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Red Lotus (2009)

by Pai Kit Fai(Favorite Author)

3.8 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1847440614 (ISBN13: 9781847440617)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Sphere

review 1: I didn't hate this book, but I was disappointed. It was poorly researched (the author admits that the historical facts were gathered through living in the area). The characters were very one dimensional. The majority if characters were portrayed as either good or evil. I was also EXTREMELY disappointed that two of three women in this story were "rescued" by such saintly Western men. If you like this type of literature, read Memoirs of a Geisha or something by Lisa See.
review 2: This book is historical fiction set in China, but there is really no indication what the time period is. The book has beautiful descriptions of practically everything. Most people may not enjoy this, but I did. The writing style was average, and there were some interesting things I pick... moreed up, like the century egg. With a different story, I might actually have got immersed in the book.But in spite of good writing and some enjoyable descriptions, this book is not very believable. I don’t believe the author has done basic research. Otherwise he would know that you simply can’t ‘wriggle’ a bound foot free by shaking your toes. Also, if your foot is once bound, then releasing it is painful, so Lu Xian simply could not have blithely run along doing the stuff she did. The description states that the story starts with the birth of Lu Xian in 1906 (which is not actually mentioned in the story) but there are plenty of things that do not match this period. For instance, the reform movement started in 1912, and it would no longer have been illegal for women to learn to read if indeed it was so earlier. None of the young girls actually talk like young girls. Even girls who have seen much of life still behave like children and don’t suddenly become wise philosophers. Pebble annoyed me so much in this respect that I simply couldn’t stand her. There is also a major problem with how education is perceived. No one can learn to read without some kind of assistance, just by looking at alphabets, or as in this case, characters. And how on earth would a young girl (Pebble), who cannot possess books, and who would never have been taught to read or come across any kind of writing learn to read and write? I don’t buy the old uncle story. Why would any of these girls WANT to learn considering no one around them really considers education of much importance? None of this rings true to me, and this aspect of the story seems very forced. The characters are shallow and act without any motivations. For instance, why is the third wife nice to Xu Lian, while the others are nasty? It sounds like one of those fairy tales where the first son / wife is evil, the second one is tolerable and the third one is a goody two shoes. Sadly, I only managed to get through the first hundred pages – with great difficulty. Some of the conversations go on and on and on about the moon and about sex, and I don’t really want to read either. less

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