A review by tlamsy
Red Azalea by Anchee Min

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

What a coming of age memoir. It was refreshing to read honest inner and outer dialogue about a period shrouded in secrecy within national and family lore. The book stares right into the face of how China’s re-education efforts/farming initiatives from this era were set up to fail, despite all the good intentions. To me, the book also captured one of the Cultural Revolution’s greatest mysteries: how people could’ve been so ruthless to their teachers, neighbours and even friends. The book partially answers my question in a mundane way — It’s not much deeper than peer pressure potentially. 

I didn’t realize until reading this book that dating/sex was so frowned upon - maybe even criminalized - during the Cultural Revolution. And so, it was even more moving to read how human connection prevailed during in the Cultural Revolution through a queer story line! The sex is very queer in this book imo, loved that!