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    Peony in Love: A Novel
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    Peony in Love: A Novel
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    Peony in Love: A Novel
    Audiobook13 hours

    Peony in Love: A Novel

    Written by Lisa See

    Narrated by Janet Song

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    "I finally understand what the poets have written. In spring, moved to passion; in autumn, only regret."

    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, 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. 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 even hidden from view, Peony catches sight of an elegant, handsome man-and is immediately overcome with emotion.

    So begins Peony's unforgettable journey of love and destiny, desire and sorrow, as Lisa See's haunting new novel, based on actual historical events, takes listeners back to seventeenth-century China. Steeped in traditions and ritual, PEONY IN LOVE explores, beautifully, the many manifestations of love, and ultimately, addresses universal themes: the bonds of friendship, the power of words, and the age-old desire of women to be heard.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJul 3, 2007
    ISBN9781415939352
    Unavailable
    Peony in Love: A Novel
    Author

    Lisa See

    Lisa See is the New York Times bestselling author of The Island of Sea Women, The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Peony in Love, Shanghai Girls, China Dolls, and Dreams of Joy, which debuted at #1. She is also the author of On Gold Mountain, which tells the story of her Chinese American family’s settlement in Los Angeles. See was the recipient of the Golden Spike Award from the Chinese Historical Association of Southern California and the Historymaker’s Award from the Chinese American Museum. She was also named National Woman of the Year by the Organization of Chinese American Women.

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    Reviews for Peony in Love

    3.5/5

    993 ratings87 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Not as wonderful as Snowflower...but still very interesting and engaging. Some parts dragged, some were repetitive, but it was still a good read. I liked it much, much more after reading the Afterword, where I learned how much of the story was based on real people and traditions! Read the Afterword first!
    • 3/5
      I am glad that I listened to it rather than read it. I enjoyed the beginning because of the historical background for that time period and the one before. I have read a lot about foot binding so I already knew many details about. The play that was given as a 16th birthday present, I was also familiar with. But the main character's story was incrediably tragic and could have been prevented. From the time that Peony kept her eyes when she had a chance to see her betrothed, I knew that it would be very difficult to listen to the rest of the story.I made it to the end but it was depressing that I could never listen to it again. The author wrote beautifully but I would not attempt this book if you are depression prone.
    • 3/5
      Quick read. Wondering if some of the alluded-to verses are in my premodern Chinese lit books (though maybe not- is 1600s considered premodern?)A bit of a love story, a bit of a ghost story, with a root in historical fact.
    • 4/5
      Helped flesh out the cultural gaps I had about Hungry Ghosts - having lived in China for 19 years, this book piqued my interest. Highly enjoyable.
    • 3/5
      Listened to this book on CD...beautiful.
    • 3/5
      A quirky novel that shows Chinese legend by representing it with characters of very distinctly modern sensibility, though See tries to corral some of their more anachronistic tendencies. The first person narrator is a young woman in 16th century China who dies inadvertently through becoming obsessed with a play that depicts love. Dead, she spends years as a ghost, still attached to the life she might have had.
    • 3/5
      interesting twist
    • 4/5
      Interesting take on the Oriental afterlife
    • 2/5
      I think this is probably one of those stories you either really like or don't. It sort of reminds me of a fable. The writing is good, but the storyline isn't for me. Women are just property. There's so much tragedy. It made me feel depressed. Sometimes the sad parts in a book give me the feels, but this just made me feel sorry for them and downhearted.
    • 4/5
      Having adored her earlier novel, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, , I was eager to pick up Peony In Love by Lisa See. Peony is the coddled daughter of a wealthy seventeenth-century Hangzhou family, and shortly before her arranged marriage, she sneaks off to meet a handsome stranger who awakens in her strange, new emotions. Her love for this man and her obsession with an opera called The Peony Pavilion drastically change her life's course. Peony comes to find herself in the afterworld, where she struggles to find her place and attempts to influence the lives of the people she loves, using the commentary she writes about The Peony Pavilion as a means of continuing to demonstrate that love. Over time -- we're talking years, here -- Peony is able to learn from her mistakes and others around her and reflect upon and understand the many different kinds of love.When I finished this fantastic story, I was amazed to find out how much of it was based on actual events. Lisa See did extensive research into the history of women's writings in China in the mid-seventeenth century, and in her research, she came across The Three Wives' Commentary, "the first book of its kind to have been published anywhere in the world to have been written by women" (author's note, pg. 275). As she discovered more about the commentary and the opera it discusses, as well as the women who were impacted by them both, a story was born.Peony's story is absorbing, and contains a wealth of information about China's cultural and historical past -- for example: those pretty zig zag bridges (like this one)? There's a functional meaning behind them. See's characters and descriptions are vibrant and beautiful, and this book is easily one of my new favorites, even though I did spend the last couple of chapters in tears.
    • 2/5
      Let me preface this by saying that I'm a fan of Lisa See's work, and I appreciate what she's trying to do here, but the execution leaves much to be desired.

      Peony as a character is completely lacking in redeeming qualities - dramatic, self-indulgent, not terribly bright, and above all, weak-minded. She is terrible at reading people, and her perspective and actions are hampered by deliberately seeing only what she wants to,and it's infuriating to witness. Rather than becoming more mature as the book progresses, she continues to judge the value of others by what they represent to her emotionally rather than having true compassion for either her dream lover, his family, or hers. Her lack of foresight and general obtuseness are what causes the suffering of her family and the man she loves, and rather than rebelling against the constraints placed on her, she chooses to drown in self-pity. I understand the author intended to make her a character driven by strong emotions, but there are ways to do that without making her absolutely unbearable. I could barely get through the book with her narrating, and once I did I felt a profound sense of relief - Peony is an ancestor now, so I won't have to listen to her whine or bemoan her self-inflicted misery any longer. Everything she endures is almost entirely self-inflicted, yet she judges other characters for doing the same, which makes her not only selfish but lacking in self-awareness. Love isn't all about emotions or self-indulgence, but unfortunately that understanding falls by the wayside. I also understand the Peony Pavilion's interpretation of love is different than modern interpretations, but it's just as badly misinterpreted by the main character who is nevertheless praised for her insight.

      The best thing I can say for this book is that I managed to get through it, and the worst thing I can say is that I already knew within the first two chapters what I was signing up for, and at no point did See pleasantly surprise me by proving me wrong.

      All in all, I love Lisa See, but this is a weak, ponderous, vascillating, and superficial collection of badly organized chapters culminating in a lukewarm conclusion that will leave readers relieved that it's finally over. If you want my advice, skip the book and read the author's section at the back, because everything said in the story could be easily summarized in less than a chapter. The book intends to have a valuable message, but this falls prey to its horrible execution and the fact that its main character is almost purposely easier to despise than sympathize with.
    • 2/5
      Hmmm. Some things were fascinating and explained some of the conversations and ideas I'd hear about in my childhood from my Chinese relatives. Some things were tiresome. See's writing could be compelling and sometimes is, but sometimes seems tortuous and so cloudy when compared to Amy Tan's clear prose.
    • 4/5
      Really enjoyed this coming of age story of a young girl in ancient China -- the unexpected plot twist added a lot.
    • 4/5
      3.5 starsPeony is only a few days from her 16th birthday when she meets the man she falls hard for and he for her. Unfortunately, this is 17th century China and she is betrothed (as is he). I didn't want to say too much in the summary so as to give anything away. Overall, I liked the book. It wasn't fast-moving. I was a bit bored with all the comparisons to the opera, but I liked the rest of the story. It was interesting to read the author's note (and interview) at the end of my edition to find out that this story was based on real people.
    • 3/5
      Peony In Love

      This book purports to be an historical novel of China, during or just after the Ming Dynasty (if memory serves me), and may be based on true events of those Chinese women of several hundred years ago.

      The book was a bit pretentious, repetitive and at times was so predictable, I really wanted to toss the book out the window as a failed experiment. And there were other times where the novel captured the arrogant men and the subservient women, which women practiced foot-binding, that the author gave in such excruciating detail, that it left nothing to the imagination.

      Peony was proud of her bound feet and not to concerned about a few broken bone shards sticking out. She filed them down nicely! Ouch!

      The book centers around a Chinese opera called Peony's Pavilion. And our young narrator is also called Peony. And her grandmother is called Peony. The repetition was maddening.

      But not only in name but in deed!

      Peony is pampered and is allowed to read the love story as depicted in the opera Peony's Pavilion. The character in the tale dies of a broken heart ("love-sick maids") by starving herself to death. The character then haunts her lover and he eventually works it out somehow to bring her back to life.

      Peony also knows that men are only allowed to see this opera. The opera can go on for a day or so it is so long. And any women that are allowed to see it, must do so behind a screen so that the men don't see them. Peony wanders and runs into a guy that she immediately falls for.

      At the time, her father has arranged a marriage with some man.

      [Spoiler: It is so obvious that this man is the same guy that she has been engaged to be married to, it's laughable. So predictable. End Spoiler].

      Well, Peony starves herself to death and then haunts her lover, just like in the opera. And, when her lover marries another, Peony's control over this girl is such that this girl (Ze) starts starving to death herself!

      Peony is a reclusive, selfish teenage girl, who has made up her mind as to what life is all about and is not about to let others continue to live out their own with her intervention. She wants to be remembered and immortalized, yet has a lot to learn, both in life and in death.

      Lisa See writes well regarding Chinese mythology and writes as if these spirits and charms and wards actually work, and show Peony's interaction with hungry ghosts and depraved spirits. I found these caricatures somewhat interesting.

      But, not enough to save this sinking ship.

      Before you judge the ancient Chinese "tradition" of foot-binding too harshly (and I think it was harsh and horrible, but I digress) I wonder how future generations will look at our present time USA actions of tattooing, piercings and breast augmentation for that elusive socially acceptable "beauty" attainment. Food for thought.

      Recommended from a historical perspective as to what Chinese women had to live and strive for when they were looked upon at a level not much above cattle and bags of rice.
    • 3/5
      I almost didn't finish this book; the first part was really tough to get through. I was surprised because I like Lisa See. I read a few other reviews to see if my judgment was way off the mark, and several others commented that it got much better after part 2. I completely agree with that - it was almost as if another author wrote the first part.

      I'm glad I stuck with it though. The novel as a whole was a very informative review of ancient Chinese culture and told in a very refreshing manner. I enjoyed it.
    • 4/5
      What a strange and compelling book. I read it in one day, practically in one sitting. It all had a slow and dream-like quality, which is understandable because the narrator dies and tells most of the story from the afterlife. I think readers expecting the pacing of a traditional novel will be disappointed by Peony’s protracted journey to enlightenment. What kept me reading were the vivid descriptions of daily life, beliefs, and rituals in seventeenth century China. Just fascinating. Warning: There is a horrifying foot-binding scene that made a couple of the characters vomit, and I wanted to also.
    • 5/5
      Peony in Love is one of my favorite novels of the last decade. It’s a poetic, beautifully written journey; a Chinese ghost story that draws you past the thin veil between life and death into the Chinese culture of ghosts. With passions that transcend time and death, Peony in Love is poetry. I was sad when I finished it because I didn’t want to leave the story.
    • 5/5
      Back in 2008, I read Lisa See’s interesting novel, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. The story, set in China, thoroughly examined the role and treatment of women in 19th century China. I had a vague notion of “foot binding” but no detailed information. After Googling images, I was horrified. When a book club member suggested See’s 2007 novel, Peony in Love, I winced just a little. This time the author sets her story in 17th century China. Embedded amongst all the feet, the I discovered a love story like no other I have ever read. I forgot the feet and switched to the heart.The Organization of Chinese American Women named Lisa See the 2001 National Woman of the Year. She has written several novels, all of which revolve around lost or covered up stories and the relationships among women. Peony is a young girl of about 15 – only weeks away from her marriage to the son of a moderately well-off family. Peony has never seen her intended, but at an intermission in an opera, The Peony Pavilion, she steps out and meets a handsome young man and immediately falls in love. As her wedding approaches, she fears a wizened old man would be her husband. She pines for her mysterious young man to the point of starvation and exhaustion. The array of unusual customs and habits of the period staggers the imagination. After a meal, Peony hears a drum and cymbals calling the women to the garden. Peony is first out the door. See writes, “I needed to proceed cautiously, fully aware that men who were not family members stood within our walls tonight. If one of them should chance to see me, I would be blamed and a bad mark set against my character” (9). Hard for us to grasp such a mindset in today’s society. In addition to other men, Peony has a deep and abiding commitment to respect and honor her father. See writes, Peony ‘had lived fifteen years without having committed a single act that anyone in my family could call unfilial” (11). Peony becomes a writer, commenting on the opera she has seen. He father gives her a present. “He went to a camphor-wood chest, opened it and pulled out something wrapped in purple silk woven in a pattern of willow. When he handed it to me, I knew it was a book. […] I loved books. I loved the weight of them in my hands. I loved the smell of ink and the feel of the rice paper. ‘Don’t fold over the edges of the page to mark your place,’ my father reminded me. ‘Don’t scratch at the written characters with your fingernails. Don’t wet your finger with your tongue before turning the pages. An never use a book as a pillow” (25). A wise man indeed. I did see one anachronism, which I always enjoy finding in novels. Peony mentions “Piles of fruit […] in cloisonné dishes” (52). While the Chinese did produce dishes with pieces of metal that pooled glaze of a certain color, the term, cloisonné first appeared in French in 1863. Peony could not have known that word, which means “compartment.”As a note in the front of the novel explains, the opera, The Peony Pavilion, was first produced and published in 1598. See based Peony on Chen Tong born about 1649. The Three Wives Commentary on the opera, became the first book of its kind written and published by women anywhere in the world. The factual basis for this story makes it all the more horrific and wonderful. Lisa See’s Peony in Love, is a wonderful historical novel, which opens windows on a secretive and hidden period in Chinese history. See has several other novels, and I think I hear them calling from my PC. 5 stars--Jim, 5/1/15
    • 3/5
      Audio book narrated by Janet Song

      In 17th century China, Peony has grown up as the only child of the wealthy Chen family. Her father is a scholar and he has encouraged his daughter’s love of books, opera and poetry. Now, two days before her sixteenth birthday, the household is preparing for a presentation of the famous Chinese opera – The Peony Pavilion, and her father has made special arrangements so that women will be able to hear the performance. The opera is controversial because many young maidens have been lured to their deaths by the strong emotions engendered by the love story.

      This is a very Chinese story. Steeped in the long-held traditions of ancestor worship, belief in spirits and strict societal roles, See manages to present a story that celebrates feminism and the women writers who are all but forgotten today. I found it difficult to engage in the novel because of this deep tradition; it was, simply put, too foreign to me. I kept judging Peony and the other characters by my present-day standards. I was irritated by the restrictions she and other women so easily accepted. I caught on to several plot twists long before Peony realized them. I just had to keep reminding myself of her sheltered upbringing, her youth and inexperience.

      Song’s narration didn’t help this. She has a slow, almost ponderous delivery, which just did not breathe any life into the work.

      What I found most interesting was the author note at the very end of the book. See’s assignment to do a magazine piece about Lincoln Center’s full-length production of The Peony Pavilion led her to information about the lovesick maidens. Intrigued, she did further research and found a wealth of information about the accomplished women writers in China. I appreciate that she tried to pay homage to them in this work, but I think the story got away from her.
    • 3/5
      I am a fan of Lisa See, but this book was just too far out there for me really to enjoy. It started very, very slowly with most of the story giving the background of the Opera, "The Peony Pavilion." a real opera written in China and first performed in 1598. It contains 55 acts and tells the story of a girl who falls in love and dies of love sickness. Obviously this was unheard of as girls then (as for much longer in time) were married off or sold as chattel. The author takes this play and a real commentary written by 3 wives (which also was new to the era as men were the ones with education and women stayed in their inner-chambers) and creates a historical fictional story than contains much about hungry ghosts, the after life, worshiping of ancestors, and the like. I would only suggest the book for those interested in women literati, the history of China or true Lisa See fans. If I had read this one first I doubt I would have finished it let alone read her others.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 2/5
      When the novel starts, Peony is ready to be married to a man of her father's choosing. In a series of scenes that are both melodramatic and totally unconvincing, she meets and falls in love with (unbeknownst to her) her soon to be husband. Thinking she is going to be married to another man, she throws herself into the study of an opera and starves herself to death. Consequently, she becomes a hungry ghost, trapped in a kind of spiritual limbo. She then proceeds to torture her husband's second wife by trying to live out through this woman what could have been her life had she not been an idiot and killed herself.Is this an oversimplification? Absolutly! However, I found no sympathy for Peony. Her death was not a production of her society or her surroundings, but of her own selfish impulses. Why spend your whole afterlife obsessed with a man who you've met for 20 minutes and to whom you were never married?

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      I didn't really appreciate the story until close to the end. It's much more sentimental than her other books, I'd say.
    • 2/5
      i looked forward to reading this because i heard such good things about her first novel, [book:snow flower and the secret fan]; i think my expectations were too high. i liked this more than i didn't like it, but still. that's not saying all that much.
    • 5/5
      This one was not at all what I expected- it exceeded my expectations in every possible way. It's a love story told in an unusual way, which I really love. Lisa See rules. Find all her books and read them. Like, today.
    • 2/5
      Not a bad read, but a bit trite, what with starving yourself for love and all that.
    • 3/5
      The book read very quickly and was an interesting insight into what life would have been like for an affluent girl in ancient China.
    • 1/5
      I was very disappointed in this book. I enjoyed Lisa See's Snowflower book, but this was pitiful.The writing, as always, was good, but the story line was frustrating, trite and well downright goofy. I rarely give up on a book, but I couldn't stomach this one. Dying of love-sickness and then ......ick.
    • 3/5
      Sad, but great at the end.
    • 5/5
      Peony is barely sixteen when she falls in love with a mysterious stranger. The product of a sheltered upbringing, and already betrothed to be married, she is devastated and plays out the part of the lead character in her favourite opera, who dies of lovesickness, and comes back to haunt her beloved. I’m going to say something that may be controversial. I liked this more than Lisa See’s very, very, exceedingly very famous and popular Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. Let the lynchings begin in earnest in a moment, but first I must say this – I was entirely captivated by this story. It was complex and emotionally arresting, and parts of it did remind me very much of being sixteen and a bit lovestruck. Lisa See has produced another wonderful read.