I received a free copy for my honest review.
About the Book:
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks; Reprint edition (August 5, 2014)
About the Author:
My Opinion:
I remember when The Ghost Bride came out last year and I was very interested in reading it but it never crossed my review list. Now that it’s being released in paperback I finally had the opportunity to read it. The synopsis sounded so mysterious and intriguing and it turned out to be so much more than it promised. Li Lan is the daughter of a man who basically withdrew from life after his wife died from smallpox and he did not. His face shows the ravages of the disease and he spends his time reading poetry and smoking opium. Li Lan is cared for by her Amah and while she is 18 years old her maturity level seems to be of a girl very much younger since she never leaves the house and has little interaction with other people.
Her father mentions a marriage proposal but it’s to be a Ghost Bride – a marriage to man who has died. This being a concept so far removed from anything I understand it took a while for me to wrap my head around the Chinese customs and stories of the afterlife. Once I sorted them out I found it to be a fascinating world.
I found myself lost in the story and the world created by Yangsze Choo. Li seemed very unprepared for life outside of her house since her father paid her and her future little mind. But she stumbled along and she grew stronger as she learned more about her family and the afterlife. She finds herself torn between a man in the physical world and a being in the afterlife and doesn’t know either one well enough to answer their demands on her life.
This was a book that kept my interest and taught me something about a different culture. It took me to several different worlds both real and fantastic. I don’t usually like books not grounded in reality but this one was very well written and it held my interest from beginning to end.
Rating:
4
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