The Palace of Heavenly Pleasure
3 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by Korky from Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire United Kingdom on Friday, November 9, 2007
Amazon.co.uk Review
Adam Williams knows China well and The Palace of Heavenly Pleasure is notable as much for his vivid sense of the land and its people as for being a thumping good melodramatic yarn.
Old-style historical novels tend to see things in black and white--Williams is as fascinated with the cultural misunderstandings and downright oppressions through which Europeans made themselves hated in China as he is with the martyrdoms and heroisms involved in the European experience of the Boxer rising. He has a passionate sense of the complexities--a mystical peasant rebellion found itself co-opted by criminal elements and by an upper class which saw the rebels as shock troops who could be used against Europeans and then disowned.
His sympathies are as much with the ruthlessly pragmatic Mandarin, who believes that he can control the situation by a few regrettable sacrifices, as with the saintly medical missionary Airton, who believes himself incapable of compromise with evil. In spite of its hairsbreadth escapes, sudden reversals and fights on moving trains, Williams' novel is adult in the best sense--the damaged, intense affair between British agent Manners and Helen, the girl he seduces and comes to love, has real passion.
I read this one on a holiday so I had a chance to get stuck into this 700 page chunker and rattle through it in just a few days ( I dread to think how long it'd have taken in half hour bits at lunchtime and bedtime with work getting in the way...)
I learned a fair bit about Chinese history and the Boxer rebellion but ultimately this is more of an 'airport blockbuster' than serious literature - and none the worse for it as who doesn't need a bit of romance and adventure in their lives!
Adam Williams knows China well and The Palace of Heavenly Pleasure is notable as much for his vivid sense of the land and its people as for being a thumping good melodramatic yarn.
Old-style historical novels tend to see things in black and white--Williams is as fascinated with the cultural misunderstandings and downright oppressions through which Europeans made themselves hated in China as he is with the martyrdoms and heroisms involved in the European experience of the Boxer rising. He has a passionate sense of the complexities--a mystical peasant rebellion found itself co-opted by criminal elements and by an upper class which saw the rebels as shock troops who could be used against Europeans and then disowned.
His sympathies are as much with the ruthlessly pragmatic Mandarin, who believes that he can control the situation by a few regrettable sacrifices, as with the saintly medical missionary Airton, who believes himself incapable of compromise with evil. In spite of its hairsbreadth escapes, sudden reversals and fights on moving trains, Williams' novel is adult in the best sense--the damaged, intense affair between British agent Manners and Helen, the girl he seduces and comes to love, has real passion.
I read this one on a holiday so I had a chance to get stuck into this 700 page chunker and rattle through it in just a few days ( I dread to think how long it'd have taken in half hour bits at lunchtime and bedtime with work getting in the way...)
I learned a fair bit about Chinese history and the Boxer rebellion but ultimately this is more of an 'airport blockbuster' than serious literature - and none the worse for it as who doesn't need a bit of romance and adventure in their lives!
Journal Entry 2 by Korky at Sadlers Fine Foods (Sadlers-OBCZ) 2-6 High St, Dav in Daventry, Northamptonshire United Kingdom on Saturday, March 29, 2008
Released 16 yrs ago (3/29/2008 UTC) at Sadlers Fine Foods (Sadlers-OBCZ) 2-6 High St, Dav in Daventry, Northamptonshire United Kingdom
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
RELEASE NOTES:
Taking to todays meet-up.
Taking to todays meet-up.
Journal Entry 3 by pudenney from Towcester, Northamptonshire United Kingdom on Saturday, March 29, 2008
Caught for my husband to read
Journal Entry 4 by sandysgrandy at Towcester, Northamptonshire United Kingdom on Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Released at Dolphin Cafe, Towcester
Journal Entry 5 by sandysgrandy at Towcester, Northamptonshire United Kingdom on Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Enjoyed this one.
I had visited the China Coast in the 1950s and 1960s (Canton, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tsingtao, Tientsin, Taku Bar)
Made it easy to picture the events in earlier times.
Released at Dolphin Cafe, Towcester
I had visited the China Coast in the 1950s and 1960s (Canton, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tsingtao, Tientsin, Taku Bar)
Made it easy to picture the events in earlier times.
Released at Dolphin Cafe, Towcester
