Leaving Mother Lake: A Girlhood at the Edge of the World [Paperback]

Yang Erche Namu (Author), Christine Mathieu (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 10, 2004

- The hardcover edition of LEAVING MOTHER LAKE debuted at #3 on the San Francisco Chronicle's bestseller list.- A revelation of a culture virtually unknown in the West, a contemporary society in which women enjoy true sexual and economic freedom.- A huge international success, with rights sold in England, Finland, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, Spain, and Sweden.- Hardcover ISBN: 0-316-12471-0

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With the help of anthropologist Mathieu, singer Namu describes growing up on the Chinese-Tibetan border in Moso country, "the Country of the Daughters." Detailing her late-1960s, early-'70s upbringing-she was known in her village as "the girl who was given back three times"-she sheds light on the unique matrilineal Moso culture, with its "walking marriages," where women take as many lovers as they want and the men continue to reside in their mothers' homes. The interweaving of the customs of this remote part of China-where "a man and a woman may sing to each other from the peaks of two mountains, but they will need to carry food for three days if they want to meet halfway"-with Namu's determination to have a worldly life despite her family's poverty and her own inability to read and write lend this tale poignancy. Most readers will find themselves rooting for Namu as she runs away from home, travels across the country and successfully auditions for a place in the Shanghai Music Conservatory at age 16. There, she learns to read and write and launches her international singing career. For those who doubt that a land could exist where girls are favored over boys and marriage is viewed with distrust, Mathieu appends an afterword about her research on the Moso and the changes that have taken place, including universal education. While not a stylistic masterpiece, the book brims with vivid descriptions of a fascinating culture. 1 b&w photo, 2 maps.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School-In a remote part of China near the Himalayas live the Moso people. Except for a couple of somewhat humorous attempts at assimilation by the revolutionaries, their traditions have remained unchanged. Mothers head the household, and adult children are expected to live with them. Marriage is considered impractical and unnatural. Namu was born in the 1960s to a woman who, in an act of rebellion, started her own house. Growing up, Namu displayed a similar independent streak. When she was discovered by Chinese officials looking for talented singers of ethnic songs, there was no stopping her from engaging with the outside world. Upon admit-tance into the prestigious Shanghai Music Conservatory, Namu asked for Han Chinese (the ethnic majority) roommates. Her choice paid off in improved language skills, although she had to deal with the nastiness of a particularly prejudiced individual. This memoir vividly conveys the bitter cold of mountain nights and strained relationships, along with the warmth of hearth, hospitality, and deep understanding. A fascinating glimpse at a unique culture and the melding of two worlds in a journey to adulthood.
Sheila Shoup, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Back Bay Books (February 10, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316735493
• ISBN-13: 978-0316735490
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #63,632 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lovingly crafted tribute to enchanting Moso culture, February 9, 2003

By 

Blue Jean Online (Boston, Mass.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Leaving Mother Lake: A Girlhood at the End of the World (Hardcover)

....

by Melisa Gao, Sr. Correspondent

Leaving Mother Lake is the autobiographical account of a girl coming of age as a Moso, an ethnic minority that lives in the Himalayas in southwestern China. In the Moso culture, women hold an honored place, and families are matrilineal. Yet young Yang Erche Namu feels trapped by society's expectations of her. As she grows into a strong-willed young woman, she decides to leave the Moso to pursue her dream of becoming a singer. Forsaking her ties to her family and her people, Namu relies on her own determination and resourcefulness to brave the unforgiving world. But Namu is caught between two ways of life, and this struggle eventually becomes the focus of the story.

Namu, now a famous singer, wrote this memoir with the help of Christine Mathieu, an expert on the Moso people and their history. The authors' passion for this story and for the Moso people resonates with every sentence. Moso traditions and beliefs are a departure from almost any we encounter in today's world, and the book is worth reading for that reason alone. Leaving Mother Lake is a lovingly crafted tribute to this enchanting but little-known culture, with all its legend and lore.

Namu and Mathieu use wonderful details to paint a picture of the Moso people and their home. "Red granite and evergreen forests towered over the meadow, and peaks like saw teeth pierced the blue sky, slicing through feathery clouds - ridge after ridge, and as far as I could see," they write. "The air was so pure, so still, so empty of familiar smells and sounds that I might have become frightened if I had not been overwhelmed by so much wild beauty" (80). This calm beauty of the Moso villages later contrasts the rowdiness of the city streets Namu will visit.

Despite its unique setting, the themes of Leaving Mother Lake reach effortlessly across cultural differences. We laugh and cry with our heroine, and we identify with her feelings of confinement and longing. Leaving Mother Lake is primarily a book about love, loyalty, duty, and desire. That Namu and Mathieu can convey these emotions across the vast cultural differences is a testament to their storytelling abilities; their use of exquisite imagery and rich description make the story all the more enjoyable.

Copyright 2003, Blue Jean Online

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars About more than 'walking marriages', May 31, 2003

By 

JG (NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Leaving Mother Lake: A Girlhood at the End of the World (Hardcover)

The best beginnings are always the simplest.

In Leaving Mother Lake, the reader is instantly drawn in as Namu begins her story by pleading with her mother to share the details of her birth. With this seemingly simple request made at her mother's knee, Namu unfolds the world in which she grew up and all of the important players. She tells her own coming of age story but she also shares the stories of her village and her people.

It's easy to see why she wanted to leave such a remote and impoverished place. What makes Namu's story special is how much she feels indebted to her culture and her people for producing her.

Everyone has great stories about their childhood but some of Namu's are particularly expected. For instance, this is probably the first time readers will come to know a little girl who was so cold while herding yaks in the mountains that she stuck her legs in the yaks' stream of urine during Winter mornings to feel warm, even if only for a few moments.

A truly spectacular memoir.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A life much less ordinary, February 16, 2007

By 

Julee Rudolf "book snob" (Oak Harbor, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Leaving Mother Lake: A Girlhood at the Edge of the World (Paperback)

The lifestyle and cultural norms of the Moso people "one of fifty-six Chinese nationalities" of Tibet, who "number about 30,000" are much different than those of most developed countries. The women tend to engage in a series of monogamous relationships, resulting in matriarch family units with several half-sibling children. This one fact might cause people to describe them as sexually promiscuous and immoral. Others might look at the matriarchal, matrilineal Moso as an intriguing social entity not bound by the social constraints of most cultures. Although the Chinese government has encouraged marriage, the Moso people are overwhelmingly undeterred. Mothers tend to prize daughters, as through their offspring the family lines continue. Children may never learn the identity of their fathers, and if they do, will refer to them (as all men) as "Uncle." Children ideally remain with their maternal relatives their entire lives, dying in the same dwelling in which they were born. Men are needed "to herd the yaks in the mountains, to travel with the horse caravans to trade in the outside world, and to make the long journey to Lhasa to study the holy Buddhist scriptures and become lamas." Girls shift from childhood to womanhood by participating in a post-menarche "skirt" ceremony. They then move from a communal room to their own special chamber and are encouraged to engage in sexual relationships. Leaving Mother Lake is the story of Namu Erche, a member of the Moso tribe, who lived a life less ordinary. Her mother, "curious and restless," defied the norms of the tribe by moving from her own mother's home to settle in a village two days' walk distant. Namu cried so much as a young child that three attempts to trader her to other families were unsuccessful. An elder sister was instead traded for a male cousin, who was raised as her brother. At eight, she was sent to yak-herd with a great-uncle. Several years later she returned to her mother's home to participate in her skirt ceremony. When a group of Han Chinese visited her village to record traditional songs, they noticed her singing skills and chose her along with two others to participate in a singing contest. Successful in their first endeavor, they again succeeded in a bigger contest. Changed by her big city experience, she ran away from home to follow her dreams. She returned home, but only for a visit, after several years at a musical conservatory. Although Namu's story is fascinating, the writing seems overly simplified. Other good memoirs about lives less ordinary include: Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt, The Twelve Little Cakes by Dominika Dery, and The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls.