The Private Papers of Eastern Jewel by Maureen Lindley
Eastern Jewel was the daughter of a Chinese prince and one of his concubines. After spying on her father having sex with a servant girl when she was 8, Eastern Jewel was sent to live with a friend of her father’s in Japan, where she was raped at the age of 15 by her adoptive grandfather and shortly thereafter by her adoptive father. Yes, she was willing (disturbingly so), but she was a teenager and these men were her adoptive family! She then proceeded to have sex with just about anything that moved, before becoming a spy for Japan against her native country during World War II.
Okay, did we really need to read about – in detail- EVERY sexual experience that Eastern Jewel ever had? About how she enjoyed the pain her adoptive father liked to inflict, or how she later realized that she liked brutal men because she was secretly lusting after her father? No, I don’t really think that we did. Maybe some of it was necessary, since it did lead into how she got her job as a spy – although, interestingly, not how much of her spying was conducted – but literally the first 2/3 of the book were entirely consumed by her sleeping her way through her life.
I was really very interested in Eastern Jewel’s life as a spy, but if only 80-100 pages were needed to tell that part of her story, perhaps this book didn’t need to be 300 pages long, maybe 150 at the most. I will say, though, that Lindley is a talented author. Her writing and storytelling ability made the first 2/3 of the book at least somewhat bearable for me. Still, though, this would have been a ‘did not finish’ if I had not been reading it for the LibraryThing Early Reviewer program, because 2/3 of the book seemed to have very little to do with the overall story and were just salacious for the fun of it. The last 1/3 of this book was interesting enough to almost make the whole thing worthwhile, but not quite. If I was one who rated books, I’d give it 2.5 stars; if I had been asked to rate it 2/3 of the way though it would have probably merited only 1.5 stars.
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Source: I received this book from the publisher after I was chosen by LibraryThing to receive it.
Every review I read for this book makes me sad that I bothered to get it. It looked so interesting! I really don’t want to hear about Eastern Jewel’s sex life though. I should just read it so I can give it away. I’m glad I only spent 50p!
.-= Meghan´s last blog ..Library Loot: Week of Nov 8th, 2009 =-.
I was really looking forward to picking this one up off my shelf, until I started seeing reviews for it. The reason I wanted to read it was definitely not her sex life! :/
.-= WordLily´s last blog ..Words from my reading =-.
Your review has definitely made me rethink this book. It looks good but it sounds like the sex scenes are a little much.
.-= Stephanie´s last blog ..Teaser Tuesday: Peony in Love =-.
I think I’ll pass on this one. Thanks for the honest review.
I got this one from LibraryThing too, and I better read it soon… I’m sad that you didn’t like it, though! Hopefully I can struggle through so I can produce some sort of review for LT. Thanks for the honest review.
.-= Heather @ Book Addiction´s last blog ..The Likeness by Tana French =-.
Your review echoes the feelings of a few others that I have read. You are not alone in your thoughts on this novel. I’ll be passing on this one. Honest reviews are very important and I’m glad you are truthful in your writing.
.-= A Bookshelf Monstrosity´s last blog ..Waiting On Wednesday (8) =-.
I felt the same way. I almost gave up reading it completely, but the premise of her spying was so interesting. I ended up skimming through most of the book looking for that portion of her life. It was rather disappointing to have only about 1/3 to 1/4 of the book enjoyable to me.
Ugh, I hate gratuitous sex scenes in general, and if they take up two thirds of a novel? Definitely not for me. Thank you for your review!
Why would anybody want to read so much about a characters sexual exploits. Thanks for providing ur views. I for one will not bother to read this book. Though I must say the cover was quite good. Teaches something important never go by looks
.-= Shona´s last blog ..See Jane Date by Melissa Senate =-.
Say it isn’t so. I have this one and was looking forward to reading it. I was so attracted to the cover.
I could never get into this book for some reason.
You’re not the first one I’ve heard say this one isn’t so good and I’m bummed about it.
I didn’t like my last book from the LT Early Reviewers either
I recently received a review request for Lloyd Lofthouse’s Our Hart (a sequel to My Splendid Concubine) and was considering picking up The Private Papers of Eastern Jewel to read in the meantime because I thought it would be similar to MSC. Your honest review (to my disappointment, I don’t seem to see enough of these on book blogs these days) has now saved me the cost of purchasing this on amazon. I really don’t enjoy over-sexed hist-fic. Thanks for letting us know!
.-= Allie ~ Hist-Fic Chick´s last blog ..Coco Chanel & WWII: An Unfashionable Ensemble =-.
I hate it when the press hype for a book doesnt match the book! Thank you for the honest review!
.-= Amused´s last blog ..Cute Bookmarks! =-.
I don’t think I will be interested in this one either. Though her life as a spy really does sound interesting to me
Glad I didn’t buy or request this one. The premise is fascinating.
.-= Beth F´s last blog ..Thursday Tea: Emma on Film =-.
Oh, this sounded so interesting and the cover is so beautiful. What a disappointment.
I hate it you didn’t like it that much. It is strange that so much of the book was taken with her sexual adventures when that was not the focus of the book. I thought it was going to be more about her spying too. I have this book on my shelf. I am not in as much of a hurry to read it now.
.-= Rebecca´s last blog ..Ideas for Colorful Challenge Selections =-.