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Rating: 
Summary: As good as Red Azalea
Review: From the time Maple meets her in elementary school, Wild Ginger has always been singled out for a particular kind of torture because of her "foreign colored" eyes. This gives the girls something in common because the Red Guards have been making Maple's life a living hell because her father is in prison. Anchee Min writes of China's Cultural Revolution with a restraint that makes the spiritual cost of such repression all the more horrific. As Maple and Wild Ginger grow, they see that the only way for them to survive is to become model Maoists, to pin all their hopes and deeds on the Great Leader. When Wild Ginger and a young man named Evergreen discover emotions that have no place in the Chairman's little red book, all three of them risk complete destruction. Don't be deceived. Min leaves no doubt that this will not be a "triumph of the human spirit" story in the way most will expect it. In fact, the human spirit may not triumph at all. But you will keep reading, your heart aching for these girls, their young friend, and anyone who has to pass through this kind of daily gauntlet in order to survive. Anchee Min's last novel, "Becoming Madame Mao" was a bestseller and a fine piece of work. But my favorite is her first novel, "Red Azalea," which broke new ground with its straightforward description of an ordinary girl during the Cultural Revolution. Min knows that there is no need to elaborate on these stories; simply relating them as if they were the most ordinary thing in the world is more devastating than embellishment.
Rating: 
Summary: Subtle and delicious
Review: Set in China mostly in the 1970s, "Wild Ginger" focusses on a love triangle that develops between three young people caught in the maelstrom of the Cultural Revolution brough on by Chairman Mao. Maple finds an ally in fellow schoolgirl Wild Ginger, whose foreign-looking eyes make her also a target of the school bully. In efforts to prove herself and to separate herself from her heritage, Wild Ginger embraces Maoism to the utmost and dedicates her life to it. When she meets a young man who also embraces Maoism fervently, Wild Ginger chooses to stifle her burgeoning passions rather than challenge Mao's proclamation against romantic love. As Maple and the young man are drawn together by their mutual love of Wild Ginger, it sets the stage for doom for one of the three. "Wild Ginger" is written subtly and dreamily, where the bright colors of love are muted as they would be because of the Cultural Revolution of the time. And while this might give some readers a sense of distance away from the characters, it also strengthens the grand context of the personal confusions brought on by the Maoist doctrines.
Rating:
Summary: read it in one sitting
Review: This is an easily read and thoroughly enjoyable book. It is educational without you realizing that you are learning. It is hard to believe these things were going on at the same time our life was so very different in this country. Read it. You won't regret it.
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