The Extraordinary Life of The Last Emperor of China The Extraordinary Life of The Last Emperor of China Jia had contact with Li Shuxian, Puyi's widow, for nearly 30 years, and was the first person to collect Puyi's writings and record Li's recollections of her husband. He even wrote the epigraph on Puyi's casket. Jia also interviewed over 300 people who had associations with Puyi since the late Qing dynasty, thus making the book's authenticity irreplaceable. The book narrates Puyi's life from his entry into the Forbidden City at the age of three in 1908 to his death in 1967. It tries to avoid repeating the stories already mentioned
When the Emperor was Divine conclusion, the earlier pages testify to the author's lyric gifts and narrative poise". Sylvia Santiago of "Herizons" magazine described Otsuka's writing style as "scrupulously unsentimental", thus "creating a contrast to the sensitive subject matter". "" said the novel was "a meditation on what it means to be loyal to one's country and to one's self, and on the cost and the necessity of remaining brave and human". "When the Emperor was Divine" won the American Library Association's Alex Award in 2003 and also won an Asian American Literary Award. When the Emperor was Divine When the Emperor was Divine is