About this title: Immersed in the richness and magic of the Chinese vision of the afterlife, transcending even death, See's novel beautifully explores the many manifestations of love and addresses the age-old desire of women to be heard.
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Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Random House
Date Published: 06/2007
ISBN-13:9781400064663ISBN:140006466X
Description: Good in good dust jacket. Good, In good dust jacket. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 284 p. Ex-Library expected imperfections. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780812975222ISBN:0812975227
Description: Very Good. First printing 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1. Slight cover wear with scuffing to edges and minor crease to spine. GoodwillnyBooks is committed to providing each customer with the highest standard of customer service. You may return new items within 30 days of delivery for a full refund. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ISBN-13:9780812975222ISBN:0812975227
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Very Good. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
"LIsa See the auther of Peony in love tells an amazing story about Peony, a chinese teenager who was to be married. Falling in love was a lot of the chinese girls dreams when the parents shatter it by making an arrangement marriage. I kind of hate it that she died and had to watch her love with other women. Peony died before she got married so as a custom in china they were not to make offerings to the maidens that were not maried yet, so therefore they remain with the human but invisible.A sad story to read too."
Do you believe in fate? I do. I believe I am fated to be with my husband. We came from two different countries and yet we were able to meet and be together. I also believe I am fated to live far away from my parents and siblings. It was hard to be away from my family but this condition taught me to be strong and independent. Peony in love was also about fate. Fate of Peony. She was fated to die before her wedding, she was fated to roam around as a hungry ghost because her tablet was not doted by her parents and eventually, she was fated to marry her would-be-husband through a ghost wedding. Peony was the only daughter of Chen family. Her marriage was arranged since she was young like other girls' marriages. Peony accepted her fate to marry a stranger, however she changed her attitude after she met a young man who captured her heart, Wu Ren, the poet. The meeting happened when she was attending The Peony Pavilion opera. Peony did not know that the man she met was her future husband. Peony's life changed after that meeting and after watching the opera. She was obsessed with the opera story and Wu Ren. She then refused to eat and drink. Her mother tried many ways to make her healthy again but it was too late. Peony was weak and was almost dying when her father revealed the truth about her future husband. Peony in love was also about life after death. Peony tried to help her future husband by possessing his other wife which resulted in the death of the wife. I was amazed that this story had many points. As I mentioned above Peony in love was about fate, was about life after death and it was also about the women writers. Peony write her commentary on Peony pavilion when she was dying. She then tried to make the other wife of Wu Ren to finish it but she died before she had a chance to finish it. Eventually, the commentary was done through the last wife of Wu Ren . The commentary was published under Wu Ren's name but after much hardship, it was published under Wu Ren's three wives."
"Lisa See's research comes out in almost every passage of this historical novel of the first Manchu dynasty in China. Because my daughter is learning about China, I gravitated towards this novel in eagerness to learn more about the power, or lack of power, that women have had in China throughout the centuries. See follows the plot of a famous Chinese opera, The Peony Pavilion, by having her young maiden be so swept away with emotion and desire that she stops eating and loses her chance at earthly happiness. Veering from the plot of the opera, she then shows how her maiden gains wisdom from the trials placed into her afterlife and eventually finds her voice by working with her earthly sister-wives. If you don't have patience for speculation about the afterlife, don't bother picking this novel up since other reviewers have described it as being too "metaphysical" for their taste. And if you're all about the consummation of young love, this won't be your cup of tea either. Rather, this novel seems to be a meditation on the many different kinds of love that come into our lives. Being a lovesick maiden is well and good, but hanging around to experience the love of parenting, of mature love with a partner, of a mature relationship with your own parent, definitely has its own rewards, probably way greater than which we see between Romeo and Juliet, to mix my historical locations and stories. The hidden reward for me was to discover that Imperial China had its published female writers and women of accomplishment. It was a short time in China's history, but how awesome to discover that even in repressive China, women had found a way to be heard and to show what their lives were like. This is an inspiration, and gives me an opening in conversations about the power of women when I talk with my daughters."
"Peony,a young girl meets, but does not see her soulmate, Wren. He is part of a small theatrical troupe performing scenes from an epic opera, for a few females. The show is given to them by Peony's father. Like the heroine in the drama, Peony is the daughter of a wealthy family. Though raised to be obedient, Peony has dreams of her own.
Peony's mother is against her daughter's attending the production: Unmarried girls should not be seen in public. But Peony's father assures his wife that proprieties will be maintained, and that the women will watch the opera from behind a screen. Yet through its cracks, Peony catches sight of a handsome man and is immediately overcome with emotion.
This begins Peony's unforgettable journey of love and destiny. The novel is based on actual historical events, taking readers back to seventeenth-century China, after the Ming dynasty is crushed.
There were parts of this book I enjoyed; however, the last half was somewhat difficult to imagine or believe and to me, it turned into a slow read."
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