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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
I couldn't relate to it. I really didn't understand what the point of her stories she made for us. but I honestly believe that this book just truly isn't for me
I really tried to like this book because I had heard such great things about it from a fellow teacher, but this book just wasn't for me. I found the genre bending between myth and memoir too disorienting. I was confused for most of the novel, but the ending provided a bit more clarity. There were parts that were definitely interesting and important in the novel because Kingston addressed some of the harsh conditions for women in China and patriarchal households, but I felt like the plot line could have been more cohesive as a whole.
There are highs and lows here, and part of that probably comes with the reality of being a contemporary reader whose first time at the Asian American literary rodeo this is not. This is a foundational work for many, and I imagine many readers have come across progenitors and other perspectives by this point. Anyway, that has less to do with the text itself. I appreciate the ways in which Hong Kingston melds genres into something ultimately quite idiosyncratic. You feel as if life really is a vast melting pot of tall tales, daily experience, memorial memories, and cultural mythologies interbreeding into a consciousness that proves difficult to reconcile. Something fresh remains in the discussion of immigrant parents when reading this: Hong Kingston describes growing up with parents who tell stories as a means of moral edification and one way of sharing a Chinese culture and history that may or may not actually, in the end, be true. It's not that Hong Kingston grows up amid a pack of compulsive liars, but that culture fogs up her home and she doesn't know where to look, because she breathes in its aroma all day, every day. Out of that fog, this book arises, which, for all the contemporaneous criticism I've read online, seems to have a fascinatingly nuanced perception of womanhood in a midcentury Chinese American family, one recognizing the plentiful implicit and explicit misogyny while also expressing the ferocity and intelligence and thoughtfulness of the women in her life and within the stories that sustain her.
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Minor: Rape
challenging
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
An article published right at the end of his presidency described president Obama as "loading up a kindle" for his daughter, and this book was highlighted as one of his selections. It is good. I see why a father would want his daughters to read and love these stories.
Also, I know it is described as memoir, but I think I was more emotionally invested in the story of the author's mother, Brave Orchid, than of the life of the author.
Also, I know it is described as memoir, but I think I was more emotionally invested in the story of the author's mother, Brave Orchid, than of the life of the author.
challenging
informative
slow-paced
This is a book that was part of a university course I studied around 25 years ago. The book was on the reading list and I never read it, so I thought now would be the time to give it a go.
It's a challenging read and recounts several stories from the author's own childhood, growing up in America being of Chinese heritage, and her mother's background.
I found the writing challenging and very descriptive, this was at the expense of significant plot of dialogue to move the stories forward. Where there was dialogue I found I quite enjoyed the book but I'm afraid this one has far too much description for me.
An interesting semi-autobiographical work but I'm afraid not one I would recommend.
It's a challenging read and recounts several stories from the author's own childhood, growing up in America being of Chinese heritage, and her mother's background.
I found the writing challenging and very descriptive, this was at the expense of significant plot of dialogue to move the stories forward. Where there was dialogue I found I quite enjoyed the book but I'm afraid this one has far too much description for me.
An interesting semi-autobiographical work but I'm afraid not one I would recommend.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Gorgeous prose. Fascinating stories.