About this title: Maxine Hong Kingston writes about the bonds as well as the conflicts between women in Chinese-American culture--how the traditional Asian way of life is transformed in the new world for better and for worse. In the process, Kingston tells the story of her life, her coming of age, and her assimilation into American culture.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Description: PB, Vintage, New York, #392, September, 1977, ISBN#0394723929. Covers are showing light edge wear, reading crease at backstrip, contents are lightly browning, clean and very tight. Good. read more
"when i was finished reading this book i found out it was first published in 1975. this was hard for me to grasp, because the book feels so current. this is in part, i think, because the major themes--identity politics, to oversimplify--are handled in such a sophisticated manner during a time when other writer's were writing on the same topics in a way that only sounds quaint now. the woman warrior made it through to the post-post irony era intact!
and then also, it's nice to think about how some writers take chances on writing how they want to--like in this book, which is ostensibly "non-fiction" but moves back and forth between chinese mythology and memoir in some sort of dream state reminiscent of poe--and succeed. someday this book will be recognized outside of the creative writing classroom and on its own terms, i know it will.
but all that aside, it really is a story filled with ghosts and spirits, and every time i had to pause in reading it i couldn't wait to get back and find out what else was going to happen in the mind of the child daughter of chinese immigrant launders in california..."
"I've finally finished Maxine Hong Kingston's Warrior Woman: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts. The "ghosts" refer to her Chinese mother's habit of calling everything that isn't explainable, i.e. not Chinese, a ghost. There are immigration ghosts, ghost ghosts, American ghosts, neighbor ghosts, ghosty ghosts, even the author is sometimes referred to as a ghost because she chatters on and on like ghosts in her new country.
I honestly must say that I'm not sure if I liked the book, but I really couldn't say why.....
The book is divided into five short stories.
"No Name Woman" is about Kingston's aunt who gave birth to an illegitimate child and then killed herself. On the evening of the baby's birth and the mother and child's death, the entire village storms through the house, destroying everything because the aunt "dared" to bear a baby out of wedlock. From the moment of her suicide, Kingston says that the aunt was basically erased, forbidden afterlife existence because of her crime. It is a very powerful story.
"White Tigers," I just don't remember.
"Shaman" is about Kingston's mother. Before coming to America, her mother was a powerful doctor. The only part I really remember is how she went one on one against a ghost in a school and won.
"At the Western Palace" deals with the arrival of Kingston's aunt from China, her culturation into America, her mother's fierceness in her sister's right to her husband's home (the husband's remarried an American), and the aunt's subsequent fall into madness.
"A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe" is a story that deals with Kingston's own feelings and confusion in regards to her Chinese/American identity.
i don't know. I kind of feel like I did after I read Jean Rhys' Wild Saragasso Sea. Is something wrong with me? Why am I having such a hard time identifying with important female authors? Is it their style? Is it their story? Throughout the book, my interest wavered -- HIGH! Ok. Low. Highish. Lowish. High. Higher. Ok then! Hmmm."
"Maxine Hong Kingston uses five short stories based on the experiences, both real and imagined, of five women, including herself, in Chinese society. She speaks with a voice that is full of innocence yet anger, and her words unravel with feminine strength and courage. These five stories demonstrate the power of women, despite the fact that Chinese society expects them only to become slaves and wives. In this way, Kingston stands up for Chinese females, and by finding her voice and breaking the silence, she rebels. Through her writing, her journey of vengeance, becomes the female avenger - the woman warrior."
"Authentic voice of a Chinese woman, daughter of immigrants in California. The whole arc of immigrant experience is explored in a series of vignettes,, loosely related; the collision of cultures, stories, traditions and realities revealed through coming of age experiences of the narrator. My very favorite part of the whole book was "At the Western Palace" where Brave Orchid brings her sister, "Moon Orchid" over to reclaim Moon's "husband". There's a profound point to that story being that sometimes, it's just not possible to "adjust" or "adapt" to a different culture."
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