Sunday, October 05, 2008

Peony in Love by Lisa See

Peony has been entranced by the play The Peony Pavilion. Her father has been able to get a troupe of players to perform it for her sixteenth birthday. Peony catches sight of a man she falls in love with, but she is betrothed to another. That is the beginning of a journey that will change Peony’s life forever. She has a lot to learn and not time or space can change that.

Ms. See has written another book that will tear at your heartstrings. I got frustrated at times with the events in this book but I figured I would have a better understanding of it at the end. The dynamics of the story make you want to turn the pages. That the events may play out differently than what is laid out in the story.

Peony is a strong girl who just wants to be loved. Her parents push her and extol her to be better. Her father takes time to get to know her. The one thing Peony is good at besides writing is binding feet. The one time her mother praises her leaves her feeling flat because she knows it may not happen again. Falling in love with someone whom she is not betrothed to only makes her fall apart more and look for help in the pages of the Peony Pavilion.

This is a roller coaster of emotions presented in this book. I know there were traditions that Peony and other women of her time in the 17th century were doing their best to adhere to but I just got so frustrated. Ms. See writes with words in poems that the women could not express in any other way even to each other at times. The understanding of the play The Peony Pavilion transcends desire to hopefully finding whom that person is but family commitments do not always allow the heart to be followed. The story will certainly maybe difficult to read at times but I saw press through it. You’ll find it worth it in the end.

Lisa See/ Chinese/ Love/ Afterlife/Adult Fiction/320 pages/ 4 out of 5

I am about half way through Haunted Memories by Melanie Atkins. Definitely a book to not be read at night, and I am. Okey I think I lost my mind. lol