Rating: 
Summary: The first of this genre
Review: I didn't know beans about Chinese women when a friend put this book into my hands about 20+ years ago. Talk about a revelation. The Woman Warrior preceded Amy Tan's novels by at least a decade and went on to win several awards. It's about growing up Chinese American in California's Central Valley, working in the family laundry, and having to listen to her mother's stories that were designed to scare her into "good behavior." Some of these "talk stories" depicted women as fierce and strong warriors, while at the same time they were enslaved by their culture.
This memoir is intense, mystical, introspective, and full of marvelous and unexpected twists and turns. If you haven't yet read it, now's your chance.
Rating:
Summary: A multifaceted exploration of Chinese-American experience
Review: I don't think that "The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood among Ghosts," by Maxine Hong Kingston, is an easy book to categorize. It's a blend of Chinese-American family saga, heroic fantasy, ghost story, and first-person account of growing up Chinese-American. The book is divided into five sections: "No Name Woman," "White Tigers," "Shaman," "At the Western Palace," and "A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe." Although each of these sections could stand as an independent unit, together they form a coherent and compelling whole."Woman Warrior" features a number of compelling characters. They include a female warrior (whose story might remind you of the film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"), a Chinese woman doctor, and a Chinese-American girl who is navigating her way between her two cultures. Along the way Kingston addresses many issues: multilingualism, dragon lore, cross dressing, magical transformation, ghost fighting strategy, Chinese polygamy, mental illness, family relationships, and women's roles in traditional Chinese culture. Although at times a bit grim, "Woman Warrior" is also often quite lively and colorful. For some interesting companion texts that deal with comparable subject matter, try Eric Liu's essay collection "The Accidental Asian" and David Henry Hwang's play "Golden Child." For a marvelous complementary text from a Japanese-American female perspective, try Yoshiko Uchida's "Desert Exile."
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting Chinese-American Read
Review: I enjoyed reading the fictional tale Warrior Woman by Maxine Hong Kingston. I think anyone who likes to see how other cultures live and relate to one another will enjoy this story. Readers who enjoy fantasy type stories will also enjoy this book, because it is rich in both types of story telling. After reading the novel, I can appreciate Chinese culture more, and although I usually shy away from fantasy stories and novels, the sections dealing with fantastic themes drew me in. In the story White Tigers, I was attempted to skip pages until the end of the section, but somehow I kept reading the story and I became more involved in it. When I realized the story was being told to empower Chinese women, it gave the whole fantasy a new meaning to me. Women at the time of the story held little value in Chinese society. Girls grow up, go away, and leave their aged parents, but boys were expected to stay with the parents along with their wives to care for their elderly parents.
The story No Name Woman disturbed me as I read. No name woman was the narrator's aunt. The aunt became No Name Woman after her family disowned her for committing adultery and becoming pregnant. The aunt would never name the father, so he could bear in her shame. What bothered me most about this section is not so much that the father escaped punishment, although that bothered me too, but the total lack of forgiveness from the family. Because of this total lack of family forgiveness, this young woman killed herself and her newborn. How terribly sad!
Although the Chinese society seemed to value family and a tradition, I found it highly curious that they could not speak about sex at all and they went to great lengths to avoid even family intimacy. Kingston describes how family members in China shout into each other's faces and yell at each other across the room. At mealtimes, which is a sort of intimate family time, no one talks.
I found the section At the Western Place intriguing. I am aware that there are many immigrants who come to the United States to make a better life for themselves, many times leaving families behind until they can establish themselves. When I read how Moon Orchid had been waiting for her husband for over 30 years and he never returned, instead establishing a new family in the United States, to say I was taken back, is expressing my reaction mildly. Moon Orchid did not seem to mind the arrangement though. Could it have been because she was well provided for financially without the obligation of carrying out wifely duties? Perhaps she enjoyed the prestige of being a married woman. Whatever her reasons, I felt so sorry for her after her sister Brave Orchid forced a confrontation between the estranged spouses. Moon Orchid was devastated by the encounter and was never the same afterwards. Something intangible and innocent within her was forever altered.
I would recommend that this book be read in a thoughtful and serious manner, although the narrative is by no means heavy or serious, but the characters themselves as interesting as well as being a complex mixture of clashes between their own culture and their assimilation to American culture. There are marked differences between the struggles of the young people and the struggles of the older people and how both groups try to fit into the new society while holding onto parts of traditional Chinese culture. I found The Warrior Woman a good read.
Rating: 
Summary: Very readable, lots of great themes
Review: I began reading Kingston's book thinking that I was going to absolutely hate it, but I really didn't. In fact, I found the book very enjoyable. It's very simply written and easy to read. As long as readers persist with trying to understand the chronology and the relationship between the portrayals of the different women, they will realize how wonderfully designed this work is. If you read this book, you must understand that even though she is speaking from the first person point of view, in many cases, it is not really her voice; rather, in a sophisticated narrative technique, she takes on the identities of her relatives and role models, perhaps to relate their experiences to her own. Readers should also pay close attention to ghosts. They play an extremely important role in the point of the stories. Overall, I think this book is certainly worth reading...it sends a good message about the human struggle.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful book
Review: Woman Warrior is quite an interesting book. I absolutely enjoyed reading it. Although it would be exaggerating if I compared it to Black Elk Speaks, to a lesser degree, it is redefining a culture. Not Chinese culture (even though its accuracy is superb on this), but Chinese-American culture during post-World War II. In White Tigers, Kingston's myth about a heroine, she pieces together different legends to create her woman warrior. It becomes her source of strength in a dual society that both rejected her sex as well as her race. Perhaps times have changed now. (excuse me if this is so cliché, but you'll agree with me that...) Nevertheless Woman Warrior lives as a testimony of an era that, although is way past us, greatly influenced our lives. Her stories, grievances carved into her back, show us our mistakes and push us forward, correcting them. They are her way of revolting against oppression, following the spirit of the 60's. And as to its style, it is a little difficult to keep track of the settings as she goes along in the essay. But believe me, she seems to have a lot more coherence than some who write. I don't even think her essays (this book is a collection of essays) are considered segmented compared to say, Annie Dillard or Virgina Woolfe, whom are great segmented essayists, and whose essays require deep concentration and thought. The Woman Warrior is written in beautiful prose, with intelligent diction (that keeps me running to the dictionary once in a while), and it is well organized. Although there are jumps in content, the essay seems to flow smoothly and logically; the reader just has to be conscious and active when reading. (I would suggest reading it again, for enjoyment, after you've done the papers, and theall-nighters are over: you'll find more patience with the book when you're not wringing out a five-page essay from it.)
Rating:
Summary: women warrior
Review: The book by Maxine Kinston is based on five different stories about different Chinese women. The novel is filled with Chinese folktales and culture. This is a story that one as a Chinese or any other culture could relate to because throughout the novel shows ancestry and tales about myths and legends. The novel will take you through stories of deception and haunt that is told through the eyes of Kingston herself. Starting with long lost aunts followed by so-called ghost warriors and ending with stories about her mother's life back in china; this book will keep you reading until the end. I recommend this story to anyone who is interested in story tale and culture of a different sort, that of Chinese. I enjoyed reading the novel myself and it kept me reading in interest on the twist and turns of Kingston's life.
Rating: 
Summary: ------------------------------------------------------------
Review: This book is excellent as a literary work, but I wouldn't raise it to any position higher than that. The language used is magnificent, and as an autobiography, the whole metaphoric Fa Mu Lan epic is appropriate.
However, as a 1st generation Chinese American, I absolutely do not approve of the cultural misrepresentations permeating every aspect of this book. I understand that Kingston was not trying in any way to paint a portrayal of Chinese culture, but that is what the autobiography becomes when thrown to the hands of non-Chinese. By "non-Chinese", I am not referring to skin, but rather cultural essence. More specifically, when thrown to my predominantly non-Chinese sophomore English class, this book serves only to fuel the aura of mystique surrounding Chinese culture and perpetuate rumors of misogyny. Discussions on this book are accompanied with a sort of pseudo-sacred air and such fantastic speculations of the "Yellow Man" are made that I simply don't know whether to cry or laugh. Oftentimes, I am on the brink of hurling the book at some ignorant classmate and berating the teacher for her terrible interpretations of Chinese culture. All the wonderful metaphoric language and the horribly mangled Fa Mu Lan legend don't help the situation either. I recommend the book for what it is, but not as a cultural representation. I therefore leave with this caution: read this for its language and message, but don't take the latter to heart.
Looking beyond Kingston's personal interpretation of Chinese culture, the book admittedly has its plusses. ...this was my only solace when reading the book. It is "impressionistic", if you will.
Rating:
Summary: A more realistic, no-nonsense version of the Joy-Luck Club
Review: Allow me to qualify this review by saying although I am a white male, I am married to a Filippino woman, I have worked alongside students from China for years, and have gained a moderate knowledge of the Mandarin Chinese language and its culture. All of that said, this book opened my eyes somewhat to the Chinese immigrant experience in America, the views of Asian women and parents, and of the Chinese mindset in general. Like the Joy luck club, this book leaves the reader with a powerful and vivid view of early-to-mid 20th century Chinese life both back in China and in America. This view is particularly detailed in its view of its women and the parent-child experience. Unlike the Joy-Luck club, this book does not glorify the chinese experience. Although you expect, and receive, a certain amount of ethnic pride and ethnocentrism (particularly from such an all-inclusive "members only" group) in Maxine's writing, the reader also sees that even this exclusive group and culture has as many unique shortcoming and problems to deal with as it does things to be proud of. The book often rambles, and is often confusing as to who is narrating, but complete comprehension is not necessary to enjoy this book. True understanding - and enjoyment- in this book comes from the viewing the forest rather than the trees. Pay attention to the style of the writing, the hidden subtleties and overlooked intricacies that the author deftly uses(so common to the Chinese culture), and you will see what I mean.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting but ultimately confusing
Review: This book is a very interesting memoir of Kingston's life and provides valuable information about the Chinese culture and the shock of adapting to a new country. Yet, it is very confusing and at times rambles on and on. The author switches narrators a couple times throughout the novel without alerting the reader. Also, a lot of speculation is made in this novel about the lives of her family. Seeing as she has no way of knowing, I disliked those parts as well. All in all it is an interesting read but don't expect too much.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Written by a prominent figure of Chinese-Americans, this is a definite read for anyone interested in a real perspective of immigrant life in the U.S.
|
