Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
I loved this book! It was a very interesting and complex look at how cultures collide for first generation Asain Americans. The miscommunication and the confusion when the culture one grows up in does not match your parents' and neighbors'.
The writing choices were also amazing. The use of 1st person for most of the book (even when it was about an ancient Chinese legend) really hit home. I think the way this book was written imparted the ideas and thoughts of the author in a much more authentic way than just stating straight facts that the author knew with certainty would have.
The writing choices were also amazing. The use of 1st person for most of the book (even when it was about an ancient Chinese legend) really hit home. I think the way this book was written imparted the ideas and thoughts of the author in a much more authentic way than just stating straight facts that the author knew with certainty would have.
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
informative
reflective
fast-paced
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
The novel itself was perplexing and creative, and I genuinely enjoyed most chapters.
Kingston melds legend, her past, her family's past, and her present in a very narrative (as in story) memoir. To say that this work challenges the genre is an obvious statement, but still an understatement, and less than a page into the chapter “White Tigers,” I found I did not care about the genre because it is so well written. What is impressive are Kingston's frankness and her courage to impart her social faux pas, such as bullying a fellow Chinese student for keeping silent.
I never questioned her veracity of the tales because they are told so well—showing the story and the telling of it is an imperative truth in memoir. So in spite of ghosts and spirits and warriors from long ago, Kingston's writing it down brings the truth of it out.
I never questioned her veracity of the tales because they are told so well—showing the story and the telling of it is an imperative truth in memoir. So in spite of ghosts and spirits and warriors from long ago, Kingston's writing it down brings the truth of it out.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
one of the worst experiences of my whole life oh my GOD. if you enjoyed this i'm utterly happy for you but i did not enjoy a single second of this.
recommended by: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/06/26/books/best-memoirs.html
challenging
dark
A memoir of growing up as the eldest surviving daughter of an emigrant Chinese family around the time of WWII, including the associated challenges of racism and sexism - but not nearly as prosaic as that sounds. Kingston's recollections of her own life are seamlessly interwoven with mythology and folk belief to make a whole that teeters somewhere between magic and horror, as her difficulties navigating between multiple cultures make her doubt her own sanity. Not a comfortable read, but a powerful one.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Sexism, Gaslighting