You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
what I loved the most is the characters addressing white people as "ghosts" xD
I think I’d have to read this book many times to fully absorb it, but one of the things I love is how, despite the fact that women are so poorly regarded, the real powerhouse in the family is the narrator’s mother. She shapes the narrator’s life and understanding through the stories she tells, even having an almost Tom Sawyer-like love of invention when she’s imagining the possible scenarios that await her recently-immigrated sister. Kingston makes a very layered exploration of the power of story to shape reality and to both control others and empower them. One of the challenges the narrator faces is to develop her own voice so it’s strong enough to hold its own next to her mother’s. I love that she does so in such a way that she honors her mother’s and her own experiences, using story to connect to her lineage and strength. And I love the way both she and her mother use myth to expand their sense of themselves as individuals. Azar Nafisi has a great line in Reading Lolita in Tehran that I thought was applicable here: “Every fairy tale offers the potential to surpass present limits.”
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
A very interesting memoir stylistically, but sometimes not grounded enough in reality.
I have to give this book five stars for the sheer brilliance with which Maxine Hong Kingston conducted her pen in writing it. Captivating from beginning to end, this collection of memoirs gives insight into the author's life, and also some insights into Chinese-American culture. I thoroughly enjoyed every line I read. Her storytelling is fantastic, weaving social and political contexts throughout the work seamlessly alongside the stories themselves. This is a book that I would recommend to anyone looking to gain insight on certain aspects of Chinese American youth who grew up directly after WWII, and also to fans of autobiographies and memoirs in general.
I wanted to enjoy this a lot more than I did. I love the idea of interweaving biography and folk tales—it just didn’t land for me. Still, a good memoir.
I remember... not really liking... this book back when I read it for school. It seemed to represent everything I dislike about Asian American fiction--namely, that a Chinese American memoir *had* to include overblown details about Chinese legend in order to make it "authentically Chinese." Uh, no, kung fu girls evil Mongol warriors does not a Chinese person's story make. And you wonder why Asian American writing is still so undeveloped when this book is held up as the paragon of Chinese American memoir writing.
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Kingston writes with a lyricism and refreshing fluidity about her identity trauma growing up as a Chinese/american woman. She uses the folk tales from her childhood, taught to her by her mother, to display the longing and silence in her life. Really beautiful and emotive.
Fast-paced and intriguing, but sometimes a bit repetitive. I loved the discussions on where nonfiction and fiction meet in our inherited cultural and familial memory.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced