Peony In Love

Peony In Love by Lisa See

This book was unlike anything I've ever read. It's a Chinese historical novel, so fiction based around actual historical occurrences. It's based on the Chinese book The Three Wives Commentary on the opera Peony Pavilion. I don't know to what extent the author interwove her own ideas from the translations of The Three Wives Commentary but the idea lends to more credibility towards this being a true story although the majority takes place in the after world so would be clearly fiction.

It's also a tragedy and I'm the type who needs my stories to end happily ever after. I'm already too pessimistic and prefer the feeling of optimism after devoting so much time to a novel. Despite this I do still highly recommend it and will probably read it a second time. There was just so much depth to it. One would need a few days to ponder on some of the ideas that most Chinese people know as an every day fact. Such as being governed by qing vs li. Qing being sentiment, passion and love. Li being cold reason and mastered emotions. I had never before known anything about women of Chinese ancestry. At times their value was worth less than that of salt or farm animals. I was able to visualize how the favored treatment of males over females has wrecked such havoc all throughout Chinese history even to this day. Some of this is due to the fact that a male heir is the only one who has the right to take care of the family burial plot, and pass on the family name. Plural marriages were common and the taking of concubines all to obtain male heirs. I also understand now a little better why it was so common for woman to have bound feet. A woman with bound feet is not able to do the work of every day life, they are above the servants. Foot bindings were said to help them be softer, smaller and thus more feminine. It was associated with "mother love". If you love your daughter and don't want them to become a servant, or worse of less worth than a farm animal, they must have differentiation. I wonder what sick man decided bound feet were sexy, eventually the majority did. I like the quote: "The written character for mother love is composed of two elements: love and pain. I had always thought this emotion was felt by daughters for their mothers, who inflict pain on us by binding our feet, but looking at Second Aunt's tears and my mother's courage I realized this emotion was for them. A mother suffers deeply to give birth, bind feet, and say goodbye to a daughter when she marries out."

I also was intrigued with the idea that Chinese people eat differently than I'd ever imagined eating. Here's a quote: "Course after course arrived, each flavored to satisfy one of the tastes: good, bad, fragrant, stinky, sweet, sour, salty, and bitter." Of coarse this was only for a big occasion like a future wedding. Still, I couldn't imagine everyone willingly eating bad, stinky, and bitter food on purpose. I guess it comes from the idea that you can't enjoy the sweet without the bitter, the good things in life without the bad. I wonder if my family would like what I cook more if I started making them eat more stinky or bitter food?

It's startling for me to read how woman thought before any idea of a women's rights movement occurred. Here's a few quotes: "Writing is a creation of the outer world of men," she said. "It is by its nature a public act-something that we, as women, should avoid-but you need to learn it so that one day you can help your son with his studies." And later the idea that "A woman becomes unruly through knowledge." "Knowing anything more than a few written characters like firewood, rice, fish and meat that will help you run a household. Anything more is perilous." The generations before the main character in the story believed this but Peony did not. Another quote: "A thousand years ago, the poet Han Yun wrote, "All things not at peace will cry out." He compared the human need to express feelings in writing to the natural force that impelled plants to rustle in the wind or metal to ring when struck. I would look inside myself and write not what the critics had observed or what my aunts discussed about these emotions but how I felt about them myself. My writing would become my salvation." "I, like all women and girls, wanted-needed-to be heard." Perhaps there is some truth to this. Writing does allow us to leave some kind of influence of ourselves after death. Art and music does as well but that is more open to interpretation than writing. Maybe it was this idea that has encouraged me to begin this book review. That, and I know I have a terrible memory. I am on a mission of compiling truths of this life. That is one reason why I've enjoyed read quotes of the day. There is a lesson that can be learned every day in life. Why not learn from others? After all the saying "What we don't learn from history we are doomed to repeat" can be applied not just to great battles and politics but to me and my every day endeavors raising my family.