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ldv's review against another edition
2.0
Not super captivating, but interesting more for its writing style and cultural window. The first part is narrated by a 200 yr old "ghost", a Crown Princess of Korea who tells her story with modern day hindsight. Her story is interesting enough, but the amazing part that it is written almost as one full train of thought. There is sentencing and paragraphing, but no chapter divisions or other editorial gaps. The story just naturally transitions across topics and time. Amazing!
The second part of the novel follows a contemporary academic who is interested in the story retold in the first half. The narration now is third person but almost as the spirits and ghosts who follow the woman. Strange, but eventually I got used to the third person present tense voice. Her story is less interesting, though it has enough to pull it along. There are some breaks in this text, which was convenient.
Perhaps worthwhile if you want some light Korean history, but otherwise it may come across as boring.
The second part of the novel follows a contemporary academic who is interested in the story retold in the first half. The narration now is third person but almost as the spirits and ghosts who follow the woman. Strange, but eventually I got used to the third person present tense voice. Her story is less interesting, though it has enough to pull it along. There are some breaks in this text, which was convenient.
Perhaps worthwhile if you want some light Korean history, but otherwise it may come across as boring.
koreamaria's review against another edition
1.0
I was so excited to pick up this historical fiction book. But, wow, was I disappointed! The first half of the book was so hard to read. Was it historical? Or was it the author's own era of sensibilities? Can I continue to ask questions and make a whole paragraph out of them like the author did? The second half was just as boring to read. I felt as if I was reading someone's day journal and they made no attempt to edit it into something for other people to read.
leslielikesthings's review against another edition
2.0
I wanted to like this book more than I did. It had an intriguing story, but I found the writing style to be very detached, and so had trouble connecting to the characters. The first half of the book, which was based on actual historic events that took place in Korea in the 1700s, should have been fascinating, given the material, but again the writing style didn't draw me in to get me feeling involved in the story. Having the princess narrate from beyond the grave was an intriguing idea, but it didn't really work for me. The two halves of the book also didn't seem to mesh well together, and I didn't really see the point in telling the story that way.
All in all it was fine, and maybe deserving of more than 2 stars, but I liked it less than most of the books that I've given 3 stars to, so there it stands.
All in all it was fine, and maybe deserving of more than 2 stars, but I liked it less than most of the books that I've given 3 stars to, so there it stands.
isheekagoswami's review against another edition
1.0
Uninformed unresearched colonial racist aimless garbage trash.
martydah's review against another edition
2.0
Margaret Drabble has been recommended to me over and over again by friends, colleagues, bookstore clerks, etc. I chose this particular book because of the historical theme and the location in which most of the book is set. I was hoping it would be one of those fascinating reads you couldn't put down. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a chore.
The first half of the book is taken up with the Red Queen's memoirs of her life at the 18th century Korean court. It is a wandering chronicle of her 'actual' historical life, with many, many diversions into commentary on events in history up to the present day. Crown Princess Hyegyong is a ghost that is very much aware of the enormous changes that have taken place since she died. This attempt to make her both a being of the past and a literate observer of history after her death becomes very distracting as it makes the narrative choppy and convoluted. The reader's left wishing that she would knock off the worldly-wise tangents and just get on with her original tale.
The second half of the book follows Dr. Barbara Halliwell, Hyegyong's chosen vehicle for continuing her plans in this world - plans which were still rather mysterious at the end of the story. Dr. Halliwell reads the memoirs on the way to a conference in Seoul, Korea and become immediately obsessed. Like the Crown Princess, she has an insane husband, currently living in a mental health facility and a dead child, facts that apparently make her ideal as a conduit. This part of the book was better paced and more interesting, in my opinion, because it stayed 'on task' with the plot, rather than wandering off as the first half did. One has to suspend belief at the way the events at the conference dovetail so neatly into the novel's final revolution, but this is fiction after all.
Overall, this was an uneven book at best. Probably not a good choice for a first Drabble novel in my case. I will have to give her other novels a try before I can say she does or doesn't deserve the accolades everyone around me seems to think she does as a writer.
The first half of the book is taken up with the Red Queen's memoirs of her life at the 18th century Korean court. It is a wandering chronicle of her 'actual' historical life, with many, many diversions into commentary on events in history up to the present day. Crown Princess Hyegyong is a ghost that is very much aware of the enormous changes that have taken place since she died. This attempt to make her both a being of the past and a literate observer of history after her death becomes very distracting as it makes the narrative choppy and convoluted. The reader's left wishing that she would knock off the worldly-wise tangents and just get on with her original tale.
The second half of the book follows Dr. Barbara Halliwell, Hyegyong's chosen vehicle for continuing her plans in this world - plans which were still rather mysterious at the end of the story. Dr. Halliwell reads the memoirs on the way to a conference in Seoul, Korea and become immediately obsessed. Like the Crown Princess, she has an insane husband, currently living in a mental health facility and a dead child, facts that apparently make her ideal as a conduit. This part of the book was better paced and more interesting, in my opinion, because it stayed 'on task' with the plot, rather than wandering off as the first half did. One has to suspend belief at the way the events at the conference dovetail so neatly into the novel's final revolution, but this is fiction after all.
Overall, this was an uneven book at best. Probably not a good choice for a first Drabble novel in my case. I will have to give her other novels a try before I can say she does or doesn't deserve the accolades everyone around me seems to think she does as a writer.
carmelitasita's review against another edition
2.0
I expected greater things from this book than what I received. How can a book about the tumultuous life of a Crown Princess in Korea centuries ago be boring? And yet, it was. For one thing, let us not underestimate the importance of chapters. They are a way for the reader to take a break from the story for reflection and pondering. It seemed as if the first part of the book just kept going on and on and by the time it came to an end it was already fuzzy in my mind. They were so many interesting experiences that got lost in the writing. The second part was better because it didn't try to span an entire life, just a section of a life. Whatever was missing from the first part (indepth descriptions, dialogue, fleshed out experiences) was present in the second, which made the book not an entire waste of time.
mazza57's review against another edition
3.0
the first third of this book was fabulous the rest just ordinary. In fact the latter half seemed unrelated to the first
michelleizoco's review against another edition
4.0
This book gave me two distinct impressions.
I loved the historical aspect of this novel. The author does a fantastic job of bringing back a little-known queen to life and makes you feel for the main character. The cultural and historical facts that are thrown in are not heavy handed at all, and are easy enough to picture and understand (even if you know very little about the Korean culture, like myself).
However, the book isn't completely about this foreign, long-dead queen. It's also about a modern day woman who travels through Korea while on business and goes on about her life and thoughts. I would have MUCH rather liked this book if it had just spoken about the Korean princess, as the modern story lacked depth and felt extremely out of place.
Still a very worthwhile read and I recommend it to anyone who is looking to read something different.
I loved the historical aspect of this novel. The author does a fantastic job of bringing back a little-known queen to life and makes you feel for the main character. The cultural and historical facts that are thrown in are not heavy handed at all, and are easy enough to picture and understand (even if you know very little about the Korean culture, like myself).
However, the book isn't completely about this foreign, long-dead queen. It's also about a modern day woman who travels through Korea while on business and goes on about her life and thoughts. I would have MUCH rather liked this book if it had just spoken about the Korean princess, as the modern story lacked depth and felt extremely out of place.
Still a very worthwhile read and I recommend it to anyone who is looking to read something different.
kingfan30's review
2.0
just finished this book this morning. I think I preferred the first part about the Crown Princess in Korea, although it could have been confusing with all the unusual names it was helped by the author repeating the relationship of the person to the main character. The second half was not as gripping and I felt more could have been made of the Crown Princess looking out for Babs and guiding her
small_town_librarian's review against another edition
1.0
One of the rare books that I could not finish. Half one is interesting, detailing the life of a princess two centuries ago. Not captivating enough to read another few hundred pages of the modern storyline.