Peony in Love (Kim Tran)

Title~ Peony in Love
Author~ Lisa See
Publisher~ Random House
Pages~ 284
Found~ South Hadley Public Library.
Summary~
Peony in Love by Lisa See is based on the famous performance, The Peony Pavilion. The story is set in the years of Emperor Kangxi’s reign (1662-1722). Turning 16, Peony must marry to a man she has never met. During a celebration of her 16th birthday, she accidentally meets a man in her family villa. After meeting him there for 4 nights, she falls in love with him but also falls into despair. Understanding that she must follow the tradition of arranged marriages, she could not be with her true love and falls into a deep state of lovesickness. Her life gradually weakens each day and she breathes her last breath, only to learn right before her death that her marriage was to Wu Ren, her love. When she departs from her life, she wanders the Earth as a “hungry ghost” and encounters many new experiences and hardships. Her true journey starts here as an unforgettable love story filled with hope, sorrow and desire for Wu Ren.
Audience~
The audience most likely for this book would be ranging from teen girls to women because it is told from a teen girl’s point of view and they are more likely to relate to this book.
Author’s Writing Style~
Lisa See has a very effortless writing style. She writes from the main character’s point of view and creates vibrant and stunning images in the audience’s minds to let them relate to the story. “Here and there, bits of vines and branches draped over our compound wall, hinting at what was hidden inside. Weeping willows hung over the lake, their tendrils teasing the water’s surface. I brushed against wild roses blooming on the bank and their scent infused the air, my clothes, my hair, the skin on my hands” (Page 62).
Passages~
1} “He could be pock-marked, short, cruel, and fat, but I would receive no warnings from my mother or father. Marriage to a stranger was my fate, and it wasn’t necessarily a happy one” (Page 21). This quote showed me how arranged marriages brought sadness to many young women. I thought how unreasonable it was for these marriages to actually take place back then and that the parents had no intention of letting the daughter know who the husband is like.
2} “In love we have no control. Our hearts and minds are tormented, teased, enticed, and delighted by the overwhelming strength of emotions that make us try to forget the real world” (Page 72). This quote made me think of how difficult it must be for Peony to die because of lovesickness and then knowing that she could have been married and lived a happy life with the man that she loves. This quote also made me think of the saying “Love is blind” because love can cause a being to do things never imagined just to make their loved one happy.
3} “So many mistakes. So many errors. So much tragedy as a result. In that moment I understood that the cruelest words in the universe are if only. If only I hadn’t left the opera on the first night, I would have gone to my marriage and met Ren on my wedding night without incident. If only I had kept my eyes open when my father pointed out Ren… How could fate be so merciless?” (106). I chose this quote because it made me think of how many regrets there are in life and that there are so many “if onlys..” that everyone always say to themselves.
Interaction~
I enjoyed reading this book so much because it kept me reading page after page until I reached the end. Although the book is filled with sorrow, Peony had a kind of hope that I could relate to because she kept trying to make the people she loves most, happy. Even when she was dead, she continued to reach that goal as a ghost and never backed down. Peony in Love really spoke out to me because it taught me that love is a powerful emotion and that it really means more than what it seems to be.