My Last Empress

by Da Chen

A sweeping story of passion and obsession, set against the upheavals of 19th-century imperial China, by the New York Times bestselling author Da Chen
 
   When Samuel Pickens’ great love tragically loses her life, Samuel travels the globe, Annabelle always on his mind. Eventually, he comes face to face with the mirror image of his obsession in the last place he would expect, and must discover her secrets and decide how far he will go for a woman he loves. 
   Da Chen immerses the reader in the world of the Chinese imperial palace, filled with ghosts and grief, where bewitching concubines, treacherous eunuchs, and fierce warlords battle for supremacy. Da takes us deeply into an epic saga of 19th century China, where one man searches for his destiny and a forbidden love.

Genres: Historical Fiction, China, Fiction, Historical, Asian Literature, Romance, Ebooks

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Da Chen (born in 1962 in Fujian, China) was a Chinese author whose works include Brothers, China's Son, Sounds of the River, Sword, and Colors of the Mountain. A graduate of Beijing Language and Culture University and Columbia Law School, Da Chen lived in the Hudson Valley in New York but then moved to Torrance, California with his wife, the paranormal romance author Sunni, and two children. Brothers has been awarded best book of 2006 by The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Miami Herald and Publishers Weekly.

Chen passed away on December 17, 2019 at his home in Temecula, California from lung cancer.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Krystal · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's no denying the author can write lyrical prose, but the content is awful.

I'd talk about the plot, but it doesn't involve much more than a pathetic white man with a Lolita complex.

Obviously, I hated him. He's a loathsome protagonist who sees himself doing no wrong because he's led by the ghost of a lost love. He sinks into depravity very quickly and it's nauseating reading his justifications.

Honestly, he's just a terrible human being which made this story awful to read. There's an obsession with sex and fetishising any young female that appears, and there's zero talk of his lack of morality. Any other plot was easily overshadowed by his single-minded focus on getting his rocks off.

This book is a major ICK and will leave you desperate for a hot, cleansing shower.

Not for me, friends.

[Melissa McCauley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I always find it hard to read books with a protagonist I don’t particularly like. Samuel Pickens is perverted and obsessed with Anabelle, who seems more like a homage to the literary nymphets who have gone before her than a real person. Of course, the story is told in first person by Samuel himself, who is molesting mannequins while fantasizing about Annabelle’s ghost – like Humbert Humbert’s Dolores she is not a real person to him.

Snark Alert: I kept feeling like I had read this book before, right down to all the butterfly allusions. It seemed like the real story was about the rise and fall of Samuel’s penis. (oh dear, I hate puns)

[Joel Kirk · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read an article somewhere online that talked about how some books that are spawned from MFA Creative Writing programs have a distinctive way of coming across; and I've noticed this after reading Da Chen's "My Last Empress." (Note: Author Da Chen is a Creative Writing professor; and I recall reading a book by an MFA student, with a similar style to Chen's, called "Troublemaker and Other Saints"). There are no characters to root for, no plot to speak of, no stakes for the main characters, no obstacles. And, while I realize there are some shades of Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita," my knowledge mainly come from the film adaptations rather than the novel, so I cannot make direct comparisons between Nabokov and Chen's books.

The story is as follows: The setting is late 19th/early 20th century, and Samuel Pickens is a Caucasian man from America, possibly middle-class or slightly above, who seems to have connections (family or "friends") who get him out of scraps that may be scandalous in a legal/moral sense, or get him into academic places that other individuals may have big difficulty getting into. His obsession is a girl named Annabelle, who, from my understanding grew up in Asia...and winds up going back there. Pickens just so happens gets a job as a tutor for the Chinese prince, which allows Pickens to go looking for her. It turns out that he falls for a 13 year old half-Asian (blonde hair, blue-eyed, but with almond-shaped eyes) who looks like Annabelle, save for the eyes...that show her Asian heritage, and very much says that this 13 year old - named Qiu Rong - has an Asian father. Pickens and Qiu Rong wind up having a sexual relationship under the nose of the prince, whom somehow is oblivious to it all. (I believe he is a teenager himself, albeit one who is in his late teens, but he doesn't come off very bright, or very strong as a character or person). The relationship pretty much takes care of Pickens looking for Annabelle since Qiu Rong embodies her.

The book is further filled by "tangents" (not necessarily side plots) that has Pickens and Qiu Rong interested in who her father really is, and what happened to Annabelle (thirteen years before Pickens arrived in China, from my understanding); another "tangent" is trying to find out who is stealing from the royal family. Unfortunately, with both of these tangents, there is no sense of urgency....and it not entirely clear who is doing what to whom (e.g. a female character named "Grandpa" seems to be one who has some political power over Qiu Rong and the prince; and a Chinese man named Wang Dan, who has a unique genital "issue," is cryptic when he is approached about being Qiu Rong's father).

There are no likable characters. Samuel Pickens comes off as expecting everything to fall in his lap, and all he wants to do is be with Qiu Rong, who has satiated his wanting for Annabelle. On the other hand, the biracial Qiu Rong comes off as spoiled, rash....even though she is 13, but written to talk and act like someone twice her age. Even minor characters come and go; it is hard to keep track of who is who, and none made an impression on me as a reader.

Most importantly, in addition to all the above issues, there was a problem of world-building; it wasn't clear where characters were for majority of book since it seemed settings frequently changed.

The book overall comes off as a draft that needed to be fleshed out with better pacing, better characters, and an actual story.

[Rainie Kirkevold · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh how I want to love this book... Da Chen weaves a complex, delicious, dark tale like few others. He has excellent character development and uses symbolism beautifully. I devoured the book in one day. So this is when I want to give it 5 stars and 1 star at the same time...The perverse story line, unlikable characters and weak ending, left me fairly disappointed. I felt like the whole time you are on this epic journey, waiting for all the pieces to fall together, or at least come to an ending of significance. So much detail was involved in shaping the characters' lives and interlocking their destinies. But then, after all the build up, it seems to fizzle all of a sudden. The ending needed to go deeper. Plus, how do you not have at least one main character that is "good". Not perfect or hero good, but normal everyday good. Instead, every character was swimming in darkness. What did anyone learn? What was it all for? If it is simply a story of obsession and perversion, the unnecessary over abundance of sexual dysfunction is never balanced with the plot structure, or a satisfying ending. I'm not sure it's worth a read in comparison to his novel Brothers which is a must read!!!

[Melinda Hammontree · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not normally a prude, but this book was way too much sex for me. Death by sex, ghostly sex, anal sex, rough and bloody sex. You probably get the idea. The protagonist is a weak, whiny guy (except when having sex) who never really develops. I kept reading because I expected it to get better; it didn't.

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find it difficult to write a review on a novel that I have mixed feelings about. First this is really not my kind of genre, historical yes in the sense that it takes place in the Forbidden City in the Orient, but also very sexual and obsessive as well. The prose is beautiful, if at times almost over the top, and it is this that kept me reading. The main character is very self obsessed, very unlikable and his obsession with his dead love was extreme. Definitely a different type of book but this author can definitely write well. ARC from NetGalley/

[Cyd Madsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Da Chen is a wizard of words -- hypnotic. The tension in this book is unrelenting, the eroticism beyond endurance and overwhelming without ever slipping into the vulgar or mundane. The sensitivity to language and craftsmanship of this book are both staggering and held me in their grip from the first sentence until the last.

In all of Da Chen's books it is love that elevates every element of story and holds it above every standard ever set. In his memoirs of life in China, the reader is deeply touched by the love of home and land and family, and in My Last Empress it is the gripping love of Annabelle and her tragic death that hold both the protagonist and the reader and keeps them reading.

[Nicki Markus · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book that has a rather unlikeable 'hero' and yet it is still entrancing and captivating.

Pickens is a character that I guess you can love to hate. Some of his choices and his views make me shudder, but his story is an interesting one that kept me turning the pages despite my dislike of him.

What really made this book for me, though, is the prose. It is utterly beautiful and poetic: a joy to read. I loved Chen's descriptions; the way he set the scene and painted a portrait of the characters in this wonderful language that was familiar and yet also hinted at the mysteries Pickens faces as he travels to the East.

If you like literary fiction in Oriental settings, I can definitely recommend this book. It was a very good read.

I received this book as a free e-book ARC via NetGalley.

[Leila · Rating 3 out of 5]

Besides the fact that the main character is literally a child rapist, the twists of this book really caught me off guard. For that ALONE I give it 3 stars bc they're really good. The writing itself is kinda gross, unnecessarily lengthy at times, and again he's a serial child rapist and very very unlikeable for more reasons than that but that's the biggest one obviously

[Danice · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very well-written. The author meticulously weaves magic realism with cultural and historical themes. Although this book was well-written, I didn't like it and I wouldn't read it again or recommend it to anyone.

[Shannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lolita redux... Beautifully written but not very original and not particularly engaging.

[Gina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Love the prose, but the story... oh the story... where is it? It unfolds a little tooooo slow to keep my attention to the pages.

[Nara Santos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quem não gosta do tema Lolita não deveria ler esse daqui.

[Mayara Fragas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gostei

[Cathy Wu · Rating 2 out of 5]

the most convoluted plot ever and kinda really fucking weird do not recommend reading this while eating bc it will turn ur stomach. but like storyline was decent ish idk???

[Kim Bakos · Rating 1 out of 5]

To get this off my "reading" shelf I had to mark it is as "read", but I will tell you I didn't finish it. This is one of only three books in my whole life of reading that flat out quit reading, but I knew even this far in that it wasn't for me. After the main character had worn out five store manequins "making love" to a "ghost" I knew I didn't want to read another page of this perversion.
I was hoping to like it since I love to read things about China's history and this takes place at the end of Imperial China, but was sorely disappointed :(

[Chris Craddock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Color Me Empressed

My Last Empress by Da Chen is an historical fiction novel that takes place mainly in China during the final years of the 19th Century. The protagonist bears some similarity to the character Peter O'Toole played in The Last Emperor, the Royal Tutor from a land beyond the ocean--but the book is from an earlier era, and focuses on the royal tutor and his obsession with Annabelle, a missionary's daughter, her ghost, and Annabelle's daughter, who is the titular fourth Empress of the tutor's royal student.

It shares the setting and milieu of the Forbidden City with Bernardo Bertolucci's Last Emperor, a magnificent palace awash in corrupt enuchs and concubines, but in tone the novel resembles The Flashman Papers of George MacDonald Fraser, the supposed memoirs of Sir Harry Paget Flashman VC KCB KCIE.

Flashman is a minor character Fraser pulled from Tom Brown's Schooldays by Thomas Hughes, where Flashman is a drunk and a bully who eventually gets expelled--but in The Flashman Papers, a series of 12 books that find Flashman at the epicenter of all the major events of the British Empire during the 19th Century, he is the consummate anti-hero.

Though acclaimed as a hero, Flashman confides to the reader that he is actually a coward, and it is this unapologetic attitude that lends credence to the tales of his unlikely exploits.

The same goes for Samuel Pickens, the protagonist of My Last Empress. He also espouses quite the curriculum vitae, but is so frank and unflinching describing his own flaws and shortcomings that you tend to suspend disbelief--albeit temporarily.

In the acknowledgements Da Chen reveals that Samuel Pickens was inspired by a portrait he saw while speaking at Yale University of Mr. Horace Tracy Pitkins (class of 1892) hanging in the Woolsey rotunda. Though inspired by an actual person, all the characters and scenarios described in the novel are entirely fictional.

Da Chen grew up in China, and now lives in the United States, where he teaches Creative Writing at Fairfield University. He has written a New York Times bestselling memoir, Colors of the Mountain, and the award winning novel, Brothers, among other distinguished works of literature. His latest novel,

My Last Empress, was thoroughly enjoyable, combining a ribald tale of braggadocio with historical details and poetic flourishes. Da Chen spins quite a yarn. It is exactly what you'd hope and expect to find in a "quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore."

[Elisha Chan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Prince and princesses should have been my fav but his depiction of the 'big man', hmmm leaves me feeling like it was reading 'Grey'. Ok ok not so much lah but still...

[Cynthia Mcarthur · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mentally-disturbed. Over-sexed. Selfish and self-loathing. Meet our hero, Samuel Pickens,son of an up-right and prosperous turn of the century New England lawyer. Expected to follow in his father's oppresive and repressed footsteps, he meets the beautiful and fresh young Annabelle after his first tawdry affair with an older woman and his life begins to revolve around her. Even after her tragic death, her flitting butterfly spirit guides him in his every move, from finishing school, through his first marriage, his parents' deaths and his fateful trip to China, where Annabelle was raised as a Christian missionary. He becomes the tutor to the effiminate and intelligent puppet Emperor of the Qing dynasty and falls in love with the very young and very jaded Empress Q. Samuel becomes the Emperor's right-hand man to his own detriment, and when he and Empress Q are forced to make a run for their lives, both their fates are sealed and it is just a matter of time before they are discovered.
The descriptive writing in this book was thorough and poetic, though I felt at times a little convoluted and tedious. The dialogue is realistic, the characters fully developed.If you enjoy a little Eastern mysticism together with an abundance of individual depravity, this is the book for you.

[Gabriela Lino]

Quando olhei a capa deste livro, na vitrine da livraria, quase morri de tanta vontade lê-lo. Tinha todos os elementos para despertar a minha curiosidade: China Imperial e Da Chen, autor do meu amado A montanha e o rio.
Bom... Apesar das minhas expectativas, A última imperatriz não está na minha lista de "100 livros para ler antes de morrer". Vamos as razões.
Perkins é apaixonado por Anabelle. Contudo, seu amor de Romeu e Julieta tem um fim trágico, quando Anabelle acaba morrendo.
O rapaz, profundamente abalado, fica obcecado com a moça, recorrendo a manequins para suprir sua ausência.
Surge então, a oportunidade de viajar a China, onde ele acaba conhecendo uma imperatriz que possui os mesmos traços de Anabelle, e por quem termina proibidamente apaixonado.
Um livro no qual a cada página você passa a achar o protagonista mais pertubado, com todo este amor doentio pelo fantasma de Anabelle. Apesar da magia da escrita de Chen, verdadeiro gênio das palavras, a história é realmente ruim.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoy reading books on China, both fiction and nonfiction. So when I saw this at the library I thought I got lucky. When I started reading, well not so much.

It starts out with an American, Samuel Pickens whose love interest (Annabelle) tragically dies in a fire. Annabelle lived in China, daughter of a missionary, and thus begins Pickens obsession with China and Annabelle. He goes to China in search of her. She has become more than an obsession, she has become a ghost that lives with him.

So the story begins as Pickens becomes a tutor to the last emperor and his child bride. Pickens is practically a pedophile as he tries to seduce the bride. He becomes embroiled in palace politics and starts a war with the eunuchs. Pickens is not very likeable as his obsession consumes him but maybe this plays out against the dissolution of the palace itself as they both spiral downward.

Anyway there are better books out there, I would suggest reading anything by Anchee Min or Lisa See.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Historical fiction famously being neither history nor fiction, Da Chen nonetheless combines both in a pornographic entertainment. The history derives from Da Chen's inspiration, a statue at Yale of an unfortunate alumnus who died in China during the reign of the Dowager Empress. Da Chen mines traditional Chinese sex literature, courtly abuses of power by the Empress and her eunuchs prior to the Boxer Rebellion and the Opium Wars, tribal skirmishes during the nineteenth century in China and American missionary presence there during the same period. The fiction is bizarre: what sort of character would go in for this sort of adventure? The answer is, an improbable creation cognate of Edgar Allan Poe beset by bad luck and worse dreams. The story that Samuel Pickens narrates to his scribe In-In is so lurid that it is easy to lose interest. I am not sure why I persisted to the end.

[Tonya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wanted to like it more. I love books like this. From the western part of the world. I love the traditions, the realities of life. Samuel was a well thought out character. But he angered me at times. He seemed a bit oversexed. Bleck. Also, I was waiting for everything to come together, to tie together and say, yes that is an ending. Nothing.

Samuel searches the world for the woman he loved and lost tragically. But his journey is really a bit much for this reader. I didn't enjoy it very much. I did enjoy a bit of the travels and stories but not the sex stuff. Snore. So beyond overdone.

I hope to read other books by Da Chen that might peak my interest more!

[Monica · Rating 1 out of 5]

I very much liked some of the descriptive passages, especially those of the life inside the Forbidden City, the intrigues and corruption among the eunuchs, and the lavish, doomed life style. The man can write wonderfully.

What I did not love was the plot and the characters - what several people have termed, aptly I think, a conflation of Lolita and The Last Emperor. Pickens' sexual obsession got downright creepy, and his lust objects, Annabelle and her daughter/surrogate Qiu Rong, were impossible.

[Melinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

The main protagonist leaves you confused - one minute you despise him, the next you sympathize with him and actually start to become fond of him and the ebb and flow continues. ��A motley character best describes Pickins.��

The composition is unique and complex. The melodious prose captivates your attention and is a sheer pleasure to read.��

The magically written prose and the��
convoluted protagonist give the novel a captivating edge.��

I suggest this book for its poetic prose and inviting story line.��

[Erica · Rating 2 out of 5]

My Last Empress is a very weird book. It's true that I like weird books, but I actually didn't enjoy this one. The writing is beautiful but the sex scenes are hokey - like a romance novel. Da Chen obviously (and shamelessly) borrowed from Nabokov, calling his heroine a nymphet countless times. I didn't appreciate that. I didn't buy the love story. Would not recommend.

[Charlie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author of this book is rather hard to relate to or like. The author seems to try very hard to incorporate Chinese culture into the story, but certain parts of the book just seem like they don't belong. Certain superstitions are inserted and they aren't well set up in the story. The ending is quite abrupt and also a bit unrealistic.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A compelling but rather odd read. Detailed icky factual stuff combined with a fairly good and readable story.

I find my self puzzled. Not enough to lower the score, but too much to hardily recommend to those with limited reading time. Perhaps if you have a fetish about Eunuchs or a strong interest in ancient Chinese politics?

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just felt like it dragged on at some points, and the obsession the main character had was a little too disturbing for me at points. I also felt like I couldn't really connect with the characters at all, and I wish there was more character building and more able to learn more about them, other than the protagonist of course. I would definitely be interested to learn a little more about Q.

[K Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel like the story has been down before, but in different locales. (Creepy Older dude, young impressible girl)... The constant use of pubescent was reminder that the main character was sexually fantasizing about a child.