Peony in Love

I saw Lisa See talk last week about her latest book, Peony in Love. The book is based on an actual opera, The Peony Pavilion, that was written in China in the late sixteenth century. In a nutshell, the opera tells of a young girl who has a love affair with a man in her dreams. Upon waking, she becomes lovesick and dies of a broken heart. Later, the man from her dream sees a picture of the young girl, falls in love with her and brings her back to life. In China, young girls would read this opera, and actually become lovesick and die. They were known as lovesick maidens. Peony in Love tells the story of one lovesick maiden. Peony, the main character, is about to enter into an arranged marriage. Shortly before her wedding, she attends a performance of her favorite opera, the Peony Pavilion. On that same night, she meets a young man who she falls in love with. Believing that she will never experience this kind of love in her marriage, she becomes lovesick, wastes away and dies. The rest of the novel is told by Peony's ghost. See brings the story to life with her descriptions of China, Chinese customs and beliefs surrounding death, and women's lives. While the idea of dying from love sickness was a little hard for me to grasp, See really gets across how little value the women had and how they truly had no choices or control over their own lives. Although I didn't like this one as much as her last book, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, it is still a great read.

If you haven't read her non-fiction book, On Gold Mountain, I highly recommend it. She tells the story of her great-great grandfather who came to the Gold Mountain (America) from China in the late 1800's, and the subsequent generations that followed. The story of her great-grandfather is quite interesting. He managed to build a business in California during a time when Chinese immigrants were despised and tough laws were passed preventing their immigration. He also married a Caucasian woman, which was absolutely unheard of at the time, as well as illegal. Incidentally, his first business was selling "fancy underwear to fancy women" (aka crotchless underwear to prostitutes)! A very fascinating story, which reads like fiction.

In her talk, See mentioned that she will begin writing her next book soon. It is tentatively titled Shanghai Girls, and will tell the story of two sisters who come to L.A. in 1937 in arranged marriages.