Rating: 
Summary: Doesn't need defending
Review: MHK doesn't need anyone to tell her how wonderful her book is, but obviously some people out there do. If I could give this book 10 stars I would, just to neutralize some of the off-the-mark reviews on this page. The Woman Warrior far outshines anything from the memoir-craze it helped spawn; it is a classic of inspired, poetic writing. That so many (apparently younger) readers can't see this is a disturbing indictment of our educational system.
Rating: 
Summary: This is NOT a biography, it is fiction
Review: Don't be misled, "Woman Warrior' is not a biography or 'memoir' as it is marketed. Her publishers expected her to win an award with this _novel_ (read: fiction) but didn't want it to compete with Toni Morrison in the fiction category so they changed 'Woman Warrior' into 'non-fiction' or biography or whatever and it did win a presitigous award. However, it is incredibly insulting to the intelligence and to Asian-American sensibilities to approach this work of fiction as a personal narrative. I think it was very involving and written in a non-linear and entertaining style. I appreciated the fact that Kingston voiced her intense anger and articulated the feelings that I'm sure many Asian-American women can identify with. (I sure could identify with boycotting house chores as a political statement.) In this sense, I think her book is refreshing as it features an UN-apologetically pissed off Asian-American woman as opposed to other authors who beat around the bush, use pseudo-artistic and obtuse metaphors, or apologize for any 'resentment' they may feel towards anyone or anything. From the rave reviews that I'd read about it I guess I was set-up for a let down. Kingston is just one Asian-American author writing about 'Asian-American matters' and this is not a definitive work of Asian-Ameriacan literature. In fact, I don't believe such a definitive work exists. While this book does delve into the matter of identity and race in a more complex and realistic manner than most books, it still falls short by my standards. The world view is still a bit too binary and it seems that the allusions to 'life back in China' is romanticized if not out-right exoticized. Otherwise, it's entertainment value is a good deal higher than most popular works of fiction. I think it's a good read for anyone, as it will at least make you think.
Rating: 
Summary: This book was horrible
Review: Although it is a uniquly written book with much to tell of life expieriences it had nothing interesting and involving. I cant think of a more boring book it has to top my list of books NOT to read, with Amy Tan's the Joy luck club right behind it.
Rating:
Summary: Winding tale of life....
Review: I stumbled across "The Woman Warrior" while looking for a story about women of power. It's no mistake that I ended up buying a copy for myself. Maxine Hong Kingston winds her way from life to death and back again. Her stories sent chills up my spine. It made me realize things I never knew about myself, and about women in general.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Book but Very much Misunderstood
Review: I must say that I am absolutely appalled by some of the reviews I have read on this page. Some of these reviews are obviously from the voices of ignorance. Maxine Hong Kingston's book is excellent. I read of my own free will as a college student majoring in Asian Studies. As a White reader I was not given a negative image of Chinese people or their culture by this book. I have the profoundest respect for Chinese people and their culture and that is why I want to live in China and to study Chinese culture as my life's work. Kingston utilizes a common literary device of many western writers. She takes a well known legend and adapts it and retells it in a new and creative way, a way that has not been explored or told before. Her point is not to tell the story of Fa Mulan verbatim. She is adapting the story to her own life, which I must say is probably much more interesting than the life of the reviewer from Oak Park, Michigan. If she was a white male writer her use of this literary device would probably be hailed as inovative and daring but her position as a female minority writer using this technique gets her criticized. I personally recommend this book to any one interested in reading the experience of ONE Chinese American woman. It is not the definitve story of the experience of Chinese American women, nor does it try to be, but it is a very vivid, disturbing, and well written account of one woman's life.
Rating:
Summary: Too much pretense to actually be decent
Review: This book was written just to jump on the bandwagon with Maya Angelou and Amy Tan. It was written in a popular style, about a popular topic (cultural diff. between America and China and the problems that arouse because of these differnces between the narrator and her mother). Full of pretence. Save your money.
Rating:
Summary: Life is a struggle...
Review: I read this book almost 20 years ago as an assigned text in a summer enrichment program during high school. Though I never re-read it, I still remember enough about it and the discussions our class had to respond to some of the reviewers. I believe that reading the reviews gives you a pretty good idea of what life was like for Maxine- accepted neither by those who had seen China nor by those who were not of Chinese descent. Complete and utter disorientation- hence, the very nature of how the book was written. It was written exactly as it was in order to give the reader the actual experience of being disoriented at all times. At home in no culture and no time. Yes, the book is tough to get through. But that is the point. The older I get the more I appreciate the struggles of others. It is not enough to understand our own lives- we must seek to understand the paths that led others into our lives, as well. I recommend this book highly to anyone with a mind open to understanding another person's life. Those who feel that only their own interpretation of reality is valid should not bother picking up the book.
Rating:
Summary: A tale of total distortion
Review: I had to read this book for my English 11-AP class presentation. I picked the novel because I thought it would have interesting stories about my Chinese culture. Instead, I didn't find any! What myths she wrote about I knew and she completely distorted those myths into a vulgar, nonsensical mess. As a Chinese-American, I am horrified that such a book is out in America. It portrays the Chinese in an awful light that we don't need. If you haven't read this book yet, I DO NOT RECOMMEND IT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.
Rating:
Summary: the book needed a little help, but it wasn't too bad.
Review: I HAD TO READ THIS BOOK FOR MY ATL CLASS AND IT WAS OK. IT SEEMED MORE LIKE A MOVIE THAN IT DID ANYTHING ELSE. I WENT AND SEEN KINGSTON TALK AND I THINK READING HER BOOK WAS A LITTLE MORE INTERESTING.
Rating:
Summary: Poor Misunderstood MHK!
Review: I came to this book voluntarily, unlike so many 9th graders and college freshmen who are writing negative reviews on this page. I came to this book at age 25, after college and law school, after 2 professions, after marriage, and after leaving my homeland of Singapore, where I breathed, lived, and spoke Chinese. I don't think it is possible to understand the existential loneliness, the knife-edge, and the sheer beauty of Kingston's writing, unless one is naturally drawn towards the book -- not forced to read it by some teacher as part of a list of canonized texts. I've been turned off by sappy Amy Tan-type Asian American writing for so long, reading Kingston was like drawing a sad, refreshing, heady breath of something new, intelligent, and intoxicating. Remember, she wrote it about 25 years ago, when writing this kind of thing was far more risky for an Asian American woman. She wrote far better than any of us will (I'm a writer too). She didn't disappoint me.
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