Summary and Reviews of Peony in Love by Lisa See

Media Reviews

The Boston Globe - Jessica Treadway See is a master storyteller, calling on her knowledge of history, myth, and current international events to craft intricate narratives that are at once edifying and evocative. In "Peony in Love," she leads us on a literary adventure into the past that will have relevance to today's readers who value drama, accuracy, and the lure of the written word.

The Houston Chronicle - Lisa Jennifer Selzman This riveting dichotomy is at the core of what is most profound about See's poetic, ambitious novel. Their world dictated that "[a] woman's greatest strength is to give birth to sons," that a girl learned to write only so one day she could teach her son how to, and that women who died giving birth went "straight to the Blood-Gathering Lake, a place where women suffered in a perpetual hell for the pollution of their failed childbearing."

How extraordinary, then, that large numbers of women from that era were able to find and immortalize their voices, so that we might — centuries later, thanks to the exceedingly talented See — honor them by reading of their lives.

San Francisco Chronicle - Jami Attenberg Never have I read a book more appropriate for polite discussion over a bottle of wine among some girlfriends. (This is a criticism of neither the book nor book clubs. In fact, I am a member of a book club ... ). See's novel takes place in a foreign land during a tumultuous time, it's ambitious in scope, and myriad new concepts and terms are explained thoughtfully. Practically every chapter has a cliffhanger. There is much discussion of themes of love, loss and renewal. And there is a serious feminist message (in fact, there are many serious messages in "Peony") about the importance of a woman's intellectual freedom. Read me, love me, discuss me, this book screams.

The New York Times - Janet Maslin [A]s she did in Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, See dwells on the kinks provided by the binding of women's feet for reasons of eroticism, caste and subjugation. But this novel is more commonplace than its preoccupations with history, ritual and the afterworld would suggest.

For all its attention to formal rules, Peony in Love becomes puzzlingly inconsistent once it wafts Peony out of her earthly body. She becomes a vapor, but she is still able to hug, speak and think.

The New York Times - Sven Birkerts Peony in Love, is—for the reader willing to venture a crucial suspension of disbelief—a complex period tapestry inscribed with the age-old tragedy of love and death and bordered round with vignettes from Chinese metaphysics, dynastic history and the intimate chamber tales of women’s friendship and rivalry…See is gifted with a lucid, graceful style and a solid command of her many motifs.

The Seattle Times - Ellen Emry Heltzel The result is a more contrived and complicated story than "Snow Flower," one that occasionally stumbles, as when the narrator's delicate perceptions are interrupted by a jarring contemporary colloquialism such as "she strove to be more than a pretty dress." It's a novel that gathers strength slowly but has cumulative grace — primarily because See never loses sight of her overarching subject, the way women lived and were regarded in traditional Chinese culture.

Washington Post There's much here to be savored and a great deal to be learned.

Entertainment Weekly - Jennifer Reese It is a poignant comment on the culture that this girl can only truly live after she dies, but also something of a narrative misstep. For a novel so deeply rooted in the ways women struggled for creative expression within a byzantine set of social constraints, Peony's early release instantly erases one of the most compelling reasons to read. B-

Publishers Weekly Starred Review. Peony's vibrant voice, perfectly pitched between the novel's historical and passionate depths, carries her story beautifully—in life and afterlife.

Kirkus Reviews See's gossamer weave of cultural detail and Chinese afterlife mythology forms an improbably inspiring tapestry of love and letters.

Reader Reviews

sam
peony in love
This is my second time reading this book. If I was able to I would marry it. It is just so amazing the way Lisa See writes. The pain Peony goes through trying to make Ren fall for her and know that she still loves him. Also having to watch Ze burn ...   Read More Judy
Fascinating
I highly recommend Peony in Love. I love the way Lisa See can portray a long-ago Chinese culture that is firmly grounded in historical fact but brought to vivid life by a compelling story and such engaging characters. I loved this about Snow Flower ...   Read More Beth
Enjoyed
This is another interesting and fun book to read from Lisa See - author of "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan," Like that book, "Peony in Love" goes into the history and culture of China while also presenting characters that are well developed and worth...   Read More Elizabeth
Not as good as Snowflower and the Secret Fan...STRANGE
This book was very strange...how the young girl starves herself to death because she doesn't marry the man she loves. Then all the strange things start to happen after death....it was bizarre how she could see people and go into their lives and ...   Read More

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Books with similar themes

• Historical Fiction
  
• Asia
  
• China
  
• 17th Century or Earlier
  
• Asian Authors
  
• Female Friendships
  
• Strong Women