Katherine [Mass Market Paperback]

Anchee Min (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2001

This novel, described by the San Francisco Chronicle Book Review as "nothing short of miraculous," is the story of Zebra Wong, a Chinese girl whose pragmatic mind conflicts with her passionate heart; Lion Head, her classmate, whose penchant for romantic intrigue belies his political ambitions, and Katherine, the seductive American with the red lipstick and the wild laugh who teaches them English and other foreign concepts: individualism, sensuality, the Beatles. In Katherine's classroom, repression and rebellion meet head-on-and the consequences are both tragic and liberating.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Min's first novel is less successful on a number of fronts than her outstanding memoir, Red Azalea. Narrated by a 29-year-old Chinese woman named Zebra whose family is poor and disgraced in the eyes of the Party, the story line traces the upheavals sparked by the appearance in the wake of the Cultural Revolution of a vibrant American teacher of English. When, in 1982, Katherine first arrives at the East Sea Foreign Language Institute in Shanghai, Zebra is a hardened veteran of the crushing Chinese system. Becoming Katherine's friend and prized pupil holds a dangerous allure for her: "Katherine. We enjoyed saying it. We liked to think that her name smelled of hot blood. We liked to imagine everything that came with the name. A story of the western world." Katherine meets Zebra's expectations, teaching her not only English but also the finer points of the Beatles, makeup and illicit affairs. Zebra is not the only one who finds the American compelling, however. So does a fellow student, who has the unlikely name of Lion Head and who is mixed up in political games involving the head of the Institute. Despite Zebra's multiple warnings, Katherine blunders into an unseemly incident in which the demands of the state trample the desires of the individual. One of Red Azalea's most enjoyable attributes was the tension created by the presence of a charged sensuality amid the gray uniformity of Communist China. This novel also possesses sensuality, primarily through the freewheeling Katherine, but it seems forced. The characters lack the tight focus of those in Min's memoir, as well. Zebra, for instance, can be guarded and provincial in one paragraph and then reel off a philosophical jag about identity in the next. The writing, despite its lyrical moments, is also off key-particularly during the novel's rushed and unfortunate climax. Author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

Min's first novel is set in China, but at its heart is a magnetic and willful young American woman named Katherine, with auburn hair, catlike eyes, and a gorgeous body-"a combination of beauty and cruelty." Katherine teaches English at the university in Shanghai, and among her students is Zebra, a ruined product of the Cultural Revolution. Zebra poignantly relates the devastating impact Katherine has on her students, who are enthralled by her air of freedom and her not-to-subtle sexuality. But as she goes about trying to do good, Katherine is also breathtakingly naive about the stumbling blocks her students face. As Zebra tartly tells her, "You better sing our song since you are climbing our mountain." Min, the author of last year's Red Azalea (LJ 12/93), an account of her rough upbringing in China, has written a little dewdrop of a work that is lyrical, to-the-point, and occasionally marred by writing that seems annoyingly childish but perhaps should be acknowledged as echoing the voice of a young woman painfully finding her way out of a terrible historical experiment. Recommended for most collections.
--Barbara Hoffert, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Trade (March 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425180239
• ISBN-13: 978-0425180235
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.7 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #874,805 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Anchee Min was born in Shanghai in 1957. At seventeen she was sent to a labor collective, where a talent scout for Madame Mao's Shanghai Film Studio recruited her to work as a movie actress. She came to the United States in 1984 with the help of actress Joan Chen. Her memoir, Red Azalea, was named one of the New York Times Notable Books of 1994 and was an international bestseller, with rights sold in twenty countries. Her novels Becoming Madame Mao and Empress Orchid were published to critical acclaim and were national bestsellers. Her two other novels, Katherine and Wild Ginger, were published to wonderful reviews and impressive foreign sales.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A teacher brings a new way of thinking to her students., February 12, 2000

By 

Linda Linguvic (New York City) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Katherine (Paperback)

This little gem of a book kept me up awake until I finished every word. It is the story of the impact that an American teacher, Katherine, makes on a class of students in the 1980s, after the death of Mao and during a time of change. The teacher brings new ways of thinking to her students. And danger.

The language is simple, evocative and clear. The voice is fresh. Simple sentences opened worlds of understanding for me. The main character, Zebra, is in her late twenties. She is confused with the changes around her. She was brought up to worship communism and Chairman Mao, was sent to a labor camp as a teenager, now works in a factory and lives in an overcrowded apartment with her parents and brother. Life is harsh for her and those around her. And then the American teacher, with her western ways comes into their life.

Concepts such as travel, choice, moving from place to place are introduced. The students learn to talk about how they feel about things, which is something that Chinese people just don't do. There's a intertwining love story including obsession and deception. And all of this is under the watchful eyes of the government, who control every aspect of Chinese life and signs of individualism are looked at with suspicion.

We, Americans, walk around with our eyes closed too. We can't quite understand what we're dealing with in China. I've read articles about this. But through this simple novel of a sparse 254 pages, I began to understand.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, troubling view of Americans and Chinese, March 26, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Katherine (Paperback)

Reading "Katherine" is a painful experience, in many ways. The American reader (especially one who is teaching English in another country) might be disturbed by the recognition of himself/herself in the title character, a "freewheeling," independent, optimistic, "typical" (?) American woman who seems painfully incapable of the subtlety necessary for life in post-Cultural Revolutionary China. Katherine dresses strangely, seeming to flaunt her physical characteristics, speaks her mind without thinking about the political and cultural situation in which she finds herself, and even has an affair with one of her students--all the while claiming that she was probably Chinese in another life.

The Chinese reader might be disturbed by what could be interpreted as Zebra's (the main Chinese character's) hatred of her own people. Indeed, Zebra's statements about her fellow Chinese often reminded me of Bo Yang's _The Ugly Chinaman_ in their overwhelming negativity. China after the Cultural Revolution is portrayed as a place where no one trusts anyone else, and where selfishness has replaced politeness and concern for the welfare of others. Zebra, however, might be forgiven for overemphasizing China's problems to Katherine, who seems to wander through China with the illusion that, as an American, she is "above" any of the customs or protocols that have evolved as a result of both the 5000 years of Chinese history and everything that has happened after 1949.

Without giving away the ending, I might say that the book reminded me of _Life and Death in Shanghai_ by Nien Chung, whose author, in some ways, seems a combination of the characteristics of Katherine and Zebra, and who also shares the fates of those characters. _Katherine_ is an absorbing book (I read it in one night, something I rarely do), but also a sad experience.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing. Chinese culture and Western ideas meet head on, November 18, 2000

By 

Brian Pressman (Honolulu, Hawaii United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Katherine (Paperback)

As a current student of Asian Studies in College, I decided to read Katherine after enjoying Anchee Min's memoir: Red Azalea. I started reading Katherine on a Saturday afternoon and finished it Sunday night. The book was simply amazing. Having taught English in China myself, the head on collision of Western ideas and post Cultural Revolution Chinese life in Katherine not only stirred up memories from my Beijing classroom but also produced a powerful and fascinating novel. Min artfully balances the personal rebirth of a Chinese woman with the struggles of a civilization still healing from the scars of the Cultural Revolution. Anyone interested in China and its interaction with western ideas and culture will most certainly love this book as much as I did. Although I read Katherine on my own and neglected to complete my assigned coursework to do so, my only wish after finishing the book was that the story didn¡¯t have to end.