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A review by carmenrm
The Private Papers of Eastern Jewel by Maureen Lindley
2.0
I have so many issues with this book that i don't know how to even start...
Eastern Jewel is presented to us as the rebellious daughter of the Chinese Emperor and one of his concubines. Due her behavior she is sent to Japan as the new member of a wealthy family. In that house she did not match well with the feminine figures. She also gets the same education as the sons of that family. When she is 14-15 years old she is ABUSED by the adoptive grandfather and the adoptive father. I put that word in capital letters because for readers that fact is presented as something powerful and something good that did no damage in our main character. After that, she is PROSTITUTED by her adoptive father and, again that is something good because she is not doing the same things as the other girls of her age and class.
Then 3/4 of the books it is just about how she pass from lover to lover leaving the rest of her life in a second place. I did my research and i think that there was much more to say about the life of Yoshiko than her sexual life.
Another thing i did not like at all were some license that the author took that made no sense between her cognitions and her actions. For example, how she can be such a good spy and then a guy she met for a day say that he will be moving with her (not asking, affirming) and the only thing she replay is "and we didn't even had sex yet". Also, in another occasion out of nowhere she gets to the conclusion that she is into jerks because "she feels sexually attracted by her biological father". I was shocked and i'm still.
Also i did not like Yoshiko at all. It was impossible for me to empathize with her. She was not coherent with her actions. She was selfish so many times through the book and when the rest of the characters do the same they are all the bad on the earth.
Finally the ending was awful and i will not say anything else about it.
It was a book with a lot of potential that was destroyed by a bad main character that i'm sure that has nothing to do with the real Yoshiko Kawashima.
Eastern Jewel is presented to us as the rebellious daughter of the Chinese Emperor and one of his concubines. Due her behavior she is sent to Japan as the new member of a wealthy family. In that house she did not match well with the feminine figures. She also gets the same education as the sons of that family. When she is 14-15 years old she is ABUSED by the adoptive grandfather and the adoptive father. I put that word in capital letters because for readers that fact is presented as something powerful and something good that did no damage in our main character. After that, she is PROSTITUTED by her adoptive father and, again that is something good because she is not doing the same things as the other girls of her age and class.
Then 3/4 of the books it is just about how she pass from lover to lover leaving the rest of her life in a second place. I did my research and i think that there was much more to say about the life of Yoshiko than her sexual life.
Another thing i did not like at all were some license that the author took that made no sense between her cognitions and her actions. For example, how she can be such a good spy and then a guy she met for a day say that he will be moving with her (not asking, affirming) and the only thing she replay is "and we didn't even had sex yet". Also, in another occasion out of nowhere she gets to the conclusion that she is into jerks because "she feels sexually attracted by her biological father". I was shocked and i'm still.
Also i did not like Yoshiko at all. It was impossible for me to empathize with her. She was not coherent with her actions. She was selfish so many times through the book and when the rest of the characters do the same they are all the bad on the earth.
Finally the ending was awful and i will not say anything else about it.
It was a book with a lot of potential that was destroyed by a bad main character that i'm sure that has nothing to do with the real Yoshiko Kawashima.