Post #10 Form B

Dear Shan Sa,
I have many praises for you. I admire how Empress has such vivid, figurative language yet still carries a heavy dose of bluntness. Your elusions and descriptions are beautifully written and the entire book has a poetic feel to it. “The palace of Precious Dew was displaying its beds of irises and orchids. With its ceilings as high as the vault of the heavens, its curtains of pearls, its screens inscribed with calligraphy, and its succession of sinuous galleries, it was a labyrinth of intrigue. Its countless doors opened onto a little corner of sky, a sloping roof, a window in the shape of a crescent moon, a rockery smothered in the twisted limbs of a wisteria or an emerald pond around which white cranes flitted.” (70) Every character has many sides and emotions which are far more complex and developed than even some people.Yet you do not falter at even the most taboo of subjects. I admire that. I truly do. However, amongst the admirations there are also questions for you. What about Empress Wu’s tale inspired you to write this book? How much of her tale is historic, how much is myth, and how much stems from your imagination?
Your admiring reader,
Virginia