Review: Sex and Spirituality in Shanghai
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 18, 2012
One of the most interesting things about "Burning Tigress" was the depiction of Shanghai life and culture in the nineteenth century. The other interesting thing?  The erotic sex scenes, interspersed with LOTS of talk.  Not mindless chit chat, but rather deep discussions of spirituality; I'm not quite sure if that was a good thing or not.  We also see glimpses into Chinese attitudes towards Caucasians (or "ghost people" or barbarians, as they were called) at the time.  Is it accurate?  I have no idea, but the author writes well and vividly depicts the lives of her characters.Charlotte is a young Englishwoman living in Shanghai with her parents and younger brother who is described as "slow", but I'm guessing would be diagnosed as autistic today.  She's sexually curious, especially when she discovers sacred (and stolen) scrolls depicting similar images - sort of like a Chinese Kama Sutra.  Charlotte doesn't understand the value of the scrolls, but her father's servant Ken Jin certainly does, and he wants to return them to the rightful owner.  All Charlotte knows is that she's intrigued by the images, she wants to try them, and she wants Ken Jin, with his legendary reputation among women, to teach her.  He agrees, and they meet in secret, since many people - most notably Charlotte's father - would not approve of a romantic relationship between a Chinese man and a white woman.This book has many passionate scenes, but it is even heavier on discussions of spirituality and religion.  At times, I found the mix a bit jarring, although I did enjoy learning about nineteenth century Chinese beliefs, again, assuming it's written with historical accuracy.I do want to make a quick comment about the cover art which features a white hero.  It seems disrespectful to the author, who I imagine would have preferred to have her character accurately represented, and also to readers, as it seems rather patronizing in assuming we would not read a book with Chinese characters.Note - the book includes brief excerpts from books 1-3 and 5-6 of the Tigress series.