The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts Reviews

• Crossing the Line

  
  By A1S2PP7IX1J2TB on 2000-03-29
  The Woman Warrior, by Maxine Hong Kingston, captures readers with her own interpretation of what it was like to grow up as a female Chinese American. As a little girl, she came to America with her family. Despite being in a new country, she had to deal with the old traditions from her homeland. Kingston hears different legends which she pieces together to create her woman warrior. It becomes her source of strength in a society that rejected both her sex as well as her race. The book, divided into five interwoven stories, is at times confusing as it jumps around. Nevertheless she does a great job explaining her life while growing up. The first story, called "No Name Woman," tells of her paternal aunt who bears a child out of wedlock and is harried by the villagers and by her family into drowning herself. The family now punishes this taboo-breaker by never speaking about her and by denying her name. However, Kingston breaks the family silence by writing about this rebel whom she calls "my forebear." The next story is called "White Tigers." It is a myth about a heroine named Fa Mu Lan, who fights in place of her father and saves her village. This story became the Disney movie, Mulan. "Sharman" is a story of Kingston's mother. It explores what it was like to study as a woman to become a doctor in China. "At the Western Palace" is about Kingston's aunt who comes to America and discovers that her husband has remarried in America. Finally, the last story, "A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe" is about Kingston's own experience in America when she first arrived. She explains what it was like to be a newcomer in a strange culture. Kingston constantly mentions that her friends and she are ghosts because they are American. All of the people who surround her family are ghosts, except for the Chinese people who live on the Gold Mountain, a section of Chinatown in San Francisco. Kingston feels like a ghost herself, " .... We had been born among ghosts, were taught by ghosts, and were ourselves ghost-like. The Americans call us a kind of ghosts" (p.183). The interpretation of what ghosts mean in this book is difficult to figure out. It could show how some people view a person from a different culture with ignorance as if she doesn't exist. Kingston's The Woman Warrior has some similarities with The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. First of all, both stories are written by Chinese American authors about their cultural heritage. Both novels deal with major concerns faced by Chinese American women. Living with their traditional culture in American society, Chinese-American women suffer problems of cultural conflicts. However, there are differences that make each work distinct. The Joy Luck Club is fiction and is not personal. It is also more likely to be read for pleasure. The Woman Warrior portrays a first hand view of the cultural differences between the United States and China. Also, Kingston succeeds in combining her emotions with her experiences. The Woman Warrior is a fascinating book. One of the most amazing aspects of this book is Kingston's ability to show how silence is a form of communication and how it shaped her being. Her mother tells her to be silent, yet she goes against her cultural standards by talking about her aunt. This act of will on Kingston's part offers the readers her ancestry. The expectation of silence can be simplified into a symbol of oppression. As a Korean-American, I felt the emotions and understood how Kingston felt for being a stranger to a new culture. Her internal struggle to fit into two different societies is difficult. I personally recommend this book to anyone interested in reading about the experience of one Chinese-American woman. It is not the definitive story of Chinese-American women's experience, but it is a very vivid and well-written account of one woman's life. Pg. 209. Published in the United States by Random House, Inc., New York
  
  

• Challenging, rewarding read

  
  By A3OSV1NPFTH5Y2 on 2000-05-06
  This is a remarkably intelligent, personal account of success, failure, frustration, and identity. No, the writing and structure are not straightforward, and yes, some of the plotline may be disturbing. But this is ultimately an intellectually rewarding read, and a personally emotionally moving experience.

  The anti-feminist backlash this novel seems to elicit (e.g., on this review page) should be testimony to how provocative it is, and how many assumptions it can challenge.

  As for it being a misrepresentation of Chinese culture, well, it's a subjective account. It's the culture through Maxine's eyes (and her family's eyes); it is not meant to be an objective anthropological study. And I did not find it at all exoticizing. In fact, it's a shame that MHK often gets mentioned in the same sentence as Amy Tan -- beyond the superficial similarity of both being Asian-American women, they have little in common. MHK does none of the silly exoticization that AT does, and at least to me, does not engage in the "Asians must be rescued by Western culture" ideology of AT. This is ultimately a personal, autobiographical account, that is neither judgmental nor self-pitying.
  
  

• The first of this genre

  
  By A2ODBHT4URXVXQ on 2003-11-17
  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.
  
  

• an incredibly detrimental book

  
  By AR0J639YD9PWB on 2000-01-13
  I only wish I could give negative points to this book. This book is not just a waste of time, it is actually EXTREMELY HARMFUL.

  I don't have a problem with feminist books, as I am a feminist. But Kingston, in this book, pushes a view that feminism is inherently opposed to Chinese culture (as opposed to American culture). This is patently untrue, since the vast majority of cultures in this world oppressed women.

  The book was terribly researched. Kingston distorts Chinese myths and cultural practices to support her assumption that traditional Chinese culture is "exotic" and threatening to women. Kingston presents her fictitious distortions under the guise of facts, misinforming numerous people about Chinese culture and encouraging prejudice and stereotyping.

  Do we really need books that propose all Asian women are victims of their cultures who needs to be saved by Western culture? I'm an Asian woman and my life experiences emphatically denies this sort of facile and condescending treatment of Asians in America.
  
  

• Identity Art at its worst

  
  By A3D6KZT0QG6UKB on 2000-06-16
  There are many reasons for hating this book, but one of the main reasons is that my least favorite professor said that this book exemplified everything that he had been trying to say about "race, class and gender" throughout the class.

  After 5 weeks of this class, I wanted to place sharp spikes into my ears whenever I heard the words "race, class and gender". The only reason why I give this book an extra star is because it might not be the book's fault that stupid politically correct classes teach it, and it might have been passable if read by itself. I doubt it.

  The book is about how the author is Chinese and a woman. It's about how the author is Chinese and a woman and OPPRESSED. Bad Chinese men killing women who get pregnant out of wedlock combine with bad white people who hate Asians and you got 300 pages of the "dominant patriarchy oppressing non-Western cultures who oppress their women"

  Oppression sure pays the bills for Kingston, but it doesn't make for an interesting read. I got the point, I used to preach the point. If Kingston wants to write a sermon on bad Asian men oppressing Asian women and getting oppressed by white people she should do it. If she wants to write fiction, maybe she should try characterization or plotting over sermons.
  
  

• The World is Full of Fourth Rate Readers
  By AV92DWANKUM91 on 2000-01-07
  :sigh: It is very sad to see how many of the reviews on this page are written without much thought put into them. I don't understand what the deal is with people not liking books which show the "bad" things in life and of Chinese Culture. It is books that disturb us and make us think that are truly great. I think that it's wonderful that a new light is brought to traditional Chinese culture and I'm sure Kingston's intentions were not to make the Chinese seem "evil" as many of the readers obviously believe. If you're at the level of reading of this book, then I'm sure you can understand that the books of this world are not all happy and joyful as we may want them to be.
  
  
• A Voice in the Darkness
  By on 1999-10-13
  Much to my dissapointment, I find that many people who have read Kingston's "Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Childhood Among Ghosts" do not understand the underlying theme and meaning. If you didn't like the book, that's okay. However, if you just thought that Kingston shouldn't "mess" with your mind, then you shouldn't even be reading "Woman Warrior" in the first place. "The Woman Warrior" attacks the themes of finding a place in American society and being both a Chinese-American and an American-Chinese. Kingston writing is powerful and full of vivid imagery and anecdotes that made me laugh outloud and relate her personal experiences with those of my own. Besides that point, Kingston makes a powerful statement about the empowerment of women and their ability to find a "voice" both gender-wise and culture-wise. I am glad to see that this book has made it to countless institutions of higher learning around the nation and has also made it to the "required reading" lists of many high schools in the country.
  
  
• ------------------------------------------------------------
  By on 2003-12-02
  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.
  
  
• Trailblazer
  By A2137L6QD68KVH on 2004-06-06
  I'm astonished to read so many virulently negative reviews. I read this book just after it came out, as a high-school student, and loved it for the strength of the writing and the vivid images, also the mix of fantasy and reality.

  I do recall being a bit surprised at her anger, but up until then the only stories of Chinese-American girlhood that were available (all one or two of them, I think; this was the mid-70s) portrayed very dutiful, very quiet, very "good" girls. So this was an eye-opener and a stereotype buster, and should be welcomed for that. We have to remember that this was written nearly 30 years ago, when the whole multi-cultural debate was really just getting going; perhaps some things in it would be different now. But the trailblazers in any society often have to be angry to get their messages heard -- and taken seriously. And people like Maxine Hong Kingston laid the foundations that allowed literature by people like Amy Tan to be published. She deserves credit for this.

  I can definitely see that aspects of the book could be annoying to Asian-Americans who find people taking this as gospel about Chinese culture, though.

  But I'd also like to suggest that some of the negative responses might also come from people uneasy with the idea that non-white people are angry about the racism they've experienced in the United States. It's easy to think this anger is exaggerated if you've never experienced racism.
  
  

• A multifaceted exploration of Chinese-American experience
  By A3QZCA4LTTVGAD on 2002-07-27
  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."
  
  

• Life is a struggle...
  By on 1999-05-21
  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.
  
  

• Interesting Chinese-American Read
  By on 2004-04-27
  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.
  
  
• Wonderful Book for Older Readers
  By AIGTYPFLC66Z0 on 1999-11-01
  Although Maxine Hong Kingston does jump around from chapter to chapter (which seems to confuse most), she does a great job at explaining her life growing up as a Chinese-American. I can really relate to some of the aspects of the books. Kingston recalls constantly being filled with ridiculous stories. These stories, though, become a part of who she is and what she believes. The sub-title of the book, "Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts", explains a lot of what the author has to deal with. She has to deal with hearing that her friends and her are ghosts, because they are American. All of the people that surrounded Kingston's family were ghosts, except for the Chinese people who lived on the Gold Mountain, Chinatown in San Francisco. The children's teachers and coaches were ghosts. Kingston feels like a ghost herself: "...we had been born amonth ghosts, were taught by ghosts, and were ourselves ghost-like. They called us a kind of ghost."

  This book is truely a page turner. There's always something to learn or laugh about in each turn. Wonderful book.
  
  

• Chinese American identity
  By on 1999-12-04
  The beauty of Warrior Woman is that Kingston does not pretend to lay it out exactely how it is because it is impossible to do so. What Kingston provides is her own representation of her cultural heritage and her own interpretation of what it was like for HER to grow up a female Chinese American. Each chapter is about a different warrior woman (except for one) because even though she struggled with her identity growing up, it was the warrior women surrounding her that she ultimately drew her strength from. This is a wonderfully written book that is at once angry and poetic. Kingston provides the reader with a look at one woman's interpretation of her cultural identity that does not pretend to be factual, (which is a truer rendering of life and identity).
  
  
• A Powerful Memoir
  By A12U9DKPE7B4VR on 2000-11-23
  In the novel, The Woman Warrior, Kingston addresses several themes including the relationship of boys vs. girls in the Chinese culture, the process of naming, a warrior spirit within women, ghosts as representative of people, the symbolism of talk-stories, and the significance of a voice for speaking as well as writing. While Kingston explores these various themes, she also incorporates her own memoir and testimony. As a Chinese-American, she reveals the complex duality of an identity shaped by two cultures. As a woman, she reveals her fears and struggle to maintain her freedom, along with her desire to earn love from her Mother. As a writer, she reveals a voice she constantly silenced during her youth -- a voice which empowers not only her own identity through writing, but also acknowledges the identity and existence of an aunt who dared to be an individual.

  Language provides Kingston an avenue into rebellion and strength and yet at the same time, through her language, she inevitably separates herself from her traditions and heritage. Throughout her memoir, Kingston struggles to assert her own identity and liberate her voice. "I shut my mouth, but I felt something alive tearing at my throat, bite by bite, from the inside" (200). This soreness within her throat grows with time along with the need to not only release her identity, but furthermore, to share this identity with her mother. "Maybe because I was the one with the tongue cut loose, I had grown inside me a list of over two hundred things that I had to tell my mother so that she would know the true things about me and to stop the pain in my throat" (197). Kingston needs her mother to help release the language inside her. By giving voice and language to these confessions she inevitably separates herself from her family and actualizes her individuality. To be released and to be separated from traditions become one and the same. Indeed, she learns to finds a place where ghosts cease to exist and where reality becomes a multitude of modern paraphernalia. "Be careful what you say. It comes true. It comes true. I had to leave home in order to see the world logically, logic the new way of seeing" (204). Kingston reminds readers of the power within language and the need to understand this same power. Within this understanding is the necessity to understand what we say and be careful with our words, lest they come true unintentionally. She urges women to fulfill the role of a woman warrior particularly through writing or speech, because if women do not search for strength within language then this language will most certainly be used against them.
  
  

• She Is What She's Got
  By APA4SPAT86PYW on 2001-04-09
  It's surprising you can reach Advanced Placement English III in America without the literary perception of understanding SOME merit of "The Woman Warrior".

  The most obvious merit of this book is its profound juxtaposition of Chinese and American culture. Maxine Hong Kingston is in the perfect position for this; she's attended Chinese school yet her English is good enough to get her into Berkeley (no doubt SHE got more out of her AP English class) so she understands both languages, and thus both cultures. She is aware of the profound gap between the two worlds (as Amy Tan etc. are not, I love Amy Tan, but she just isn't as bicultural) and she SHOWS this, by the passage about the "too-loud" Chinese against their whispering American counterparts, by her juxtaposition of a reworking of the Fa Mulan epic and her "disappointing" life in America.

  I'm sorry for being rude about the AP English III reviewer, but this book has so much OBVIOUS merit for me... I realize the other reviewer may have had a seriously limited, anglocentric literary education (but even a good anglocentric education would've helped in seeing the merits) or may be used to having his hand held by the writer through every description and plot turn, but for those of you who are interested in coming into awareness, an awareness of how DIFFERENT the Chinese are (and how similar they are in some respects, but I think it's the difference that's emphasized), "The Woman Warrior" is a fascinating, paradoxically illuminating book in that respect.

  I didn't enjoy this book as I enjoyed, say, Joy Luck Club, but I THINK about it a lot and I think it's IMPORTANT... it expands awareness, really, because it constantly hints of lands beyond the English language, and you get such a sense of what's OUT THERE.
  
  

• Waste of Time
  By A3QW0OMPL43OHN on 2002-02-15
  Kingston shouldn't have written a book about Chinese identity when she's not at all in touch with it. Her "experiences" are equivalent to those of a white man's claiming to be an exploited, underprivileged black woman. I dont' see why she got rave reviews, and I REALLY don't understand why her resentment for Chinese men makes her a "feminist" while Frank Chin's works challenging her false renderings of Chinese myth and history makes him a misogynist.

  A note to teachers: If you intend to endorse cultural sensitivity and understanding, Do not use this novel as a part of a "minority" or "cultural" unit. "Woman Warrior" is representative of a psychotic mind, and not of authentic Chinese culture.
  
  

• If only i could give less than one star
  By A2LACWEXV8IGTX on 2002-02-22
  This story is indeed about Kingston's childhood but it sounds childish at the same time, with the complaint of "life is not fair." Maxine Kingston is a manhater and a racist, referring to white people as "ghosts" and africans as "black ghosts." There is no question that Maxine Kingston had a rough childhood; she was born a girl into a traditional Chinese family. Her brothers were, in all likelihood, favored over her. However, she allowed all of her troubles from her childhood to remain with her in adulthood, where mere troubles grew into a festering hatred. That hatred is undoubtedly one of the primary factors that pushed Kingston to produce this rambling, non-sequential, non-linear, painstakingly incomprehensible complaint of a novel. While not a talented writer in the least, Kingston does convey thoroughly her two main messages; "I hate men" and "woe is me."
  
  
• definately....intersting
  By on 1999-02-17
  I'm an 11th grader from City High School, in Iowa City, Iowa. I was assigned to read this book, by my US Lit teacher, for our minority lit unit. When I started reading this book, I didn't think I'd like it that much. The book starts right away with the talk stories, and constantly jumps from story to story. Although these stories are intersting, and give you a lot of background on the actient Chinese traditions, and ways of life, the way the stories are told, and the gruesomenss of the some of the stories, makes the book very hard to follow at times. Despite that, it is very interesting to read about the difference between the American and Chinese cultures,and the ways that they clash. Once you get through all of the talk stories, to the stories that actually have a plot, you see how the talk stories tie into their everyday life, even when they are trying to fit into our lifestyle, and the book becomes much more interesting, not to mention easier to read. This book is full of culture, and is a wonderful way to learn about how different ehtnic groups interact together. It's definately worth reading.
  
  
• Perhaps it's personal bias, but I found this book very whiny
  By A1YRLJHO1IC408 on 2003-04-20
  As a first generation Chinese in America, I was annoyed by the whininess of this book. Kingston seems to have been an especially naive and empathetic child, but what she experienced is not unique, and certainly not as cruel as she makes it seem.

  In Chinese, are Caucasians referred to as ghosts? Yes, literally speaking 'ghosts' one of the derogatory terms. But we also call a bad person a bad egg, and a bastard, the egg of a toad and turtle. And I certainly would find a book titled "Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Eggs" more interesting.

  I think Kingston manipulated cultural shock to gain sympathy. And I am annoyed that stories like this dominate American literature, which creates a misshapen view of a generation of Chinese women. That is, the older women of Kingston's novel all have misogynistic tendencies.

  Most Chinese women between 50-60 years old went through the Cultural Revolution in China, and many are extremely politically minded, and full of feminist ideals. Many Chinese women older than that, fought in World War II, and the Chinese Civil War.

  So, perhaps I am just bias, but I personally felt that this novel does a great disservice to older Chinese women.
  
  

• Terribly unsubstantiated load of filth
  By A37E6Q99V3V02W on 2003-05-02
  It is true that some of the horrific deeds to have occurred within China was described adequately in Mrs. Kingston's memoirs, however, it presents too stark an image to those who are unknowing of China's history. Thus, these people are likely to associate the occurances in this book with the entirety of China's population. For example, Mrs. Kingston seems to remember her mother buying a slave girl from China, though it is not disclosed where such events actually took place (this is to assert that the selling of girls were rampant everywhere in China), when in reality the practice of selling girls was illegal in places excluding the most outlying of farmlands. Yet another example has her describing the Chinese language as being "ugly", when clearly she is referring exlusively to Cantonese and not Mandarin. This book is the work of a woman who has had no first-hand experience in living in China for prolonged periods of time, and because of this, her book cannot be held as historically accurate or even close to being so. At the time of her writing this novel, Mrs. Kingston was under the heavy influence of the Nationalists, and it is surprising to see the way her writing transitions from part to part (Mandarin Pinyin in the beginning and Taiwanese phonetics (Wades-Giles method) in the last half -- this juxtaposes "civilized" and "uncivilized", whatever that may mean). This is a biased work of pure fiction, and it cannot be ascertained as to why Mrs. Kingston held such deep-rooted hatred for the Mainland Chinese at the time, even though she was never there to experience the cultural revolution.
  
  
• A collection of pointless, politically-correct dribble
  By AC22CWHWH87W5 on 2000-07-30
  In this book, Maxine Hong Kingston first attacks her Chinese culture: Chinese women are oppressed by men, mothers who have children out of wedlock are killed, and girls are hated simply for their gender. Yet she goes on to attack Western culture as well, displaying some of the racism she so despises by referring to whites as "ghosts" or "barbarians," and insinuates that Americans do all they can to submerge other cultures (remember the boss where the narrator worked)? True or not, all Kingston does in this angry, rambling, completely unorganized set of narratives is complain. She offers no solutions to the problem of discrimination in all cultures; she merely whines about her "poor-me, I-don't-fit-in, why-don't-you-feel-sorry-for-me" status. Instead of coloring her pictures all-black, a great analogy for the entire book, perhaps Kingston should dedicate her energy to something more constructive; prospective readers should do something more constructive--and entertaining--than wandering through this book!
  
  
• Sigh......
  By on 1999-03-03
  I am chinese and have been in the U.S. for 7 years. Last Year I was assigned to read this book by my AP English teacher. I must admit the author does give a good view on the role of women in chinese society before the revolution that overthrew the Qing dynasty(though in rural parts the treament of women still applied until the 50s). However, the rest of the book is a boring manifest of feminist ideology . What offended me the most was the way that Kingston used Chinese Culture. First of all is her version of the classic Hua MuLan story(I know it's "Fa" but Hua is the correct way to pronounce/write it), I read Mulan when I was 5 and took great offense when reading how Kingston "Butchered" this story, albeit better than the dreaded disney version(don't get me started on that...) Second is her usage of some chinese culture references that are way wrong(as in "Kingston did not know what the heck she was talking about when she put the reference in"). This book can only draw the interest of foreigners because it agrees with many misconceptions of China that is still dominant today. For a person that never been to China, she sure did a good job "butchering" chinese culture.
  
  
• An Excellent Book but Very much Misunderstood
  By on 1999-06-15
  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.
  
  
• An amazing work
  By A1DLPA4RQTHUIP on 2001-10-27
  I read this book in an honors lit class in college, at the age of 36. This book is jarring, beautiful, painful, memorable, exquisite, and transformative. I have no personal experience with the X-American experience (chinese-american, african-american, etc.), and still this marvelous book speaks to me with an eloquent and imaginative voice. Anyone who has ever felt marginalized in any way can identify with this story.

  The story of the woman warrior, Fa Mu Lan, sat in my brain for a couple of years, percolating and resonating. Before riding out into battle, Fa Mu Lan's parents carve the family history into her back so she will carry her strength with her into battle, and so that her body can still be used as a weapon if she's killed ("look, this is what we're fighting for."). Two years ago I had kanji characters tattooed down the length of spine describing MY strength. I always tell the story of this book and Fa Mu Lan when people ask about my spine. I really mean it when I say this book profoundly affected me.

  If you are interested in a beautifully-told story of identity formation and development, of struggles at the margin, of power gained through adversity, of lyrical wonder, this is the book for you. The individual chapters are kind of stories unto themselves, and they string together like Chinese lanterns to shed a beautiful light on your journey. READ THIS BOOK. I'll be glad you did.
  
  

• Well Written, Bad Representation
  By A35UK6R21WBDHF on 2002-01-10
  Although the book was written well, it does not represent Chinese. I couldn't get over the fact that Kingston made Mulan a victim of Chinese male misogyny. Look up the Ballad of Mulan yourself and see if there is anything about Mulan being abused. Bear in mind, Mulan never had a tattoo. And, the Chinese character for "woman" and "slave" are not the same. And, there is no "forbidden stitch" in Chinese literature. And, Kingston misuses the word "ghost".

  Many feminists like this book, but don't forget, Kingston is doing this in spite of Chinese people (specifically, males)! Sure, this isn't a book of history (Kingston says she is not perserving Chinese myths and fairy tales), but I don't think it's fair to ruin the Ballad of Mulan doing it and making up phony stories about Chinese. If anybody uses this book for a term paper or a dissertation, beware! You are using a book from an author who doesn't know Chinese literature.
  
  

• The worst of the worst
  By A5MQW2KG15M33 on 2000-06-01
  This is simply a terrible book. Including myself, my poor Ashley had to read it and suffer the horrible stories contained in this book. To put it simply, all Kingston does is continuously insult non-Chinese people and spread ideals that should have been lost in the void of time. She also continuously complains about America, without any ideas for fixing her "problems." The story has no sense of organization, purpose or time. It continuously jumps around a terribly written story that noone could make heads or tails with. This book is not worth the $8.80 or even a blue light special at K-Mart, with mail-in rebates for the entire prce. Infact, people should be paid to read this book. Nonetheless, even with ANY knowledge of the Chinese culture, all this book paints is propaganda for barbarians.

  Frankly, I'd rather stuff wild weasles down my pants.
  
  

• Sensationalist's view of Chinese culture frozen in the past
  By A2X0G6FDP9IRF0 on 2000-07-30
  If you are satisfied only with a tabloid, exotic or a sensationalist's view of Chinese culture, then go ahead and read this book. Otherwise, you do yourself a favor by passing it up. I am not denying that Chinese Americans are struggling with identity problems, but the "old" China she depicts doesn't capture the kaleidoscopic complexity of the China that is fast changing and emerging. The Woman Warrior plays into the same Orientalist prejudice shared by such recent journalistic works as The Coming Conflict with China: anything that demonizes China or presents China as the exotic Other (thereby justifying the cultural superiority of the West) will have eager following. Frankly, the author has done a disservice to the Chinese American community because she fails to provide a balanced understanding of the Chinese culture with all its complexity. To those who are misled to believe that what she presents in The Woman Warrior is representative of Chinese culture, I can only suggest that you disabuse of these (mis)impressions by reading more indepth works on Chinese culture rather than regaling in such surrealistic kisch. This is postmodernism without responsibility in one of its worst incarnations. A good critical study on Maxine Hong Kingston and also Amy Tan would be Immigrant Subjectivities in Asian American and Asian Diaspora Literatures, by Sheng-mei Ma (New York: SUNY Press, 1998). Make sure you check Ma's work out if you decide to read Kingston or Tan. (I don't know Ma personally. Nor do I have anything to gain by recommending Ma's book.)
  
  
• insightful and intriguing
  By A7WNJQW9JMWZ4 on 2000-02-24
  I loved this book, not only for its content, but also for its detail and description. Maxine Hong Kingston did an excellent job of portraying what it was like to grow up as a Chinese-American girl. She made me feel like I was there and I could feel the anger, dissapointment, and frustration she experienced. This book also portrays a first hand view of the cultural differences between the United States and China. It takes you down the roller-coaster ride of a girl trying to fit into the society that she grew up in, yet also trying to relate to and understand her parents culture and viewpoints. It is a beautifully wrought story that contains conflict, emotion and history. I found it to be informative and enthralling.
  
  
• The Only Book I Could Read for 9 Hours Straight!
  By AGVBYPFCIJ9ZA on 2000-01-30
  Maxine Hong Kingstons masterpiece, "The Woman Warrior..." is bursting with originality and personality. While some may question the validity of the book being a true non-fictional autobiography, the story is inspiring in any genre. Tell Story and Ghosts unite to present the reader with an interal stuggle between being American and Chinese, an honor or a disgrace to the family, confomity and individuality. As the author boldly satates, "I am a Female Avenger." This book is, however, full of important symbolism that can be easily missed in reading. I suggest paying close attention to colors, ghosts, and noting the importance of each tell-story.
  
  

• Beloved
• Ceremony: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
• The House on Mango Street
• Their Eyes Were Watching God
• Interpreter of Maladies (Edition 001)