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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
This was a powerfully moving memoir. I'm quite drawn to the sparse, simple prose found here. I'm now very interested in reading more memoir or fiction from Mao-era China. Fascinating.
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
informative
reflective
Anchee Min’s story captivated me. I was not familiar with her work when I started the book, I just wanted to learn more about China. This book was beautifully written.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Sexual content, Violence
This book was very interesting. I have read another book that she wrote, but I can't remember the name of it.
"Don't break your nerves, because it would not be worth it; no one really cares about what happens to you. Being egotistical is not a good idea. You can eat yourself up that way."
I was expecting more. She is still brainwashed by the Chinese Communist party
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Anchee Min’s personal journey as she survived and eventually exited the world of Communist China.
Her journey is remarkable and the writing was evocative of Chinese and Japanese films- very dramatic.
The rich details of her life ( the chicken episode
Her journey is remarkable and the writing was evocative of Chinese and Japanese films- very dramatic.
The rich details of her life ( the chicken episode
Anchee Min tells her incredible life story in her two memoirs, Red Azalea and The Cooked Seed. Red Azalea covers her childhood in China (she says that she became an adult at age 5) up to 1984, when she emigrated to the U.S. Born in 1957 to educated parents in Shanghai, Anchee’s youth is stolen from her by her forced membership in the Red Guards and swept up in Madame Mao’s Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. After three grueling years of hard labor at a collective farm, Anchee is “discovered” by a talent scout for one of Madame Mao’s propaganda films and she moves back to Shanghai. Employed there by a film company, her life is equally precarious, with constant threats against her family, sickness, emotional abuse, and fear that she will be sent back to the farm for more hard labor. Anchee determines that she must leave China for her own safety and that of her family’s. Joan Chen, a friend from the Shanghai Film Studio who became a movie actress in the U.S., helps Anchee obtain a passport and visa to the United States. Min cannot imagine the very different life she is about to experience. [See also review of The Cooked Seed]
I found both memoirs to be fascinating, for Min's skillful prose, psychological insight, and powerful story of the immigrant experience.
I found both memoirs to be fascinating, for Min's skillful prose, psychological insight, and powerful story of the immigrant experience.
Writing was often stilted and story was not very interesting. I've read other Cultural Revolution books that were far better. I wouldn't bother with this one.