-
Peony in Love
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Janet Song
- Length: 13 hrs and 10 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $18.00
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
China Dolls
- A Novel
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Jodi Long
- Length: 15 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
San Francisco, 1938: A world’s fair is preparing to open on Treasure Island, a war is brewing overseas, and the city is alive with possibilities. Talented Grace, traditional Helen, and defiant Ruby, three young women from very different backgrounds, meet by chance at the exclusive and glamorous Forbidden City nightclub.
-
-
Narrator Spoiled It For Me
- By woodbridge98 on 06-09-14
By: Lisa See
-
Shanghai Girls
- A Novel
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Janet Song
- Length: 13 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thanks to the financial security and material comforts provided by their father’s prosperous rickshaw business, 21-year-old Pearl Chin and her younger sister, May, are having the time of their lives. Though both sisters wave off authority and tradition, they couldn’t be more different, but both are beautiful, modern, and carefree...until the day their father tells them he has gambled away their wealth and that in order to repay his debts, he must sell the girls as wives to suitors who have traveled from California to find Chinese brides.
-
-
Touching, sad, and enjoyable
- By Beach Biker on 07-15-09
By: Lisa See
-
The Island of Sea Women
- A Novel
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Jennifer Lim
- Length: 13 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls living on the Korean island of Jeju, are best friends who come from very different backgrounds. When they are old enough, they begin working in the sea with their village’s all-female diving collective, led by Young-sook’s mother. As the girls take up their positions as baby divers, they know they are beginning a life of excitement and responsibility but also danger. This beautiful, thoughtful novel illuminates a world turned upside down, one where the women are in charge, engaging in dangerous, physical work, and the men take care of the children.
-
-
Overly dramatic read
- By mary krause on 03-28-19
By: Lisa See
-
The Interior
- A Red Princess Mystery
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Janet Song
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While David Stark is asked to open a law office in Beijing, his lover, detective Liu Hulan, receives an urgent message from an old friend imploring her to investigate the suspicious death of her daughter, who worked for a toy company about to be sold to David’s new client, Tartan Enterprises.
-
-
Narration is terrible
- By Veronica (OhYesItsV) on 08-15-17
By: Lisa See
-
Memoirs of a Geisha
- By: Arthur Golden
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 17 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a voice both haunting and startlingly immediate, Nitta Sayuri describes her life as a geisha. Taken from her home at the age of nine, she is sold into slavery to a renowned geisha house. Witness her transformation as you enter a world where appearances are paramount, virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder, women beguile powerful men, and love is scorned as illusion.
-
-
Perfect ---- in every way
- By Amanda on 02-08-06
By: Arthur Golden
-
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Ruthie Ann Miles, Kimiko Glenn, Alex Allwine, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The thrilling new novel from number-one New York Times best-selling author Lisa See explores the lives of a Chinese mother and her daughter who has been abandoned and adopted by an American couple.
-
-
***EXCELLENT*** Six stars if I could !!
- By ROBIN on 04-10-17
By: Lisa See
-
China Dolls
- A Novel
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Jodi Long
- Length: 15 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
San Francisco, 1938: A world’s fair is preparing to open on Treasure Island, a war is brewing overseas, and the city is alive with possibilities. Talented Grace, traditional Helen, and defiant Ruby, three young women from very different backgrounds, meet by chance at the exclusive and glamorous Forbidden City nightclub.
-
-
Narrator Spoiled It For Me
- By woodbridge98 on 06-09-14
By: Lisa See
-
Shanghai Girls
- A Novel
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Janet Song
- Length: 13 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thanks to the financial security and material comforts provided by their father’s prosperous rickshaw business, 21-year-old Pearl Chin and her younger sister, May, are having the time of their lives. Though both sisters wave off authority and tradition, they couldn’t be more different, but both are beautiful, modern, and carefree...until the day their father tells them he has gambled away their wealth and that in order to repay his debts, he must sell the girls as wives to suitors who have traveled from California to find Chinese brides.
-
-
Touching, sad, and enjoyable
- By Beach Biker on 07-15-09
By: Lisa See
-
The Island of Sea Women
- A Novel
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Jennifer Lim
- Length: 13 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls living on the Korean island of Jeju, are best friends who come from very different backgrounds. When they are old enough, they begin working in the sea with their village’s all-female diving collective, led by Young-sook’s mother. As the girls take up their positions as baby divers, they know they are beginning a life of excitement and responsibility but also danger. This beautiful, thoughtful novel illuminates a world turned upside down, one where the women are in charge, engaging in dangerous, physical work, and the men take care of the children.
-
-
Overly dramatic read
- By mary krause on 03-28-19
By: Lisa See
-
The Interior
- A Red Princess Mystery
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Janet Song
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While David Stark is asked to open a law office in Beijing, his lover, detective Liu Hulan, receives an urgent message from an old friend imploring her to investigate the suspicious death of her daughter, who worked for a toy company about to be sold to David’s new client, Tartan Enterprises.
-
-
Narration is terrible
- By Veronica (OhYesItsV) on 08-15-17
By: Lisa See
-
Memoirs of a Geisha
- By: Arthur Golden
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 17 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a voice both haunting and startlingly immediate, Nitta Sayuri describes her life as a geisha. Taken from her home at the age of nine, she is sold into slavery to a renowned geisha house. Witness her transformation as you enter a world where appearances are paramount, virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder, women beguile powerful men, and love is scorned as illusion.
-
-
Perfect ---- in every way
- By Amanda on 02-08-06
By: Arthur Golden
-
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Ruthie Ann Miles, Kimiko Glenn, Alex Allwine, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The thrilling new novel from number-one New York Times best-selling author Lisa See explores the lives of a Chinese mother and her daughter who has been abandoned and adopted by an American couple.
-
-
***EXCELLENT*** Six stars if I could !!
- By ROBIN on 04-10-17
By: Lisa See
-
Lady Tan's Circle of Women
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Jennifer Lim, Justin Chien
- Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
According to Confucius, “an educated woman is a worthless woman,” but Tan Yunxian—born into an elite family, yet haunted by death, separations, and loneliness—is being raised by her grandparents to be of use. Her grandmother is one of only a handful of female doctors in China, and she teaches Yunxian the pillars of Chinese medicine, the Four Examinations—looking, listening, touching, and asking—something a man can never do with a female patient.
-
-
Another Beautiful Novel from Lisa See!
- By TuxedoedCorgi95 on 06-06-23
By: Lisa See
-
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
- A Novel
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Janet Song
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lily is haunted by memories of who she once was, and of a person, long gone, who defined her existence. She has nothing but time now, as she recounts the tale of Snow Flower and asks the gods for forgiveness.
-
-
Loved it!
- By Pat on 10-03-05
By: Lisa See
-
On Gold Mountain
- The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 18 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Out of the stories heard in her childhood in Los Angeles's Chinatown and years of research, See has constructed this sweeping chronicle of her Chinese-American family, a work that takes in stories of racism and romance, entrepreneurial genius and domestic heartache, secret marriages and sibling rivalries, in a powerful history of two cultures meeting in a new world.
-
-
Great story...awful narration
- By Solbakken on 06-02-17
By: Lisa See
-
The Valley of Amazement
- By: Amy Tan
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu, Joyce Bean, Amy Tan
- Length: 24 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Shanghai, 1912. Violet Minturn is the privileged daughter of the American madam of the city's most exclusive courtesan house. But when the Ching dynasty is overturned, Violet is separated from her mother in a cruel act of chicanery and forced to become a "virgin courtesan." Half-Chinese and half-American, Violet grapples with her place in the worlds of East and West - until she is able to merge her two halves, empowering her to become a shrewd courtesan who excels in the business of seduction and illusion, though she still struggles to understand who she is.
-
-
Just could NOT get past the ugliness
- By Pamela J on 11-25-13
By: Amy Tan
-
Paper Wife
- A Novel
- By: Laila Ibrahim
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu
- Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Southern China, 1923. Desperate to secure her future, Mei Ling’s parents arrange a marriage to a widower in California. To enter the country, she must pretend to be her husband’s first wife - a paper wife. On the perilous voyage, Mei Ling takes an orphan girl named Siew under her wing. Dreams of a better life in America give Mei Ling the strength to endure the treacherous journey and detainment on Angel Island. But when she finally reaches San Francisco, she’s met with a surprise. Her husband, Chinn Kai Li, is a houseboy, not the successful merchant he led her to believe.
-
-
Just okay..disappointed
- By Donna Smith McG on 11-03-18
By: Laila Ibrahim
-
The Bonesetter's Daughter
- By: Amy Tan
- Narrated by: Amy Tan, Joan Chen
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set in contemporary San Francisco and in a Chinese village where Peking Man is being unearthed, The Bonesetter's Daughter is an excavation of the human spirit: the past, its deepest wounds, its most profound hopes. Tan, author of The Joy Luck Club, brilliantly presents "storytelling in its oldest and truest form".
-
-
Exceptionally good
- By Eileen Finn on 03-25-03
By: Amy Tan
-
Imperial Woman
- The Story of the Last Empress of China
- By: Pearl S. Buck
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 17 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story of Tzu Hsi is the story of the last empress in China. In this audiobook, Pearl S. Buck recreates the life of one of the most intriguing rules during a time of intense turbulence. Tzu Hsi was born into one of the lowly ranks of the Imperial dynasty. According to custom, she moved to the Forbidden City at the age of 17 to become one of hundreds of concubines. But her singular beauty and powers of manipulation quickly moved her into the position of Second Consort.
-
-
The Last Empress and the Destruction of China
- By MarilynArms on 07-29-13
By: Pearl S. Buck
-
Geisha, a Life
- By: Mineko Iwasaki, Rande Brown
- Narrated by: Cindy Kay
- Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Geisha, a Life, Mineko Iwasaki tells her story, from her warm early childhood, to her intense yet privileged upbringing in the Iwasaki okiya (household), to her years as a renowned geisha, and finally, to her decision at the age of 29 to retire and marry, a move that would mirror the demise of geisha culture. Mineko brings to life the beauty and wonder of Gion Kobu, a place that "existed in a world apart, a special realm whose mission and identity depended on preserving the time-honored traditions of the past."
-
-
Good Bio but Memoirs is much more entertaining…
- By Seirene on 07-06-21
By: Mineko Iwasaki, and others
-
The Kitchen God's Wife
- By: Amy Tan
- Narrated by: Gwendoline Yeo
- Length: 14 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Winnie and Helen have kept each other's worst secrets for more than 50 years. Now, because she believes she is dying, Helen wants to expose all that has been concealed, when she decides to celebrate the Chinese New Year by unburdening herself of everybody's hidden truths - her own and Winnie's, as well as the dreadful news that Winnie's daughter, Pearl, has been keeping from her mother.
-
-
Holds your attention through out
- By GrandmaNurseHeather on 06-08-17
By: Amy Tan
-
Beasts of a Little Land
- A Novel
- By: Juhea Kim
- Narrated by: Sue Jean Kim, Raymond Lee
- Length: 13 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1917, deep in the snowy mountains of occupied Korea, an impoverished local hunter on the brink of starvation saves a young Japanese officer from an attacking tiger. In an instant, their fates are connected — and from this encounter unfolds a saga that spans half a century.
-
-
PDF support needed
- By Ann L on 01-06-22
By: Juhea Kim
-
My Dear Hamilton
- A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton
- By: Stephanie Dray, Laura Kamoie
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 23 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the New York Times best-selling authors of America's First Daughter comes the epic story of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton - a revolutionary woman who, like her new nation, struggled to define herself in the wake of war, betrayal, and tragedy. In this haunting, moving, and beautifully written book, Dray and Kamoie used thousands of letters and original sources to tell Eliza's story as it's never been told before - not just as the wronged wife at the center of a political sex scandal but also as a founding mother who shaped an American legacy in her own right.
-
-
Fantastic!
- By Ally-O on 07-10-18
By: Stephanie Dray, and others
-
Pavilion of Women
- By: Pearl S. Buck
- Narrated by: Adam Verner
- Length: 15 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On her 40th birthday, Madame Wu carries out a decision she has been planning for a long time: she tells her husband that after 24 years their physical life together is now over and she wishes him to take a second wife. The House of Wu, one of the oldest and most revered in China, is thrown into an uproar by her decision, but Madame Wu will not be dissuaded and arranges for a young country girl to come take her place in bed.
-
-
Horrible narration!
- By C. Boatenreiter on 06-17-15
By: Pearl S. Buck
Publisher's summary
For young Peony, betrothed to a suitor she has never met, these lyrics from The Peony Pavilion mirror her own longings. In the garden of the Chen Family Villa, amid the scent of ginger, green tea, and jasmine, a small theatrical troupe is performing scenes from this epic opera, a live spectacle few females have ever seen. Like the heroine in the drama, Peony is the cloistered daughter of a wealthy family, trapped like a good-luck cricket in a bamboo-and-lacquer cage. 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 an elegant, handsome man with hair as black as a cave and is immediately overcome with emotion.
So begins Peony's unforgettable journey of love and destiny, desire and sorrow as Lisa See's haunting novel, based on actual historical events, takes readers back to 17th-century China, after the Manchus seize power and the Ming dynasty is crushed.
Steeped in traditions and ritual, this story brings to life another time and place, and even the intricate realm of the afterworld, with its protocols, pathways, and stages of existence, a vividly imagined place where one's soul is divided into three, ancestors offer guidance, misdeeds are punished, and hungry ghosts wander the earth.
Immersed in the richness and magic of the Chinese vision of the afterlife, transcending even death, Peony in Love explores, beautifully, the many manifestations of love. Ultimately, Lisa See's new novel addresses universal themes: the bonds of friendship, the power of words, and the age-old desire of women to be heard.
Critic reviews
“A complex period tapestry inscribed with the age-old tragedy of love and death.” (The New York Times Book Review)
“Electrifying... a fascinating and often surprising story of women helping women, women hurting women and women misunderstanding each other.” (The Miami Herald)
“See mines an intriguing vein of Chinese history... weaving fact and fiction into a dense romantic tapestry of time and place as she meditates on the meaning of love, the necessity of self-expression and the influence of art.” (Los Angeles Times)
Related to this topic
-
Three Souls
- A Novel
- By: Janie Chang
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We have three souls, or so I'd been told. But only in death could I confirm this.... So begins the haunting and captivating tale, set in 1935 China, of the ghost of a young woman named Leiyin, who watches her own funeral from above and wonders why she is being denied entry to the afterlife. Beside her are three souls - stern and scholarly yang; impulsive, romantic yin; and wise, shining hun - who will guide her toward understanding. She must, they tell her, make amends.
-
-
Very different but compelling point of view.
- By Kevin Wickline on 06-08-23
By: Janie Chang
-
Pavilion of Women
- By: Pearl S. Buck
- Narrated by: Adam Verner
- Length: 15 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On her 40th birthday, Madame Wu carries out a decision she has been planning for a long time: she tells her husband that after 24 years their physical life together is now over and she wishes him to take a second wife. The House of Wu, one of the oldest and most revered in China, is thrown into an uproar by her decision, but Madame Wu will not be dissuaded and arranges for a young country girl to come take her place in bed.
-
-
Horrible narration!
- By C. Boatenreiter on 06-17-15
By: Pearl S. Buck
-
Women of the Silk
- A Novel
- By: Gail Tsukiyama
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Women of the Silk, Gail Tsukiyama takes listeners back to rural China in 1926, where a group of women forge a sisterhood amid the reeling machines that reverberate and clamor in a vast silk factory from dawn to dusk. Leading the first strike the village has ever seen, the young women use the strength of their ambition, dreams, and friendship to achieve the freedom they could never have hoped for on their own.
-
-
The Bad Old Days
- By Peter W. Kalnin on 04-29-24
By: Gail Tsukiyama
-
Push Not the River
- By: James Conroyd Martin
- Narrated by: Dawn Harvey
- Length: 19 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Push Not the River is the rich story of Poland in the late 1700's - a time of heartache and turmoil as the country's once peaceful people are torn apart by neighboring countries and divided loyalties. It is then, at the young and vulnerable age of seventeen, that Lady Anna Maria Berezowska loses both of her parents and must leave the only home she has ever known.
-
-
Save your time; buy something else.
- By AMS on 10-22-15
-
The Tale of Murasaki
- A Novel
- By: Liza Dalby
- Narrated by: Allison Hiroto
- Length: 17 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the 11th century Murasaki Shikibu wrote the world’s first novel, The Tale of Genji, the most popular work in the history of Japanese literature. In The Tale of Murasaki, Liza Dalby has created a breathtaking fictionalized narrative of the life of this timeless poet - a lonely girl who becomes such a compelling storyteller that she is invited to regale the empress with her tales. The Tale of Murasaki is the story of an enchanting time and an exotic place.
-
-
Great book, reader lacked emotion
- By Epiphany on 06-05-18
By: Liza Dalby
-
Peony
- A Novel of China
- By: Pearl S. Buck
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 12 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Young Peony is sold into a rich Chinese household as a bondmaid - an awkward role in which she is more a servant, but less a daughter. As she grows into a lovely, provocative young woman, Peony falls in love with the family's only son. However, tradition forbids them to wed. How she resolves her love for him and her devotion to her adoptive family unfolds in this profound tale, based on true events in China over a century ago.
-
-
Jews in China
- By Jean on 04-22-12
By: Pearl S. Buck
-
Three Souls
- A Novel
- By: Janie Chang
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We have three souls, or so I'd been told. But only in death could I confirm this.... So begins the haunting and captivating tale, set in 1935 China, of the ghost of a young woman named Leiyin, who watches her own funeral from above and wonders why she is being denied entry to the afterlife. Beside her are three souls - stern and scholarly yang; impulsive, romantic yin; and wise, shining hun - who will guide her toward understanding. She must, they tell her, make amends.
-
-
Very different but compelling point of view.
- By Kevin Wickline on 06-08-23
By: Janie Chang
-
Pavilion of Women
- By: Pearl S. Buck
- Narrated by: Adam Verner
- Length: 15 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On her 40th birthday, Madame Wu carries out a decision she has been planning for a long time: she tells her husband that after 24 years their physical life together is now over and she wishes him to take a second wife. The House of Wu, one of the oldest and most revered in China, is thrown into an uproar by her decision, but Madame Wu will not be dissuaded and arranges for a young country girl to come take her place in bed.
-
-
Horrible narration!
- By C. Boatenreiter on 06-17-15
By: Pearl S. Buck
-
Women of the Silk
- A Novel
- By: Gail Tsukiyama
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Women of the Silk, Gail Tsukiyama takes listeners back to rural China in 1926, where a group of women forge a sisterhood amid the reeling machines that reverberate and clamor in a vast silk factory from dawn to dusk. Leading the first strike the village has ever seen, the young women use the strength of their ambition, dreams, and friendship to achieve the freedom they could never have hoped for on their own.
-
-
The Bad Old Days
- By Peter W. Kalnin on 04-29-24
By: Gail Tsukiyama
-
Push Not the River
- By: James Conroyd Martin
- Narrated by: Dawn Harvey
- Length: 19 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Push Not the River is the rich story of Poland in the late 1700's - a time of heartache and turmoil as the country's once peaceful people are torn apart by neighboring countries and divided loyalties. It is then, at the young and vulnerable age of seventeen, that Lady Anna Maria Berezowska loses both of her parents and must leave the only home she has ever known.
-
-
Save your time; buy something else.
- By AMS on 10-22-15
-
The Tale of Murasaki
- A Novel
- By: Liza Dalby
- Narrated by: Allison Hiroto
- Length: 17 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the 11th century Murasaki Shikibu wrote the world’s first novel, The Tale of Genji, the most popular work in the history of Japanese literature. In The Tale of Murasaki, Liza Dalby has created a breathtaking fictionalized narrative of the life of this timeless poet - a lonely girl who becomes such a compelling storyteller that she is invited to regale the empress with her tales. The Tale of Murasaki is the story of an enchanting time and an exotic place.
-
-
Great book, reader lacked emotion
- By Epiphany on 06-05-18
By: Liza Dalby
-
Peony
- A Novel of China
- By: Pearl S. Buck
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 12 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Young Peony is sold into a rich Chinese household as a bondmaid - an awkward role in which she is more a servant, but less a daughter. As she grows into a lovely, provocative young woman, Peony falls in love with the family's only son. However, tradition forbids them to wed. How she resolves her love for him and her devotion to her adoptive family unfolds in this profound tale, based on true events in China over a century ago.
-
-
Jews in China
- By Jean on 04-22-12
By: Pearl S. Buck
-
Henna House
- By: Nomi Eve
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 13 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Yemen in 1920: After passage of the Orphan's Decree, any unbetrothed Jewish child left orphaned will be instantly adopted by the local Muslim community. With her parents' health failing, and no spousal prospects in sight, Adela Damari's situation looks dire until her uncle arrives from a faraway city, bringing with him a cousin and aunt who introduce Adela to the powerful rituals of henna tattooing.
-
-
historical fiction, read like an autobiography.
- By Anonymous User on 02-11-19
By: Nomi Eve
-
The Blue Between Sky and Water
- By: Susan Abulhawa
- Narrated by: Jennifer Woodward
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is 1947, and Beit Daras, a quiet village in Palestine surrounded by olive groves, is home to the Baraka family. Eldest daughter Nazmiyeh looks after her widowed mother, prone to wandering and strange outbursts, while her brother, Mamdouh, tends to the village bees. Their younger sister, Mariam, with her striking mismatched eyes, spends her days talking to imaginary friends and writing.
-
-
Horrible pronunciation
- By Debra Sabah Press on 11-08-18
By: Susan Abulhawa
-
Florence Grace
- By: Tracy Rees
- Narrated by: Imogen Church
- Length: 15 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Florrie Buckley is an orphan living on the wind-blasted moors of Cornwall. It's a hard existence, but Florrie is content; she runs wild in the mysterious landscape. She thinks her destiny is set in stone. But when Florrie is 14, she inherits a never-imagined secret. She is related to a wealthy and notorious London family: the Graces.
-
-
Utterly brilliant!!!
- By Maria on 07-04-16
By: Tracy Rees
-
The Sisters of Versailles
- Mistresses of Versailles Series # 1
- By: Sally Christie
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Wiley
- Length: 15 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set against the lavish backdrop of the French Court in the early years of the 18th century, The Sisters of Versailles is the extraordinary tale of the five Nesle sisters - Louise, Pauline, Diane, Hortense, and Marie-Anne - four of whom became mistresses to King Louis XV. Their scandalous story is stranger than fiction but true in every shocking, amusing, and heartbreaking detail.Court intriguers are beginning to sense that young King Louis XV, after seven years of marriage, is tiring of his Polish wife.
-
-
Best book I've listened to in ages
- By Dr. A. on 01-09-16
By: Sally Christie
-
Flame Tree Road
- By: Shona Patel
- Narrated by: Neil Shah
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
India, 1870s. In a tiny village where society is ruled by a caste system and women are defined solely by marriage, young Biren Roy dreams of forging a new destiny. When his mother suffers the fate of widowhood - shunned by her loved ones and forced to live in solitary penance - Biren devotes his life to effecting change.
-
-
Riveting Love Story
- By Granny on 01-15-20
By: Shona Patel
-
My Beautiful Enemy
- By: Sherry Thomas
- Narrated by: Charlotte Anne Dore
- Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Catherine Blade's uncommon beauty and daring have taken her far in the world, but she still doesn't have the freedom to live life as she chooses. Finally given the chance to earn her independence, who should be standing in her way but the only man she's ever loved - the only person to ever betray her. Despite the scars Catherine left him, Captain Leighton Atwood has never been able to forget the mysterious girl who once so thoroughly captivated him.
-
-
my least favorite from this author, and still good
- By Christina on 09-04-14
By: Sherry Thomas
-
The Lost Wife
- A Novel
- By: Alyson Richman
- Narrated by: George Guidall, Suzanne Toren
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In pre-war Prague, the dreams of two young lovers are shattered when they are separated by the Nazi invasion. Then, decades later, thousands of miles away in New York, there's an inescapable glance of recognition between two strangers. Providence is giving Lenka and Josef one more chance. From the glamorous ease of life in Prague before the Occupation, to the horrors of Nazi Europe, The Lost Wife explores the power of first love, the resilience of the human spirit, and the strength of memory.
-
-
Love, Strength & Survival
- By Sara on 01-27-14
By: Alyson Richman
-
The Stories of Eva Luna
- By: Isabel Allende
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Pena
- Length: 2 hrs and 44 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Immerse yourself in a world of love, vengeance, compassion, and irony with the evocative stories of Eva Luna. Author Isabel Allende introduced this well-loved character to audiences in her earlier novel, Eva Luna. Listen to Allende talk about the role of writing in her life in Giving Birth, Finding Form. This program also features Alice Walker and Jean Shinoda Bolen.
-
-
Better some Allende than no Allende
- By Perschon on 12-04-14
By: Isabel Allende
-
The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B.
- By: Sandra Gulland
- Narrated by: Kim Handysides
- Length: 14 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this first of three books inspired by the life of Josephine Bonaparte, Sandra Gulland has created a novel of immense and magical proportions. We meet Josephine in the exotic and lush Martinico, where an old island woman predicts that one day she will be queen. The journey from the remote village of her birth to the height of European elegance is long, but Josephine's fortune proves to be true.
-
-
Performance...ugh
- By Lisa on 02-17-18
By: Sandra Gulland
-
The Tiger's Daughter
- By: K Arsenault Rivera
- Narrated by: Caroline McLaughlin
- Length: 14 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Hokkaran Empire has conquered every land within their bold reach - but failed to notice a lurking darkness festering within the people. Now their border walls begin to crumble, and villages fall to demons swarming out of the forests. Away on the silver steppes, the remaining tribes of nomadic Qorin retreat and protect their own, having bartered a treaty with the empire, exchanging inheritance through the dynasties. It is up to two young warriors, raised together across borders since their prophesied birth, to save the world from the encroaching demons.
-
-
Writing format that didn't work for this book
- By kara-karina on 02-24-18
-
The Bonesetter's Daughter
- By: Amy Tan
- Narrated by: Amy Tan, Joan Chen
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set in contemporary San Francisco and in a Chinese village where Peking Man is being unearthed, The Bonesetter's Daughter is an excavation of the human spirit: the past, its deepest wounds, its most profound hopes. Tan, author of The Joy Luck Club, brilliantly presents "storytelling in its oldest and truest form".
-
-
Exceptionally good
- By Eileen Finn on 03-25-03
By: Amy Tan
-
To Taste the Wine
- By: Fern Michaels
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Chelsea Myles earns her living as an actress with her uncle's theater troupe, performing cheap plays on the streets of London and picking the customers' pockets. Until one night, a robbery goes awry and Chelsea is left holding a purse with enough gold to buy her passage to Australia, and the chance of a fresh start. Once on board the vessel, Chelsea is intrigued by a fellow passenger, Quaid Tanner, who is returning to his vineyard in Australia. As much as Quaid admires the feisty, courageous Chelsea, circumstances seem destined to keep them apart.
-
-
Great story but too detailed in sex scenes for me
- By Private on 09-23-15
By: Fern Michaels
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
China Dolls
- A Novel
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Jodi Long
- Length: 15 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
San Francisco, 1938: A world’s fair is preparing to open on Treasure Island, a war is brewing overseas, and the city is alive with possibilities. Talented Grace, traditional Helen, and defiant Ruby, three young women from very different backgrounds, meet by chance at the exclusive and glamorous Forbidden City nightclub.
-
-
Narrator Spoiled It For Me
- By woodbridge98 on 06-09-14
By: Lisa See
-
Shanghai Girls
- A Novel
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Janet Song
- Length: 13 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thanks to the financial security and material comforts provided by their father’s prosperous rickshaw business, 21-year-old Pearl Chin and her younger sister, May, are having the time of their lives. Though both sisters wave off authority and tradition, they couldn’t be more different, but both are beautiful, modern, and carefree...until the day their father tells them he has gambled away their wealth and that in order to repay his debts, he must sell the girls as wives to suitors who have traveled from California to find Chinese brides.
-
-
Touching, sad, and enjoyable
- By Beach Biker on 07-15-09
By: Lisa See
-
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
- A Novel
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Janet Song
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lily is haunted by memories of who she once was, and of a person, long gone, who defined her existence. She has nothing but time now, as she recounts the tale of Snow Flower and asks the gods for forgiveness.
-
-
Loved it!
- By Pat on 10-03-05
By: Lisa See
-
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Ruthie Ann Miles, Kimiko Glenn, Alex Allwine, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The thrilling new novel from number-one New York Times best-selling author Lisa See explores the lives of a Chinese mother and her daughter who has been abandoned and adopted by an American couple.
-
-
***EXCELLENT*** Six stars if I could !!
- By ROBIN on 04-10-17
By: Lisa See
-
Flower Net
- A Red Princess Mystery
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Elaina Davis
- Length: 5 hrs and 56 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the depths of a Beijing winter, during the waning days of Deng Xiaoping's reign, the US ambassador's son is found dead - his body entombed in a frozen lake. Almost simultaneously, American officials find a ship adrift in the storm-churned waters off California. No one is surprised to find the fetid hold crammed with hundreds of undocumented Chinese immigrants - the latest cargo in the Chinese mafia's smuggling trade. What does surprise Assistant US Attorney David Stark is that among the hapless refugees lies the corpse of a Red Prince, a scion of China's political elite.
-
-
terrible reader , not very coherent book
- By JB on 03-09-06
By: Lisa See
-
On Gold Mountain
- The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 18 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Out of the stories heard in her childhood in Los Angeles's Chinatown and years of research, See has constructed this sweeping chronicle of her Chinese-American family, a work that takes in stories of racism and romance, entrepreneurial genius and domestic heartache, secret marriages and sibling rivalries, in a powerful history of two cultures meeting in a new world.
-
-
Great story...awful narration
- By Solbakken on 06-02-17
By: Lisa See
-
China Dolls
- A Novel
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Jodi Long
- Length: 15 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
San Francisco, 1938: A world’s fair is preparing to open on Treasure Island, a war is brewing overseas, and the city is alive with possibilities. Talented Grace, traditional Helen, and defiant Ruby, three young women from very different backgrounds, meet by chance at the exclusive and glamorous Forbidden City nightclub.
-
-
Narrator Spoiled It For Me
- By woodbridge98 on 06-09-14
By: Lisa See
-
Shanghai Girls
- A Novel
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Janet Song
- Length: 13 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thanks to the financial security and material comforts provided by their father’s prosperous rickshaw business, 21-year-old Pearl Chin and her younger sister, May, are having the time of their lives. Though both sisters wave off authority and tradition, they couldn’t be more different, but both are beautiful, modern, and carefree...until the day their father tells them he has gambled away their wealth and that in order to repay his debts, he must sell the girls as wives to suitors who have traveled from California to find Chinese brides.
-
-
Touching, sad, and enjoyable
- By Beach Biker on 07-15-09
By: Lisa See
-
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
- A Novel
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Janet Song
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lily is haunted by memories of who she once was, and of a person, long gone, who defined her existence. She has nothing but time now, as she recounts the tale of Snow Flower and asks the gods for forgiveness.
-
-
Loved it!
- By Pat on 10-03-05
By: Lisa See
-
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Ruthie Ann Miles, Kimiko Glenn, Alex Allwine, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The thrilling new novel from number-one New York Times best-selling author Lisa See explores the lives of a Chinese mother and her daughter who has been abandoned and adopted by an American couple.
-
-
***EXCELLENT*** Six stars if I could !!
- By ROBIN on 04-10-17
By: Lisa See
-
Flower Net
- A Red Princess Mystery
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Elaina Davis
- Length: 5 hrs and 56 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the depths of a Beijing winter, during the waning days of Deng Xiaoping's reign, the US ambassador's son is found dead - his body entombed in a frozen lake. Almost simultaneously, American officials find a ship adrift in the storm-churned waters off California. No one is surprised to find the fetid hold crammed with hundreds of undocumented Chinese immigrants - the latest cargo in the Chinese mafia's smuggling trade. What does surprise Assistant US Attorney David Stark is that among the hapless refugees lies the corpse of a Red Prince, a scion of China's political elite.
-
-
terrible reader , not very coherent book
- By JB on 03-09-06
By: Lisa See
-
On Gold Mountain
- The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 18 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Out of the stories heard in her childhood in Los Angeles's Chinatown and years of research, See has constructed this sweeping chronicle of her Chinese-American family, a work that takes in stories of racism and romance, entrepreneurial genius and domestic heartache, secret marriages and sibling rivalries, in a powerful history of two cultures meeting in a new world.
-
-
Great story...awful narration
- By Solbakken on 06-02-17
By: Lisa See
-
The Interior
- A Red Princess Mystery
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Janet Song
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While David Stark is asked to open a law office in Beijing, his lover, detective Liu Hulan, receives an urgent message from an old friend imploring her to investigate the suspicious death of her daughter, who worked for a toy company about to be sold to David’s new client, Tartan Enterprises.
-
-
Narration is terrible
- By Veronica (OhYesItsV) on 08-15-17
By: Lisa See
-
The Island of Sea Women
- A Novel
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Jennifer Lim
- Length: 13 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls living on the Korean island of Jeju, are best friends who come from very different backgrounds. When they are old enough, they begin working in the sea with their village’s all-female diving collective, led by Young-sook’s mother. As the girls take up their positions as baby divers, they know they are beginning a life of excitement and responsibility but also danger. This beautiful, thoughtful novel illuminates a world turned upside down, one where the women are in charge, engaging in dangerous, physical work, and the men take care of the children.
-
-
Overly dramatic read
- By mary krause on 03-28-19
By: Lisa See
-
Lady Tan's Circle of Women
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Jennifer Lim, Justin Chien
- Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
According to Confucius, “an educated woman is a worthless woman,” but Tan Yunxian—born into an elite family, yet haunted by death, separations, and loneliness—is being raised by her grandparents to be of use. Her grandmother is one of only a handful of female doctors in China, and she teaches Yunxian the pillars of Chinese medicine, the Four Examinations—looking, listening, touching, and asking—something a man can never do with a female patient.
-
-
Another Beautiful Novel from Lisa See!
- By TuxedoedCorgi95 on 06-06-23
By: Lisa See
-
The Woman in the White Kimono
- A Novel
- By: Ana Johns
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller, Lauren Ezzo
- Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Japan, 1957. Seventeen-year-old Naoko Nakamura’s prearranged marriage to the son of her father’s business associate would secure her family’s status in their traditional Japanese community, but Naoko has fallen for another man - an American sailor, a gaijin - and to marry him would bring great shame upon her entire family. When it’s learned Naoko carries the sailor’s child, she’s cast out in disgrace and forced to make unimaginable choices with consequences that will ripple across generations.
-
-
DO NOT LISTEN! Decent story, HORRIBLE narration!!!
- By David Meier on 05-07-20
By: Ana Johns
-
Mrs. Adams in Winter
- A Journey in the Last Days of Napoleon
- By: Michael O'Brien
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Early in 1815, Louisa Catherine Adams and her young son left St. Petersburg in a heavy Russian carriage and set out on a difficult journey to meet her husband, John Quincy Adams, in Paris. She traveled through the snows of eastern Europe, down the Baltic coast to Prussia, across the battlefields of Germany, and into a France that was then experiencing the tumultuous events of Napoleon's return from Elba.
-
-
Interesting Book on Mrs. Adams
- By Michael on 10-31-10
By: Michael O'Brien
-
The Last Rose of Shanghai
- A Novel
- By: Weina Dai Randel
- Narrated by: Josh Bloomberg, Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 12 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1940. Aiyi Shao is a young heiress and the owner of a formerly popular and glamorous Shanghai nightclub. Ernest Reismann is a penniless Jewish refugee driven out of Germany, an outsider searching for shelter in a city wary of strangers. He loses nearly all hope until he crosses paths with Aiyi. When she hires Ernest to play piano at her club, her defiance of custom causes a sensation. His instant fame makes Aiyi’s club once again the hottest spot in Shanghai. Soon they realize they share more than a passion for jazz - but their differences seem insurmountable....
-
-
Soapy but fun
- By Padders- Padmini Sankar on 12-14-21
By: Weina Dai Randel
-
The Valley of Amazement
- By: Amy Tan
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu, Joyce Bean, Amy Tan
- Length: 24 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Shanghai, 1912. Violet Minturn is the privileged daughter of the American madam of the city's most exclusive courtesan house. But when the Ching dynasty is overturned, Violet is separated from her mother in a cruel act of chicanery and forced to become a "virgin courtesan." Half-Chinese and half-American, Violet grapples with her place in the worlds of East and West - until she is able to merge her two halves, empowering her to become a shrewd courtesan who excels in the business of seduction and illusion, though she still struggles to understand who she is.
-
-
Just could NOT get past the ugliness
- By Pamela J on 11-25-13
By: Amy Tan
-
The Hundred Secret Senses
- By: Amy Tan
- Narrated by: Amy Tan
- Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Years after her Chinese half-sister assails her with ghost stories set in the mysterious world of Yin, Olivia — a young woman from San Francisco — finds herself in China. Looking for a way to reconcile her past with dreams for her future, Olivia's American assumptions are shaken by Chinese ghosts, but she also finds reasons to hope.
-
-
BUY THIS VERSION (Release Date 01–03-22)
- By Jessica B Hunter on 10-04-22
By: Amy Tan
-
The Bonesetter's Daughter
- By: Amy Tan
- Narrated by: Amy Tan, Joan Chen
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set in contemporary San Francisco and in a Chinese village where Peking Man is being unearthed, The Bonesetter's Daughter is an excavation of the human spirit: the past, its deepest wounds, its most profound hopes. Tan, author of The Joy Luck Club, brilliantly presents "storytelling in its oldest and truest form".
-
-
Exceptionally good
- By Eileen Finn on 03-25-03
By: Amy Tan
-
Saving Fish from Drowning
- By: Amy Tan
- Narrated by: Amy Tan
- Length: 17 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Twelve American tourists join an art expedition that begins in the Himalayan foothills of China - dubbed the true Shangri-La - and heads south into the jungles of Burma. But after the mysterious death of their tour leader, the carefully laid plans fall apart, and disharmony breaks out among the pleasure-seekers.
-
-
Great book, shame about the narrator
- By Karen Campbell on 07-21-08
By: Amy Tan
-
Imperial Woman
- The Story of the Last Empress of China
- By: Pearl S. Buck
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 17 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story of Tzu Hsi is the story of the last empress in China. In this audiobook, Pearl S. Buck recreates the life of one of the most intriguing rules during a time of intense turbulence. Tzu Hsi was born into one of the lowly ranks of the Imperial dynasty. According to custom, she moved to the Forbidden City at the age of 17 to become one of hundreds of concubines. But her singular beauty and powers of manipulation quickly moved her into the position of Second Consort.
-
-
The Last Empress and the Destruction of China
- By MarilynArms on 07-29-13
By: Pearl S. Buck
-
The Kitchen God's Wife
- By: Amy Tan
- Narrated by: Gwendoline Yeo
- Length: 14 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Winnie and Helen have kept each other's worst secrets for more than 50 years. Now, because she believes she is dying, Helen wants to expose all that has been concealed, when she decides to celebrate the Chinese New Year by unburdening herself of everybody's hidden truths - her own and Winnie's, as well as the dreadful news that Winnie's daughter, Pearl, has been keeping from her mother.
-
-
Holds your attention through out
- By GrandmaNurseHeather on 06-08-17
By: Amy Tan
What listeners say about Peony in Love
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jana Br
- 11-20-11
Beauty in writing...
I am consistently and continually moved by Lisa See's writing. She expresses the passion and sadness in a girl, woman's heart. In this story she illustrates the separation between our romantic yearnings and the truth about love and the divergent worlds of men and women. She is truly more than a novelist, but is a poet who has miraculously channeled the hearts and spirits of many through her writing. Anyone who does not understand what she is trying to say here, should dig deeper. This is not merely for our entertainment...Ms. See is telling us truths we all need to know.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- Bob
- 12-04-09
Wonderful read
This is a book that will entice and stimulate you. It is one of her best books. Get lost in her wonderful world. You will not regret it. Yeah I am a straight guy, not that that matters .
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- Kathryn
- 07-14-10
An amazing accomplishment for Lisa See
I have read/listened to this book at least 4 times over the past few years. (Yes, I'm a re-reader.) There may be a few slow spots to get through (but I don't notice them anymore), but overall I find it wonderfully poetic, well-plotted, and highly informative as to the Chinese culture of the first Manchu era. The description of The Cataclysm is very, very well done, even if it is painful reading/listening.
I use part of this book in the Comparative Religion college course I teach because it really brings to life the complex afterlife beliefs of Chinese tradition -- and students always relax when we read something from a contemporary novel. (A nice change from all those primary texts and creation stories!)
I obtained (via Amazon) the English opera libretto of The Peony Pavilion and have been reading that along with this most recent listen to Peony in Love. Having done this tandem listen / read, I have even more appreciation or, perhaps, awe for See's accomplishment. What she has done is really pretty staggering, using the classic opera as a basis for the novel and having characters in the novel act in parallel to what happens to characters in the opera. The closest other book I can think of that affects me with such awe for sheer literary ability is A.S. Byatt's Possession. Yes, I listen to that every year, too.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 04-21-17
When it all comes together
Lisa See is my favorite author and one who I hope transcends time with her invigorating stories and beautiful details. And this book definitely has the numerous developed layers that I enjoy.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Library Lady
- 06-29-15
Interesting
This book was a very interesting fictional account of the largely unknown Chinese women writers who flourished in the Yang See River Valley in the 17th century. I am a fan of Chinese cultural stories so did enjoy it. The reader is excellent!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- Janice
- 09-15-10
Intimate peek into Chinese culture
I had heard that this book was a bit slow and not as good as Lisa See's other writings, so I started reading Peony In Love expecting to be bored for the first half. I was surprised to find out that I loved the book from beginning to end. Peony in Love provides an intimate peek into the lives of Chinese women during the 17th century. This was a time of change for China when women struggled between following tradition and being basically "invisible" and their desire to explore the emotions and thoughts through writing, painting, etc. To follow the main character through life AND death gave me more of an understanding of the Chinese beliefs of the afterlife and why they follow many of the traditions that are still alive today. The love scenes were steamy and I found myself blushing in the cafeteria at work! While I found this book fascinating, I can understand why some may have found it lacking. If you do not like reading about Chinese history or tradition, you may not enjoy Peony Pavillion. See goes into great detail which may be a little tedious for some. Personally, I loved it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Jan
- 06-10-11
Fascinating!
I loved "Snowflower" and though very different, "Peony" was wonderful on so many levels. The culture, the history, the story itself. I was enchanted and have highly recommended it to my daughters. Janet Song brings incredible magic to the wonderful story. I'm on my way to listen to "Shanghai Girls."
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Cellee
- 06-18-12
The Lives of Women
Would you listen to Peony in Love again? Why?
This book is a beautiful story of a "lovesick" young women in Japan during the 16th and 17th Century. How women while under much stress from a lifestyle chosen for them they were able to become published poets and writers. I would recommend this book to all teenage girls to inspire them to learn from history and to be thankful for all that life as given them through the strides of the women before them.
This is a very peaceful book filled with hope for a better life.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Peony's Grandmother and Mother.
Which scene was your favorite?
The scenes in the Garden prior to The Peony Pavilion.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
This book caused me to think about my life and the life beyond. The ideas and teachings of the Japanese regarding the life beyond causes one to reflect on how one is living today.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amy Parrish
- 07-16-17
loved it
Lisa See does not disappoint, the history in this novel is rich and transports the reader into the past. Beautifully written.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- QueenSheba
- 10-25-20
could be some triggering
The parts about the brutality to the women during the cataclysm is pretty shaking.
If you are setative to this subject avoid this book.
Overall Lisa See wrote another well researched book about Chinese history and tradition.
I liked Snowflower and the Secret Fan better.
Still a great read.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!