The Courtesan
Alexandra Curry
From a treasured life as a loved Courtesan’s daughter, Jinhua takes a step back into the dregs of where courtesans are made – from feet binding to orifice rape. This is her story from misery to misery.
You’d think that since I was up until 1am finishing this book (and doing some other writing) than means I enjoyed it. Honestly, I’m not sure that I did. There were huge time gaps and gaps in Jinhau’s memory that made me fall out of the novel time and time again.
The violence, particularly sexual violence, seemed not to add very much to the story. I would have been far more excited if the rape had lead to death, rather than just another one occurring. By the end, I was basically no longer worried about it – they’d easily get out the other side. Rape just became part of the landscape. Isn’t that a horrible thing to say?
Perhaps it could have meant more to me if I was familiar with the historical period it was set in. I have to say my grasp of China’s politics, in addition to its geography, was very slim on the ground. All countries have a horrific past, and some are still that way (I’m an Australian, and i can tell you that horrible things are still going on). This one was nothing new.
I think it takes courage to write a novel like this one, where it is based on a well known (to the Chinese) folk/fairy tale / legend. That doesn’t mean I loved it. Jinhau just gave me no reason to love her. Her best friend seemed just as weak. What am I to say of weak though? I admired the woman before Jinhau – at least she was sensible enough to put herself out of her misery!
Why couldn’t I love this? Was it the detailed writing that put me off? The graphics of everything that made it difficult for me to get into the story? I don’t know. But I’m reassured to see that some other people didn’t love this novel either. I’m tossing up between 2 and 3 stars – I did at least finish it afterall.
This was such a slow novel. I was halfway through and saying to my partner that I wasn’t sure I could face keeping on reading it. I started out being a bit wary of it, because of the changing perspectives.
I wasn’t won over by the way there were ‘bytes’ of information from the way that Scarlett and Lucas thought. I didn’t like the consciousnesses changing, and I thought Avery was an idiot. A rich, spoilt idiot.
I didn’t even realise Earl was black. Call me stupid, but I didn’t even look at the front cover before I started this novel. And then it doesn’t bother me that people would be a different race to me, so I guess I didn’t pick it up for ages.
Cliche, cliche, cliche. Fall for for the ‘bad boy’, get dumped, go back to the ‘safe choice’. Seriously girl, I’d be pretty worried you know what love is before you head off into the woods with someone.
I read at least five of the short stories (I had to say I had read half at least), and although the prose was fantastic, the characters believable, there was something about each storyline that left me grasping at anything that would give me meaning with them. I’d read each one, and feel sort of empty, not fulfilled.
It’s the 20th anniversary after the Vietnam War. Since this novel was published and made its way into my hands I have seen a bunch of novels on the same topic. I know better than to ask for them though. I’m not even sure I asked for this one.
By the feel of things, I think the authors had a wide scope of what they could write. For me, I hate poetry. I especially hate random poetry where I can’t work out any of what is going on. Other examples were of not-true stories. What is the point of writing expository fiction if your reader can’t connect in any way with it?
This novel was slow. Very, very slow. The first half of the novel happened, and nothing had happened. The princess they set out to see isn’t all that exciting. I thought she might be in peril! And additionally, 2/3 explorers already knew who she was.
Romance. Romance, romance, romance. I forget that I generally don’t enjoy the ‘smoking’ sex scenes or powerful erections. I appreciated the differences between James and Joaquin’s love-making styles, but I wasn’t left asking for more. I read other great romances (Deep Blue) lately, and they just have an individual spark that makes them great. This novel attempted to keep me interested in Mexico, specifically Acapulco, but it just didn’t happen.