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The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts [Paperback]

Maxine Hong Kingston
3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (189 customer reviews)

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Book Description

April 23, 1989
A Chinese American woman tells of the Chinese myths, family stories and events of her California childhood that have shaped her identity.

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The Woman Warrior is a pungent, bitter, but beautifully written memoir of growing up Chinese American in Stockton, California. Maxine Hong Kingston (China Men) distills the dire lessons of her mother's mesmerizing "talk-story" tales of a China where girls are worthless, tradition is exalted and only a strong, wily woman can scratch her way upward. The author's America is a landscape of confounding white "ghosts"--the policeman ghost, the social worker ghost--with equally rigid, but very different rules. Like the woman warrior of the title, Kingston carries the crimes against her family carved into her back by her parents in testimony to and defiance of the pain. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

Maxine Hong Kingston grew up in two worlds. There was "solid America," the place her parents emigrated to, and the China of her mother's "talk-stories." In talk-stories women were warriors and her mother was still a doctor in China who could cure the sick and scare away ghosts, not a harried and frustrated woman running a stifling laundromat in California. But what is story and what is truth? In China, a ghost is a supernatural being; in America it is anyone who is not Chinese. In addition, underlying even the most exciting talk-stories of Chinese women warriors is the real oppression of Chinese women: "There is a Chinese word for the female 'I' - which is 'slave.' " In an attempt to figure out her world, Maxine Hong Kingston finds herself creating stories of her own, filling in the blanks her mother has not told her because her daughter is, after all, not true Chinese and thus cannot be completely trusted. Can these new stories explain why she had trouble speaking in the American schools? Can they help her understand the aunt who committed adultery and whose existence is denied? The new stories refuse to fall into traditional forms, and the realizations that come from them often bring out a beautiful, passionate anger that practically burns through the pages. This is powerful, experimental writing, a combination of love, hate, frustration, and sheer beauty. -- For great reviews of books for girls, check out Let's Hear It for the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14. -- From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Erica Bauermeister

Product Details

  • Paperback: 209 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage; Vintage Intl Ed, April 1989/3rd Printing edition (April 23, 1989)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0679721886
  • ISBN-13: 978-0679721888
  • Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (189 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,963 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

The book, divided into five interwoven stories, is at times confusing as it jumps around. Hee Jung Park (Colegio Maya)  |  19 reviewers made a similar statement
Many feminists like this book, but don't forget, Kingston is doing this in spite of Chinese people (specifically, males)! bookworm2001@asianavenue.com  |  7 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
89 of 96 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Crossing the Line March 28, 2000
Format:Paperback
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
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58 of 62 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Challenging, rewarding read May 6, 2000
Format:Paperback
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.

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41 of 46 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The first of this genre November 16, 2003
Format:Paperback
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.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling read
Those who enjoy reading Amy Tan novels filled with myths, family stories and historical events will definitely like "The Woman Warrior" which is similar in style.
Published 1 month ago by M
5.0 out of 5 stars Yes,
You should read this book. I'm second-generation Chinese-American, and this book was evocative of so many of the cultural ideas my family was forged by, and it was so well-written... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Kori
1.0 out of 5 stars The Woman Warrior
Do not waste your time to read it. I should give this book 0 star, no matter what kind of rewards this book got.
Published 3 months ago by AChinesePeasent
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read
Every thinking person needs to read this novel which is a most excellent example of the craft. Provides clues about what it is to be a human being.
Published 4 months ago by Mary Grey
5.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing
I read this book many years ago and haven't forgotten it. In fact, I may buy the Kindle edition. It is a very intriguing book about a woman who is born to Chinese immigrants and... Read more
Published 4 months ago by newmslma
4.0 out of 5 stars My Review
This collection of Chinese folklore is also a complex soul-searching journey for the author in which she delves into the folklore of her Chinese heritage that has been imparted to... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Stefan Yates
2.0 out of 5 stars I wish I could have liked it
I had heard this book was really good and so I had kind of high hopes. However, actually reading it was kind of a chore, which I guess technically it was because it was an actual... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Christopher
1.0 out of 5 stars I wouldn't even give it a one....
My ninth grade english teacher made me read Woman Warrior this year. I do not understand how so many people found this book to be interesting in the least.... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Anonymous
5.0 out of 5 stars The Woman Warrior
Well I purchased this book for my daughter because she needed to read it for her assignment. I really haven't read this book as of yet but the title itself is intriguing.
Published 19 months ago by transitvega
4.0 out of 5 stars A shocking and insightful look into the truth
In Conquest: Sexual Violence and American Indian Genocide, Andrea Smith focuses on sexual violence as a tool of patriarchy and colonialism in Native communities. Read more
Published 22 months ago by SunnyDelight
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