Rating: 
Summary: Shapeless and excessive
Review: My first experience with Kathryn Harrison was the hypnotic Poison, a riveting, mysterious, tactile tale of the Inquisition. I have always enjoyed historical fiction; never had I encountered an author whose prose was so poetic--yet precise; we might not even know the names of the central characters, but we have, from the very beginning, an excrutiating, intimate knowledge of their circumstances and substance...and enjoy a narrative thread so taut it vibrates with each tortured, lyrical paragraph.I have championed this author even when critics sprang up everywhere to defame her for her memoir of incest, The Kiss (which I actually found to be eloquent and restrained, especially as compared to others in the genre). I purchased The Binding Chair the moment it appeared in stores, and devoured the first several chapters enraptured. It was thus, with the greatest frustration and disappointment--indeed, embarrassment, as I had already recommended the book enthusiastically to several friends(including one declared Harrison foe)--that I watched the novel spiral into a deformed mess of sordid, irrelevant detail and vague side stories. I found most that most of the characters lacked both credibility and appeal, and their relationships were, for the most part, founded upon obtuse and inexplicable attachments. The narrative structure became less and less compelling, lurching back and forth in time and place as it labored toward a contrived and unoriginal ending...such a waste of what must have been a considerable research effort on Harrison's part...and truly disturbing to see this normally disciplined author wielding ill-defined excesses of anger and depravity in this fashion.
Rating: 
Summary: Dont waste your time
Review: Please dont waste your time reading this book. It's one of the worst book i've read in a long time. The story line is really disjointed and there isn't any real meaning to the ending.
Rating: 
Summary: Bound to More Than a Chair
Review: The Binding Chair is an exotic mixture of a woman's search for love, acceptance, and significance. Set in turn of the 19th century Shanghai, the book reveals the horrors of bound feet, not to mention other indignities that Chinese women had to endure. The juxtaposition of British imperial society with that of the upper class Chinese shows an uneasy mingling of cultures that is often difficult to understand. The main character, May, is a Chinese woman who escapes an unfortunate arranged marriage and purposely finds herself a place in a high class brothel. From there she goes on to marriage in the upper class, but her life in not necessarily a happy one. May experiences loss, not only of her first family, but of her own family as well. The tragedies that affect May also affect those around her especially her neice, Alice, and other women she encounters. The pain May experiences in her bound feet, reflects the inner pain she suffers for her past and what could have been her future. The binding chair, where her grandmother tied her to bind and break her feet, is symbolic of the invisible bonds of society and the ever present tranquility of opium; that May overcomes her bonds with offers of kindness and charity, is a tribute to her enduring spirit and her search for freedom. Ultimately, this is a spellbinding novel about the nature of women's committment to themselves and to family, and ultimately, to the traditions that bind them to their time and place. A must for discerning readers.
Rating: 
Summary: Mostly very well-written, but unravels at the end
Review: The first 3/4 of the book was very enjoyable, but it was as if the author tried to cram a whole additional book's worth of plot into the final quarter, and much is missing. The character studies therefore begin to weaken.
I was terribly disappointed in the ending. Unlike some other reviewers, I did not find it to be inevitable nor even believable.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining
Review: The title is deceiving: I picked up this book expecting a young heroine and a crusade against foot-binding. In actuality, the foot-binding seems almost an afterthought. It's used more as a symbol of the various ways people in the novel are crippled, physically and emotionally, throughout their lives. The novel does not seem to flow--it jumps back and forth between episodes in different lives. Although all the stories are made to tie in together at the end, somehow it doesn't really work for me. Perhaps fewer subplots would have streamlined the novel and allowed the author's wonderful prose to settle more fully into the main storylines.
Rating:
Summary: Dont waste your time
Review: This book was a good vocabulary builder if read with a dictionary close at hand. The story was disjointed and disappointing.
Rating:
Summary: Vocabulary Builder
Review: This book was a good vocabulary builder if read with a dictionary close at hand. The story was disjointed and disappointing.
Rating: 
Summary: Brutal reality
Review: This fictional story is based on a true story. A good account of the abuses incurred on young asian women for the sake of beauty. Crippling them for life in the name of beauty. This also has a lovely story of one man's devotion to a woman crippled by the painful process of binding her feet. I thoroughly enjoyed this book!
Rating:
Summary: Haunting and Flawless
Review: This is my first experience with Kathryn Harrison's work and I am left almost speechless with awe. Her writing glitters and is magical. Her characters walk right of the page. The strange and almost surreal goings on are totally believable. Read it and you will weep at times, and shake in anger at others. This novel made me think about feminism in a different way. The final scene shocked me and will stay with me for some time. This is a must read!
Rating:
Summary: Caught between two worlds
Review: This is the story of the beautiful May-li as she struggles desperately to live behind her Eastern culture and become more Westernized. Her bound feet make this impossible as they are a constant reminder of her true heritage. This story is painfully beautiful and the images drawn linger long after the book has ended. If you are looking for infomation on the ancient custom of foot binding, this is not the book for you. This book is about self-denial, and incredible pain. We never truly lose hope until May does and we find ourselves wishing for just a little more time.
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