Empress Orchid

By: Anchee Min

Narrated by: Alexandra O'Karma

Length: 17 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

The critically acclaimed author, Anchee Min, paints a fresh portrait of the last Chinese empress in this brilliantly fictionalized tale set during the waning days of the empire.

Seventeen-year-old Orchid belongs to an aristocratic family that has fallen on hard times. Unexpectedly, she is chosen as one of the emperor's lesser concubines. Within the Forbidden City are thousands of women hoping to bear the emperor a son and become his empress. Orchid, determined and resourceful, schemes her way into the royal bed and seduces the emperor. But as the opium trade erodes the might of the Ch'ing dynasty, Orchid find herself at the center of a crumbling nation.

A colorful depiction of one of history's least understood women, The Empress Orchid is another enthralling masterpiece for Anchee Min.

©2004 Anchee Min

Critic reviews

"Powerful and brilliantly conceived....[An] insightful, magnetic, and quietly revolutionary resurrection of a remarkable woman." (Booklist)

Such a good story

Whoever edited this though needs to take the mouth sounds of the narrator, swallow and obviously drinking water.

Historical fiction china

Loved it. Had lots of interesting information and a plot that kept you wanting to listen! Great listen - or read!

intruiging and broad

I am not normally interested in things Royal or excessively interested in things Asian, but this was a good book. It covers a rather long portion of time, in which age happens to characters and they act not always as proscribed. I like the strength of the title character, who is drawn with the lightest brush strokes and in an understated manner. A real welcome from female characters who are strong and in your face. The narrator speaks very slowly and in hushed tones, mimicking the role of women in traditional Chinese society.

The audio version does not sync with written versi

I love the book and will continue to read this in Kindle version. But bought both the Kindle version and the Audible version to do through “whisper-sync”. But they do not sync up. The narrated version would not download in Kindle. And the chapter headings don’t match up. So you can’t in fact go back and forth between reading and listening. Drove me crazy and wasted tons of time trying to find where you left off.

The narrator was only “decent”. I didn’t mind the saliva and throat sounds as much as others, and yes she was on the bland side, but it wasn’t that bad.

Great book. But either read it or listen to it, don’t try to go back and forth.....

Liked the book, but not the narration!

I liked this book, but I cannot recommend this audio version. Each swallow and mouth sound the narrator made, which happened very often, was a huge distraction and very irritating to me. If this was not the book of the month for my book club, I would have abandoned it early on.

empress orchid

Would you try another book from Anchee Min and/or Alexandra O'Karma?

possibly.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The story was too long and drawn out. I enjoyed the historical aspect, but it was an 18 hr. listen.

Did Alexandra O'Karma do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

She did.

Do you think Empress Orchid needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No.

Any additional comments?

The story teller was too close to her microphone. You could hear every time she would swallow. It was a bit distracting.

Empress Orchid

This is a great story. Some people have complained that the narrator was reading too slowly and pausing for too long. I think that they overlooked the fact that the story was from the perspective of an old Empress Orchid recounting the story of her youth and the slower reading and pauses fit in with that scenario. This was a very interesting audio book.

Mediocre at best

This book is well read but the story is mediocre. I found it really hard to believe a 26-year old "party boy" is as brilliant as everyone seems to think he is. His fast rise to the top doesn't make sense given his actions. And the love plot with him and a fellow employee is stupid. But I like the twist at the end which suprised me because I thought the plot was going along the normal course of an overplayed story. If it didn't have this ending, I would have rated this book lower.

interesting book

I enjoyed the book, although I thought the reader was somewhat slow. The constant breathing was a distraction

wonderful story

I not only enjoyed the story but the narrator as well. I love the details of events and description of items