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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
Overall, I really enjoyed this. Hong Kingston does a great job of asserting the Chinese Immigrant perspective in a way that resonates with non Chinese immigrant readers. Her narrative was particularly compelling as it beautifully blends myth with reality, a blend that Hong Kingston suggests is a true part of her story. In every way, this memoir was successful and beautiful. It will remain one of my favorites for a long, long time.
No Name Woman - 5/5 - Perfect and a powerful first entry
White Tigers - 5/5 - this is the best example of what this book is - a powerful merging of myth and reality
Shaman - 4/5 - Thematically I loved this but the plot construction was a tad too scattered.
At the Western Palace - 5/5 - I feel like my biggest critique of individual entries in collections is that they're too long. I wanted this to be one of those. It was sooooooo long. But it was the perfect length. I adored this one.
A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe - 4/5 - Rest assured, I'm still here. This one was too long. It was necessary though to finally tie up a lot of the missing pieces, particularly in regards to her narrative style.
No Name Woman - 5/5 - Perfect and a powerful first entry
White Tigers - 5/5 - this is the best example of what this book is - a powerful merging of myth and reality
Shaman - 4/5 - Thematically I loved this but the plot construction was a tad too scattered.
At the Western Palace - 5/5 - I feel like my biggest critique of individual entries in collections is that they're too long. I wanted this to be one of those. It was sooooooo long. But it was the perfect length. I adored this one.
A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe - 4/5 - Rest assured, I'm still here. This one was too long. It was necessary though to finally tie up a lot of the missing pieces, particularly in regards to her narrative style.
challenging
slow-paced
medium-paced
This used to be my favorite book of all time! I should go back and re-read it to see how it holds up.
3.5 stelline per una raccolta di racconti che ho apprezzato più in teoria che in pratica: li ho trovati confusionari e troppo vasti, ma le parti che mi prendevano, mi prendevano sul serio. Di seguito i voti per ogni racconto:
No Name Woman: ☆☆☆
White Tigers: ☆☆☆½
Shaman: ☆☆☆½
At the Western Palace: ☆☆☆☆
A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe: ☆☆☆½
No Name Woman: ☆☆☆
White Tigers: ☆☆☆½
Shaman: ☆☆☆½
At the Western Palace: ☆☆☆☆
A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe: ☆☆☆½
very intense, no room to even feel bittersweet about these experiences as i’ve personally related to some of these pages. abhorrently anticommunist though, but a good depiction of the whirlwind of shame and guilt and conformity that the asian/east asian diaspora feels. good to know i’m not the only one
Gripping and intense meandering narrative separated into five shorter stories. Mesmerizing prose.
adventurous
reflective
tense
medium-paced
genuinely wtf did i just read
Excellent. The writer describes a world within a world - a Chinese village culture that has transferred to the US - the 'Golden Mountain'. The older generation see their current situation as unreal and temporary, the real world is the one they left behind, they are living in a world of ghosts.
The author is part of a younger generation struggling to understand a culture that isn't really hers. She is not sure whether the China her mother describes still exists. Are her mother's stories fact or fiction? What is real and what is superstition? Relatives tell the opposite of the truth as protection from the spirit world and the authorities - even real names are kept hidden. The truth is like shifting sand: Is the culture and language she knows actually Chinese?
The book was an eye opener. I really enjoyed being a 'fly on the wall' with the chance to experience a culture so different from my own from the 'inside'. I was immersed in this new way of thinking from the very first page and floundered for a while. But once past the culture shock, I really enjoyed myself. The language is at times poetic, wry, humourous and hard-hitting and captures the atmosphere of family life in various settings very convincingly.
The author is part of a younger generation struggling to understand a culture that isn't really hers. She is not sure whether the China her mother describes still exists. Are her mother's stories fact or fiction? What is real and what is superstition? Relatives tell the opposite of the truth as protection from the spirit world and the authorities - even real names are kept hidden. The truth is like shifting sand: Is the culture and language she knows actually Chinese?
The book was an eye opener. I really enjoyed being a 'fly on the wall' with the chance to experience a culture so different from my own from the 'inside'. I was immersed in this new way of thinking from the very first page and floundered for a while. But once past the culture shock, I really enjoyed myself. The language is at times poetic, wry, humourous and hard-hitting and captures the atmosphere of family life in various settings very convincingly.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
slow-paced