Empress Orchid Audiobook By Anchee Min cover art

Empress Orchid

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Empress Orchid

By: Anchee Min
Narrated by: Alexandra O'Karma
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The critically acclaimed author, Anchee Min, paints a fresh portrait of the last Chinese empress in this brilliantly fictionalized tale set during the waning days of the empire.

Seventeen-year-old Orchid belongs to an aristocratic family that has fallen on hard times. Unexpectedly, she is chosen as one of the emperor's lesser concubines. Within the Forbidden City are thousands of women hoping to bear the emperor a son and become his empress. Orchid, determined and resourceful, schemes her way into the royal bed and seduces the emperor. But as the opium trade erodes the might of the Ch'ing dynasty, Orchid find herself at the center of a crumbling nation.

A colorful depiction of one of history's least understood women, The Empress Orchid is another enthralling masterpiece for Anchee Min.

©2004 Anchee Min Fiction Historical Fiction China

Critic reviews

"Powerful and brilliantly conceived....[An] insightful, magnetic, and quietly revolutionary resurrection of a remarkable woman." (Booklist)
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Whoever edited this though needs to take the mouth sounds of the narrator, swallow and obviously drinking water.

Such a good story

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Loved it. Had lots of interesting information and a plot that kept you wanting to listen! Great listen - or read!

Historical fiction china

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I am not normally interested in things Royal or excessively interested in things Asian, but this was a good book. It covers a rather long portion of time, in which age happens to characters and they act not always as proscribed. I like the strength of the title character, who is drawn with the lightest brush strokes and in an understated manner. A real welcome from female characters who are strong and in your face. The narrator speaks very slowly and in hushed tones, mimicking the role of women in traditional Chinese society.

intruiging and broad

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I love the book and will continue to read this in Kindle version. But bought both the Kindle version and the Audible version to do through “whisper-sync”. But they do not sync up. The narrated version would not download in Kindle. And the chapter headings don’t match up. So you can’t in fact go back and forth between reading and listening. Drove me crazy and wasted tons of time trying to find where you left off.

The narrator was only “decent”. I didn’t mind the saliva and throat sounds as much as others, and yes she was on the bland side, but it wasn’t that bad.

Great book. But either read it or listen to it, don’t try to go back and forth.....

The audio version does not sync with written versi

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I liked this book, but I cannot recommend this audio version. Each swallow and mouth sound the narrator made, which happened very often, was a huge distraction and very irritating to me. If this was not the book of the month for my book club, I would have abandoned it early on.

Liked the book, but not the narration!

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Would you try another book from Anchee Min and/or Alexandra O'Karma?

possibly.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The story was too long and drawn out. I enjoyed the historical aspect, but it was an 18 hr. listen.

Did Alexandra O'Karma do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

She did.

Do you think Empress Orchid needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No.

Any additional comments?

The story teller was too close to her microphone. You could hear every time she would swallow. It was a bit distracting.

empress orchid

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The Empress Orchid is a fascinating look into the inter workings of China's Imperial Court. However, the narrator was absolutely the worse I've ever heard. I almost never complain about the narration, but this narrator is terrible. Not a single sentence was completed without loud slobbery swallowing. I read the other reviews which criticized the narrator, but I was interested in the story so I knew what I was getting. Why or why do producers of audiobooks allow such terrible narrations.

Background on the stories reveals that the writer and others are trying to rehabilitate the last Empress Dowager. Apparently, in the 1900's stories about Empress Dowager Cixi's cruelty and manipulations were highly exaggerated to make a good story. Somewhere in the middle is probably the truth.

Great story if you can tolerate the narrator.

Fabulous Story Ruined by a Terrible Narrater

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I loved this book. The color and tenor was rich. I can't wait for the next book to come to audible. I have always enjoyed stories from this period in Chinese, Japanese and European history and this was beautifully done.

While I love, love, love the story, this is honestly the worst narrated book I have ever heard. She sounds like she has a bad case of cotton mouth. You can here the smacking noises she makes all through the book. And As I would just get caught up in the story, the narrator would swallow and gulp. Please find someone else to do the reading!

Wonderful Story

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I read this book a while ago and really liked it. I had some credits to use on Audible and thought I'd download it and listen while I traveled. I should of listened to the sample first. The narrator seems to pause more often than is necessary and at what seems to be in the middle of sentences.

Narrator pauses too often

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The depth of the the history, culture, and humanity expessesed in the telling of this astonishing life story cannot help but to enrich you long after you have listened to the last of this book

Great book

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