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180th out of 200 books
—
535 voters
Petals From The Sky
by
Mingmei Yip
When twenty-year old Meng Ning declares that she wants to be a Buddhist nun, her mother is aghast. In her eyes, a nun's life means only deprivation - "no freedom, no love, no meat." But to Meng Ning it means the chance to control her own destint, and to live in an oasis of music, art, and poetry far from her parents' unhappy union
With an enigmatic nun known as Yi Kong, "De
Paperback, 352 pages
Published
March 1st 2010
by Kensington
(first published February 16th 2010)
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Ugh. It started out with a sort of a slightly jumpy literary-vibe, jumpy in the sense that the topics covered by the protagonist's POV tended to bounce around a lot. But it was okay, I've read worse...
Then when the protagonist goes to Hong Kong for a Buddhist retreat, I kept wondering if this was supposed to be some sort of facetious commentary or satire of commercialized Buddhism...except the main character's voice remained deadly serious. She spouted sound-bites of Buddhist philosophy, but hal...more
Then when the protagonist goes to Hong Kong for a Buddhist retreat, I kept wondering if this was supposed to be some sort of facetious commentary or satire of commercialized Buddhism...except the main character's voice remained deadly serious. She spouted sound-bites of Buddhist philosophy, but hal...more
This book was so disappointing! I was really enraptured the first few chapters. Meng Ning wanted to be a Buddhist nun and I was really hoping I'd learn some interesting things about Buddhism through this book.
Unfortunately, she meets a man right away in the book. He's super weird and clingy with her almost right off the bat so I kept wondering what his issues were.
The author then delves into a love scene which was so awkward I could barely read it. Meng Ning is so naive that it felt like she wa...more
Unfortunately, she meets a man right away in the book. He's super weird and clingy with her almost right off the bat so I kept wondering what his issues were.
The author then delves into a love scene which was so awkward I could barely read it. Meng Ning is so naive that it felt like she wa...more
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MingMei Yip writes a beautiful, lyrical story about a 30 yr old woman, Meng Ning who is torn between her love to be a Buddhist nun and Michael. Meng Ning joins a retreat to " test her karma to be a nun". When she pays her fee for the retreat, she is told that her $500 dollar bill is a fake. When she was in Paris, she had asked a friend to exchange her Hong Kong money in the black market. How could she have known it was fake? As she was trying to talk to the registration about her situation, a ma...more
Petals From The Sky
Author: Mingmei Yip
Kensington Books, March 2010
$15.00 Paperback
A different kind of love story
A Book Review by TOM LAVENTURE
Petals From The Sky (Kensington Books) is the third novel from Mingmei Yip, who says she puts a lot of her own life into her stories whether as events or composites of people who have shared her life.
Petals From The Sky is a spiritual, physical and emotional journey with the central character, Du Meng Ning, drawing on her life of hard work and devotion to...more
Author: Mingmei Yip
Kensington Books, March 2010
$15.00 Paperback
A different kind of love story
A Book Review by TOM LAVENTURE
Petals From The Sky (Kensington Books) is the third novel from Mingmei Yip, who says she puts a lot of her own life into her stories whether as events or composites of people who have shared her life.
Petals From The Sky is a spiritual, physical and emotional journey with the central character, Du Meng Ning, drawing on her life of hard work and devotion to...more
Beautifully written story. I was not expecting to be drawn into the story and fall in love with the very sensitive characters, Meng and Michael. Although, overall the story was well developed, I felt that some of the supporting characters could have eitheR been excluded or better drawn; I would liked to have seen a little bit more development.
Don't want to give anything away, so open yourself for a wonderful journey into Chinese culture and Buddhism. Worth reading.
Don't want to give anything away, so open yourself for a wonderful journey into Chinese culture and Buddhism. Worth reading.
This one had mixed reviews on Goodreads so I wasn't sure if I'd like it, but I'm glad I gave it a chance. It's a story of a Chinese girl who is torn between becoming a buddhist nun and marrying the American doctor she falls in love with. Good story with lots of bugghist stories and references.
hrmm. I was a little disapppointed in this. Perhaps if I had read more of the synopsis I would have had a better idea of what it was all about. All I read was "buddhist nun, mother disapproves of choice" and I was like hellloooo this sounds interesting. But the reality of the novel was a little lacking. It was a little whingey, she went on and on about "oh what should I do" when really she'd already made her choices. Some of the supporting characters in the novel were superfluous and could have...more
Oct 14, 2011
Jessica
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Jessica by:
Dayanara T
karena saya tidak bisa buat review, jadi saya komen saja yaa. hahaha.
catatan : JANGAN BACA REVIEW INI KALAU TIDAK MAU SPOILER!
jujur, awal lihat covernya dan judul pengarangnya, saya kira ini novel Indonesia. Ternyata terjemahan. dan ngga nyangka juga ni novel tebal juga. Kirain semua novel gagasmedia tuh ga bakal tebel-tebel kayak gini. Oh ya, ceritanya juga romance yang berbumbu spiritual.
Buku ini mencampur adukkan emosi saya. hahaha. ga pernah saya merasa termotivasi, mencari, bingung, senang,...more
catatan : JANGAN BACA REVIEW INI KALAU TIDAK MAU SPOILER!
jujur, awal lihat covernya dan judul pengarangnya, saya kira ini novel Indonesia. Ternyata terjemahan. dan ngga nyangka juga ni novel tebal juga. Kirain semua novel gagasmedia tuh ga bakal tebel-tebel kayak gini. Oh ya, ceritanya juga romance yang berbumbu spiritual.
Buku ini mencampur adukkan emosi saya. hahaha. ga pernah saya merasa termotivasi, mencari, bingung, senang,...more
I can definitely say this wasn't one of my favorite books. The in depth description of the Buddhist nuns and monks was extremely interesting, but the rest of the story was very meh. I did like all the various nun and monk names, and it made me wonder what my Buddhist name would be, but that was about it.
The plot didn't always make sense to me. I didn't understand the main characters motivations for doing certain things. It seemed like if someone gave her any attention at all, she started to come...more
The plot didn't always make sense to me. I didn't understand the main characters motivations for doing certain things. It seemed like if someone gave her any attention at all, she started to come...more
Not as good as I thought it was going to be. I had no idea it was going to be a romance. Here is the review given: "When twenty-year-old Meng Ning declares that she wants to be a Buddhist nun, her mother is aghast. In her eyes, a nun's life means only deprivation - 'no freedom, no love, no meat'. But to Meng Ning, it means the chance to control her own destiny, and to live in an oasis of music, art, and poetry far from her parents' unhappy union. With an enigmatic nun known as Yi Kong, 'Dependin...more
When I picked up this book and read the first chapter, I was excited to continue. I thought that it would be a book that could touch and move me. Instead I found shallow characterizations, awkward dialogue and simplistic writing. Not that any of these things are deal breaking, but when they all came together... It was a mess to read. Despite the fact that she tried to add depth to each character, I found that the depth she added was either unbelievable or, was only barely touched on, like the in...more
So far, I am enjoying this. The author smoothly transitions from present to past events. I'm a little unsure of the relationship between the narrator and Michael. Something seems off about Michael and I'm waiting to find out about his secret life or something sinister. We'll see how the rest of this story goes.
I just finished this. I was aggravated for, at least, half of this book. The story started out nicely and was enjoyable to read. But then it gets irritating how naive Meng Ning is. She spe...more
I just finished this. I was aggravated for, at least, half of this book. The story started out nicely and was enjoyable to read. But then it gets irritating how naive Meng Ning is. She spe...more
I felt like I was cheated after finishing this book. The summary on the book claimed that it went from the Buddhist temples to the streets of New York while detailing a woman's choice between the monastery and a last chance at romantic love.
While, yes, the book did include temples, I had gotten the impression that we were going to see more of them, as in part of the woman's desire to become a nun. I was looking for an exotic getaway from normal fiction. However, the romantic rescue touted on the...more
While, yes, the book did include temples, I had gotten the impression that we were going to see more of them, as in part of the woman's desire to become a nun. I was looking for an exotic getaway from normal fiction. However, the romantic rescue touted on the...more
MingMei Yip writes a beautiful, lyrical story about a 30 yr old woman, Meng Ning who is torn between her love to be a Buddhist nun and Michael. Meng Ning joins a retreat to " test her karma to be a nun". When she pays her fee for the retreat, she is told that her $500 dollar bill is a fake. When she was in Paris, she had asked a friend to exchange her Hong Kong money in the black market. How could she have known it was fake? As she was trying to talk to the registration about her situation, a ma...more
Hmm. Something seemed wrong when, ten pages into it, I found myself checking the title page to make sure it wasn't just a strange translation. No, apparently this book was first written in English. The rest of the implausible story continued from there. I didn't really like any of the characters. Maybe it's just proof of what an indiscriminate reader I am that I still had to finish it. But I had high hopes to learn more about a different culture, and I'm afraid I was quite disappointed.
Not one of my favorites but it is a good read about Chinese culture. It was nice to follow the protaganist through her growth and develooemnt. It took me a while to finish this book because it was slow at times. You are supposed to grow with the main character, but for me it was hard to find the connection needed for this growth. Would be an excellent book for a young women questioning her sexuality, her marriage, contemplating herslef in any form.
I learned more about buddhism from this story. Yip is very lyrical and descriptive. Vanity is prevalent throughout and seems to be the turning point (realization) in the main character's decision on the committments she makes.
It wasn't very gritty, as I believe Hong Kong and New York to be. Conversely, the reference to the kitten was very disturbing and inappropriate.
I found Michael to be too needy and unrealistic. Even with the devastation he suffered as a young man, his life was an oxymoron -...more
It wasn't very gritty, as I believe Hong Kong and New York to be. Conversely, the reference to the kitten was very disturbing and inappropriate.
I found Michael to be too needy and unrealistic. Even with the devastation he suffered as a young man, his life was an oxymoron -...more
I found this book highly rated in the kindle book list and hence started to read it. I'm not sure why it was given such rating as this book was such a waste of time reading. The storyline is so childish and predictable. There are certain chapters that are utterly irrelevant and some of the facts are not interconnected. This could have been a short story if it was written properly and would have made sense. I highly do not recommend this.
I did enjoy most of this book, but my eyes kind of glazed over a few times with all the Zen thoughts, feelings and descriptions. While I admire the peacefulness of Buddhism, I felt the book delved into the religious aspect of it too much at times, leaving the characters kind of hanging outside the story line.
Yip certainly has a lyrical way of describing things, almost like poetry, but it seemed excessive enough in some areas of the book that it detracted from the heart of the story. I generally...more
Yip certainly has a lyrical way of describing things, almost like poetry, but it seemed excessive enough in some areas of the book that it detracted from the heart of the story. I generally...more
I'm kind of sad I didn't like this book, I hoped I would. The author really grabbed me in the first few chapters and she was amazingly descriptive, but I felt like it was missing a voice I could relate to.
The protagonist never really expressed her feelings in regards to the man she loved, leaving me to wonder if she even loved him. She expressed a lot of feelings about art, zen, budhist temples, nuns, monks, etc . . . but for a book about choosing between a monastic life and romanitc love it se...more
The protagonist never really expressed her feelings in regards to the man she loved, leaving me to wonder if she even loved him. She expressed a lot of feelings about art, zen, budhist temples, nuns, monks, etc . . . but for a book about choosing between a monastic life and romanitc love it se...more
Waktu awal melihat cover dan sekedar baca sinopsisnya, saya kira ini novel Indonesia, bukan terjemahan. Begitu dibaca, kok ada yang aneh ya, ternyata benar terjemahan.
Saya termasuk orang yang anti baca novel yang sudah diterjemahkan, lebih enak kalau baca dari bahasanya langsung. Tapi karena sudah terlanjur, apa boleh buat saya teruskan..
Terus terang sampai sekarang masih belum menamatkan buku ini, karena bahasanya membuat saya bingung, dan banyak adegan-adegan yang 'kurang pantas' seperti adega...more
Saya termasuk orang yang anti baca novel yang sudah diterjemahkan, lebih enak kalau baca dari bahasanya langsung. Tapi karena sudah terlanjur, apa boleh buat saya teruskan..
Terus terang sampai sekarang masih belum menamatkan buku ini, karena bahasanya membuat saya bingung, dan banyak adegan-adegan yang 'kurang pantas' seperti adega...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
The more I read Mingmei's work the more I grow to enjoy the authenticity underlying her work. This story is about a woman who dreamed of becoming a Buddhist nun and the whole process of her final decision. Throughout, I kept thinking "wow, she went through that?" I have no idea if she did or didn't, but Yip wrote this as if she had experienced it.
Having been around Buddhist monks and nuns, I know that her research (or experience, whichever it is) could be true. I appreciate that plus her abilit...more
Having been around Buddhist monks and nuns, I know that her research (or experience, whichever it is) could be true. I appreciate that plus her abilit...more
Sufficient for light holiday reading but not fantastic; typical story with an unsurprising ending and parts that leave me wondering about their relevance.
Answers the question: What if Nicholas Sparks had written the script for "In The Mood For Love"? (Even Sparks could do better than this, I'm sure.)
A book about a Chinese girl from a poor, dysfunctional family who prepared to become a nun, but while at a Buddhist retreat, gets swept away by a rich old American sugardaddy. Um yeah... I know Mingmei Yip probably did not meant for her story to turn out sounding like this. She probably wanted to portray the protagonist (Meng Ning) as an innocent, somewhat confused girl just looking for herself. However, the book's awkward dialogue and prose turned Meng Ning into an annoying, frustratingly dumb,...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I learned more about Buddhism from this novel.The story of the Buddhist nun, Yi Kong, Meng Ning's mentor who inspired her to study Buddhism, showed how women fit into the religion. I thought Meng Ning's story could have wrapped up sooner, however. The tension in her relationship between the American doctor Michael Fuller versus Yi Kong her mentor dragged on a little too long, though I enjoyed it as a love story and a story of a young Chinese woman's contact with the life and ideas of the West. M...more
Stilted. And some of the timelines didn't make sense e.g. One minute the characters had just met, and next thing he's proposing. Didn't hate it but there are better reads out there. At least it was an easy read.
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Mingmei Yip was born in China, received her Ph.D. from the University of Paris, Sorbonne, and held faculty appointments at the Chinese University and Baptist University in Hong Kong. She's published five books in Chinese, written several columns for seven major Hong Kong newspapers, and has appeared on over forty TV and radio programs in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mainland China, and the U.S. She immigrat...more
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