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Biography & Autobiography. Sociology. Women's Studies. Nonfiction. HTML:NATIONAL BESTSELLER â?˘ An exhilarating blend of autobiography and mythology, of world and self, of hot rage and cool analysis. First published in 1976, it has become a classic in its innovative portrayal of multiple and intersecting identitiesâ??immigrant, female, Chinese, American. â?˘ NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER â??A classic, for a reason.â? â??Celeste Ng, bestselling author of Little Fires Everywhere and Our Missing Hearts, via Twitter As a girl, Kingston lives in two confounding worlds: the California to which her parents have immigrated and the China of her motherâ??s â??talk stories.â? The fierce and wily women warriors of her motherâ??s tales clash jarringly with the harsh reality of female oppression out of which they come. Kingstonâ??s sense of self emerges in the mystifying gaps in these stories, which she learns to fill with stories of her own. A warrior of words, she forges fractured myths and memories into an incandescent whole, achieving a new understanding of her fam… (more)
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The book also makes excellent use of the silence that once permeated the author´s childhood and adolescence. From the language barriers that separate many of the book's characters American society to her family's prohibition on speaking during mealtime to the a family history that sometimes too painful to discuss, silence plays a major role in this personal history, and it's hard to name another writer that does so much with what might be termed "negative literary space." "The Woman Warrior" could also be read as Hong Kingston's own brave attempt to take a meticulous personal inventory and to understand her cultural origins, even if she knows that some of them are likely to remain beyond her understanding. As she tries to fill in the empty spaces that have haunted her since childhood, the author displays a steadfast faith in the power of narrative to create order, and we should perhaps be grateful for the fact that the author's domineering mother was a masterful storyteller who "story talked" for hours while leaving a great deal unsaid. The end product of this difficult upbringing and the author`s own considerable literary talents is "The Woman Warrior," and it's a fantastic read and a book that might change the way you look at every immigrant's experience. Highly recommended.
Kingston weaves fictional elements into the separate chapters of her autobiography, trying to comprehend her Chinese mother's former life and in that way reconnect with the
I would recommend it, just with the warning to know going into it you're not getting some kind of straight-forward biography type thing. ;)
Itâs a different sort of memoir. The author combines the story of her childhood in a Chinese-American neighborhood with her
Kingston was never quite sure which of her motherâs stories were true and which were merely supposed to be morally instructive. And so, itâs memoir with a strong dose of what her mother called âtalk-storyâ: and combines fiction with non-fiction.
Itâs a story of strong women in a world not always kind to women. She relates the tale of Fa Mu Lan, the Chinese folk heroine who donned menâs clothes and fought in battle. She tells the story of her mother, a medical doctor in China, who having joined her husband in the United States, slaved night and day in the family Chinese laundry. Not all the women warriors win; some lose; some give up and settle in the place they have arrived.
But itâs a story of how author Maxine Hong Kinston became the person she is. And thatâs the best kind of memoir.
A surprisingly enjoyable read, especially once you get a bit further into the book.
The reason why my rating is not higher than it is is because this novel read very slowly for me. It would take me an hour to read 30 pages. I am not sure why that is. Perhaps I just wasn't in the right mood to read this memoir or maybe it was because it deviated so much from what I was expecting from a book classified as nonfiction (it could possibly be both these things since the two can be connected very easily). The author speculates a lot on the stories her mother told her and sometimes she will create her own fictional endings to the stories from her family history. She will imagine a story that she actually knows very little details of and make it into a complex narrative. The insertion of Chinese legends also takes away from the nonfictional aspects of the memoir. I know authors are given a creative license in their memoirs, but I think Kingston went a little overboard. I also have a difficult time referring to this novel as a memoir. My definition of a memoir is an account of a significant moment in the author's own life, so I believed that Kingston would focus on herself and her experiences. However, she rarely talks about herself at all except in the last chapter. Instead, she chooses to focus on the women in her family, particularly her mother and two of her aunts (one from each side of her family). Most of the stories she recounts happened before she was born or were ones she wasn't there to witness first-hand. The stories are known to her second-hand, mostly told to her by her mother. This offered great insight into Chinese culture from around the early to mid-1900s, but I feel like I didn't get to know the author too well.
However, despite all of this, I would recommend this book. It is a beautifully written and imaginative piece of work. I may suggest reading it as a semi-autobiographical historical fiction novel rather than as a nonfiction memoir, though.
The stories themselves are fairly interesting and entertaining, but what really makes this book noteworthy is the introspection of the author as a Chines-American woman growing up within two separate cultures in the 1970's and the inner strength and courage that she develops throughout this growing-up process.
While it was a bit outside of my comfort zone at times, I really appreciated this book for the honesty and sincerity of the author and the courage that it took to put all of her internal feelings and thoughts out into the ope for all to see.
Written in the form of five separate yet connected stories Hong Kingston takes us along for the ride as she connects with both of her cultures and finds her place in the world. Her bravery in telling the stories no traditional Chinese woman would dare to tell earns her the respect she deserves. I highly recommend allowing Maxine Hong Kingston to take you on this indelible and incredible ride as I did. It is something you will always remember, and a well written tale you will enjoy time and time again.