I think she's a wonderful writer and this novel had so much promise: courtesans, betrayal, love, loss and ever-shifting politics. It should have been exciting. It should have been emotional. It should have been a lot shorter.
The story follows 50 years in the life of Violet, who we first meet as a child struggling to accept her bi-racial heritage (half American/half Chinese).
Her American mother runs a first-class courtesan house in Shanghai and Violet is allowed to run wild, freely indulging her curiosity about the goings-on in the house.
Through very obvious trickery, mother and daughter are separated and Violet is forced into becoming a virgin courtesan. This sounds potentially racy but it really wasn't.
Tan gives a lot of detail about a courtesan's life but it is clinically delivered and I never felt afraid for what might happen to Violet. In fact, it was hard to feel anything for Violet at all, even when she was going through what should have been traumatic times.
This was partly due to her bad personality and terrible decision-making but also to the author's inability to forge an emotional connection with the reader.
This book took Tan eight years to write and it's crammed full of interesting information about Chinese culture and history but it really needed a good edit.
All the detail can be tiresome and the story drags in places. It's such a shame.
- Laura Hewson is an ODT subeditor and mother.
