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A review by pamelas
The Cooked Seed by Anchee Min
4.0
Once upon a time, I had a vague idea that I grew up poor in a trailer park in South Carolina. Then I read Angela's Ashes and never again thought I was poor.
Once upon a time, I had a vague idea I had worked hard from time to time. Then I read The Cooked Seed and again, my view of myself was redefined completely.
Anchee Min came to the US on the wings of a lie and stayed here by clawing her way to a green card through amazing determination and hard work. Really hard work. And here is her story, told in brutally honest detail. I do not feel she tried to paint herself in a better light, as one would be sorely tempted to do in a memoir. There are times her flaws are glimpsed, and other times when they shine through. But this makes this autobiography that much more interesting to me. She is a person who has done the best she can with what she has--indeed, I think she does better than most of us would. She has survived many traumas and hardships, and yet she still loves China and the US, neither of which were particularly nice to her. She is the opposite of our current culture of blaming someone else. She does not waste time blaming, but moves on. Sometimes, she might have been better served if she had pressed charges, made accusations, etc. But this is not who she is, or how she things, for better or for worse.
An excellent memoir!
Once upon a time, I had a vague idea I had worked hard from time to time. Then I read The Cooked Seed and again, my view of myself was redefined completely.
Anchee Min came to the US on the wings of a lie and stayed here by clawing her way to a green card through amazing determination and hard work. Really hard work. And here is her story, told in brutally honest detail. I do not feel she tried to paint herself in a better light, as one would be sorely tempted to do in a memoir. There are times her flaws are glimpsed, and other times when they shine through. But this makes this autobiography that much more interesting to me. She is a person who has done the best she can with what she has--indeed, I think she does better than most of us would. She has survived many traumas and hardships, and yet she still loves China and the US, neither of which were particularly nice to her. She is the opposite of our current culture of blaming someone else. She does not waste time blaming, but moves on. Sometimes, she might have been better served if she had pressed charges, made accusations, etc. But this is not who she is, or how she things, for better or for worse.
An excellent memoir!