I read this novella for my book club, and while the actual plot of the story is fairly straightforward in many ways--woman is married to an emperor when her country loses a war, is exiled after bearing him a child and heir, spends years plotting and eventually overthrows the emperor and becomes empress herself--the book itself is actually much more about narrative, and history, and the process of recording it and archiving items and facts after major events.
The story of the titular empress is being told by Rabbit, one of the empress's handmaidens who was with her from the beginning and through her exile, to Chih, a cleric, and Chih's bird, Almost Brilliant, who is part of a race of birds who have been remembering stories of the royal family for century. So the cleric reviews items that Rabbit has, and then Rabbit chooses how to tell the parts of the story to Chih and Almost Brilliant she wishes to, before the empress's daughter is crowned the new ruler of the land. It is a book that is as concerned with form as it is with plot, and while it never had the moment of true a-ha that I was waiting for, I really enjoyed reading and thinking about it.
Grade: B
The story of the titular empress is being told by Rabbit, one of the empress's handmaidens who was with her from the beginning and through her exile, to Chih, a cleric, and Chih's bird, Almost Brilliant, who is part of a race of birds who have been remembering stories of the royal family for century. So the cleric reviews items that Rabbit has, and then Rabbit chooses how to tell the parts of the story to Chih and Almost Brilliant she wishes to, before the empress's daughter is crowned the new ruler of the land. It is a book that is as concerned with form as it is with plot, and while it never had the moment of true a-ha that I was waiting for, I really enjoyed reading and thinking about it.
Grade: B
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