty more pages this problem could have been avoided and a better understanding given to the last half of the empresses life. With China's constant attacks from foreigners and the emperor's lacking in strength, there really wasn't much else going on or to look forward too. I enjoyed it well enough and with the two books combined it is good entertainment for any history buff. July 2, 2008 ok Good book. I always wondered why China maintained itself so isolated for so many centuries. I started to understand the real reasons by reading this book. This queen was exceptionally intelligent; she knew how to manipulate man and keep the control over millions ...excellent ! On the other hand, the read very complicated and convoluted ! May 27, 2008 The Last Empress Fiction based on History, brings the main Character, The Last Empress to life...Was a very good selection for our book club...had a nice Chinese dinner to eat, including chop sticks,tea and lots of good discussion on the book. May 23, 2008 historical fiction? I have read many historical fictions about CiXi (in Chinese) and this work (along with the prequel Empress Orchid) is the only ones that has portrayed the woman in a sympathetic light. It is commonly known that CiXi is a wicked dowager empress who has indirectly caused her sons' deaths and accelerated the downfall of the empire. I was confused and very skeptical about the possible historical inaccuracies in the books initially but as I decided to read the books as fiction, they became quite enjoyable. Nonetheless, I would not simply recommend the books to anyone without emphasizing the disclaimer that the stories and "facts" are not to be considered as scholarly history without further research. Since there are some doubts and confusion as to how the readers should approach the books, perhaps an introduction or preface by the author would be helpful. May 18, 2008 Tedious Court Intrigue In this sequel to Empress Orchid, Anchee Min continues her revisionist portrait of the Lady Yehonala, aka, Tzu Hsi, Ci Xi, the Dowager Empress, and the Dragon Lady. Min portrays the Empress as a reluctant ruler who worked the levers of power indirectly through her emperor sons Tung Chih and Guang Hsu (who was actually the son of her deranged sister) as well as various Manchu princes and generals. In Min's version, the empress navigates between competing conservative and reform forces as well as the demands of foreign powers. During much of her reign, China is beset by foreign demands, attacks and wars from Great Britain, France, Germany, the US, and perhaps most ominously, Japan. China is repeatedly forced to grant trade and territorial concessions. China's economy is feeble and its military archaic and ineffectual. Through it all, in Min's telling, the empress only wants her sons to take the levers of power so that she can fade into the background. Neither is remotely capable of doing so. Someone in the imperial family has to rule and the empress reluctantly gathers the reins to herself. She gradually becomes politically adept at deflecting her enemies and supporting her allies. Her ability to rule, however, is severely hampered because she is a woman but, even if she wasn't the Manchu are absurdly isolated and weak. They almost never leave the Forbidden City and know very little about the country they rule, let alone the outside world.Late in the book, the empress holds a dinner for the wives of foreign ambassadors, but she sits on a dais without being able to speak a single word to any of them. Nonetheless, this occasion is regarded as a great step forward. Tradition denies her a meeting with China's great friend, Robert Hart until they are both near the end of their careers and lives. Min's work is no doubt a strong corrective to the previously held view of the empress as a cunning, blood-thirsty, perhaps drug-addled, sex fiend and ruthless tyrant. Whether the empress was really as reluctant to rule as Min portrays her or not, the portrait of her as a ruler in extraordinarily difficult and isolated circumstances forced to exercise her often limited powers through indirection seems highly plausible. The real problem with The Last Empress book, however, was that the central actors are all tedious, shallow, and tiresome, while nearly all of the really interesting action takes place off-stage, whether it is war with Japan or the Boxer Rebellion. The empress knows little of the details of these events and consequently, neither does the reader. The Manchu dynasty is an out-of-touch empty shell, China will be dominated by outsiders, and whether the empress rules or one of a succession of pretenders makes no difference. The endless court intrigue, the empress' obsession with her appearance becomes tedious. And it is hard to empathize with the worldly sufferings of a woman who is after all an empress. One wonders whether there has ever been a less important ruler over such a long period. The total result is only moderately interesting and a disappointment after Empress Orchid, which seemed to set the stage for a much more compelling sequel. December 24, 2007 Outstanding Historical Fiction A fitting sequel to Min Anchee's Empress Orchid. This book was able to present a less biased view of the Empress Dowager Cixi during the last years of the Qing Dynasty. It is sad that people would feel that the book was flawed. But I think it is because people have come to know Cixi as despotic dictator with an unsatisfiable thirst for power and riches. However if one were to read the scholarly work of Sterling Seagrave entitled Dragon Lady: The Life and Legend of the Last Empress of Chinaa, one would also see that Min Anchee's depiction is not something that one dreamt of overnight. In fact the "lies told by the Communists" is not the only thing that has demonized the Empress Dowager, this privilege belongs to the work of many Western governments and Japan who had a lot to gain from China during that time. Unfortunately according to Sterling Seagrave "In 1974, somewhat to Oxford's embarrassment and to the private dismay of China scholars everywhere, Backhouse was revealed to be a counterfeiter...The con man had been exposed, but his counterfeit material was still bedrock scholarship". And even though some fault may be blamed on the lies made by the Cantonese Kang Yu-Wei who with the help of the British was able to escape capture and given refuge in Japan (who had several years earlier assassinated Korea's Queen Min and burned her corpse) and who was blasted on the world stage as China's Saviour by the world press (with of course with the urging of their own governments). As a novel, I wasn't expecting a history book depiction of the last years of the Qing Dynasty, as such one cannot expect the 100% veracity of the accounts written in the book, one shouldn't loose sleep if the accounts in a novel were not exactly how one would read in history books. The reason why it is filed under fiction is because the publishers as well as the author are aware that there was some literary adjustment to the presentation of facts in this work. December 17, 2007 Very educational and informative! I found this book to be very interesting reading. It was such an easy way to learn so much about the history of China and its emperors and empresses around the turn of the last century. If you like history told from a personal slant, this is a great read. I did also read the first book, "Empress Orchid" and found that it was a little bogged down in detail, but did lay the groundwork for this book. They can be read independently of each other though and I found this one to be much more interesting than the first book. December 10, 2007 Slow Read I usually read a book within a couple of days but I put this one down repeatedly and came back to finish it more than once. The characters are not well developed and I really didn't care what happened to any of them one way or the other. Another problem was the sheer volume of new characters being thrown into the mix which just led to confusion. The actions of the characters in the book seemed weak and because of a lack of connection to the reader it became redundant. Person XYZ is fired, re-hired, shamed, sent back to his homeland, asked to return. Rinse and repeat. A great deal of the book was spent trying to detail the intricacies of the political situation of the time period. So much so that it took over the entire last 3/4ths of the book and made it a very boring read. It began to read as a badly written historical novel w/o the correct historical data. Definitely not one of the author's finer novels. November 12, 2007 Historically Inaccurate Both Empress Orchid and the Last Empress take too many liberties with the historical facts. Anchee Min's historical research is inadequate and her prose is poor, not quite up to the standard required for the subject matter. The reader should avoid if interested in historical fiction that contains some basis of historical truth, instead of gross stereotypes. Min had clearly relied too much on proven [...] like Backhouse and Morrison instead of Sterling Seagrave. To think that Cixi learnt sexual skills in a brothel is ludicrous and insulting to the subject. Cixi's sister was not called Rong. For someone who purports to have researched the topic, such a basic error is inexcusable. Her brother did not achieve imperial ministerial rank. In fact, he achieved no rank at all and played no part in the Qing government. Li Lien Ying was not employed until years after Cixi became Empress Dowager. Cixi was not the imperial favorite. A different lady named Li Fei was. Cixi's son was not called Tung Chih (which was his honorific title) but Zai Chun. Cixi's father did not die before she entered the palace as the emperor's concubine. The Pearl Concubine did not commit suicide but was drowned on Cixi's orders. These sorts of historical mistakes are inexcusable even for fiction. Cixi's story is too well known - at least to Sinologists and Chinese people. The prose is too girlish. Revisionist history is all well and fine but the main character in Anchee Min's books bears little resemblance to the real Empress Dowager Cixi. She also does not did not do her research on the cultural practices of the Qing imperial family. Perhaps Ms Min might have done better if she had read Sterling Seagrave and Evelyn Rawski. For more The Last Empress: A Novel reviews click here.
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