Peony in Love, by Lisa See

This book is the first I have read by Lisa See, so I didn’t really know what to expect. The novel takes as its starting point the ideal of romantic love overcoming the limitations of death and of earthly time. Then Ms. See adds the theme of women’s subjugation in history and how they conspired to make themselves heard, directly or indirectly. There was an opera written in the 16th century in China called “The Peony Pavilion”, whose subject was undying love. A century later, a commentary of the opera was published by Wu Wushan, which was written by his three wives. Ms. See uses this publishing event as the basis for the story, making her heroine, Peony, the first of the three wives. The author’s aim is to make Peony’s life a living translation of the stylized plot of the opera. To do this, her heroine gives us realistic details of their time, including excruciating descriptions of footbinding. (This practice is presented as part of the cultural superiority of the Ming Dynasty, which was overthrown by the Manchus.) The book is an interesting pastiche of Chinese culture and folklore, but Ms. See, in Peony, does not succeed in creating a character noble enough to embody the struggles women go through to find identity and expression. However, the book is written in a flowing and expressive prose, and Peony’s heartaches and failures do keep our interest throughout the story.