Wild Ginger: A Novel [Paperback]

Anchee Min (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2002

At once a coming-of-age tale and a heart-rending love story, Wild Ginger explores the devastating experience of the Cultural Revolution, which defined Anchee Min’s youth. The beautiful, iron-willed Wild Ginger is only in elementary school when she is singled out by the Red Guards for her “foreign-colored eyes.” Her classmate Maple is also a target of persecution. The novel chronicles the two girls’ maturing in Shanghai in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when Chairman Mao ruled absolutely and his followers took up arms in his name. Wild Ginger grows up to become a model Maoist, but her love for a man soon places her in an untenable position — and ultimately in mortal danger. This slim and powerful novel “examines the fragile sensibilities and emotions of an entire generation of Chinese youth” (Washington Post) and brilliantly delineates the psychological and sexual perversion of those times.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A happy ending is relative to what precedes it in this case, it stands in contrast to a horrific, true-to-life story about two girls growing up in Shanghai during the Cultural Revolution. In the late '60s and early '70s, Chairman Mao ruled omnipotently, and his followers took up arms in his name. Being a Maoist involved self-sacrifice, and that war between personal wants and the movement's needs indirectly pits Min's protagonists against one another. Sweet, na‹ve Maple is saved from her usual beating by class bully Hot Pepper when new kid Wild Ginger stands up for both of them. This is no ordinary blacktop brawl: Hot Pepper and her gang members wield umbrellas like spears, stabbing their victims until they give up or collapse. Since Hot Pepper constantly invokes Maoist principles as rationale for her actions, the teachers dare not interfere for fear of being branded anti-Maoist and taken prisoner by the Red Guard or worse. Opposites in most ways, Maple and Wild Ginger become best friends over their shared ostracism. Their friendship is tested when a boy called Evergreen falls for Wild Ginger, whose extreme devotion to Mao conflicts with her natural impulses. Maple herself can't decide who she loves best Wild Ginger or Evergreen and her dilemma leads her to put herself in mortal danger. Min (Becoming Madame Mao; Red Azalea) has created a memorable, unsettling love story using the horrors of Maoism which she experienced firsthand as a backdrop. 8-city author tour. (Apr. 8)Forecast: Wild Ginger is a more grueling read than the bestselling Becoming Madame Mao, and doesn't pack quite the same historical punch (it's hard to beat Madame Mao as a protagonist), but those who enjoyed Min's first novel will be satisfied by this one, which should mean strong sales.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In lean, expressive prose, Min recounts the lives of several young people caught up in the Cultural Revolution, which swept China in the mid-Sixties near the end of Mao's reign. The author, who was born in Shanghai and joined the Red Guards the vanguard of the revolution writes from firsthand experience. As in her excellent novel, Becoming Madame Mao, Min deftly encapsulates world-historical events in the lives of ordinary people without being didactic or resorting to stock figures. Her fully realized characters snag our interest and evoke our sympathy as they engage in acts of bravery or daring that make life barely endurable. She also has a talent for mixing irony with humor, as when Wild Ginger, the outcast protagonist of this moving tale, gains recognition for an act of heroism, after which her deceased parents (her father was foreign-born) are dubbed "international Communists" rather than "French spies." Highly recommended for all literate readers, especially those with a taste for foreign cultures. Edward Cone, New York
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books; Edition Unstated edition (January 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618380434
• ISBN-13: 978-0618380435
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #689,030 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

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As good as Red Azalea, April 7, 2002

By 

Candace "thepageturner" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wild Ginger: A Novel (Paperback)

From the time Maple meets her in elementary school, Wild Ginger has always been singled out for a particular kind of torture because of her "foreign colored" eyes. This gives the girls something in common because the Red Guards have been making Maple's life a living hell because her father is in prison.

Anchee Min writes of China's Cultural Revolution with a restraint that makes the spiritual cost of such repression all the more horrific. As Maple and Wild Ginger grow, they see that the only way for them to survive is to become model Maoists, to pin all their hopes and deeds on the Great Leader. When Wild Ginger and a young man named Evergreen discover emotions that have no place in the Chairman's little red book, all three of them risk complete destruction.

Don't be deceived. Min leaves no doubt that this will not be a "triumph of the human spirit" story in the way most will expect it. In fact, the human spirit may not triumph at all. But you will keep reading, your heart aching for these girls, their young friend, and anyone who has to pass through this kind of daily gauntlet in order to survive.

Anchee Min's last novel, "Becoming Madame Mao" was a bestseller and a fine piece of work. But my favorite is her first novel, "Red Azalea," which broke new ground with its straightforward description of an ordinary girl during the Cultural Revolution. Min knows that there is no need to elaborate on these stories; simply relating them as if they were the most ordinary thing in the world is more devastating than embellishment.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love and politics in during China's cultural revolution, October 26, 2002

By 

Linda Linguvic (New York City) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wild Ginger: A Novel (Paperback)

This story is about two friends growing up during those recent awful times in China when family background could earn you a beating from sadist classmates. That's how Maple, the first person narrator, met Wild Ginger. Together they fought the class bully, and together they studied Maoism. Wild Ginger, however, whose father was a foreigner, had a harder time than Maple. But the abuse she endured even pulled her more strongly into Maoism. Eventually she rose in the party. And when a young man developed a romantic interest in her, a triangle developed that included her friend Maple. That's when the events take a more tragic turn.

From the very first page, I was immediately swept up in the story, which was set against the background of the horrors of Maoism. Here was history come alive through the eyes of the people, each one so beautifully developed that even the minor characters became unique individuals. There is not a wasted word and the tightly crafted sentences, juxtaposed with quotations from Mao's writings, brought me right into the heart of China. I felt the political fervor as well as the frustrations and depravations of living through that unique time.

I loved this book. I read it quickly, and had a hard time putting it down. Highly recommended.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Freedom is Slavery, August 2, 2002

By 

CR "Foxxxy Librarian" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wild Ginger: A Novel (Paperback)

Adults are terrified to curb the impulses of sadistic children for fear of being branded an anti-Maoist. Children denounce their own parents and citizens are executed, tortured or sentenced to labor camps for life for the most arbitrary of political `crimes' or for having the misfortune of being descended from the wrong social class. The entire community is forced to attend marathon mass rehearsals in freezing weather for Mao quotation singing rallies. The only words that are safe to speak are Mao's own, which the children spend most of their school days memorizing and chanting endlessly. George Orwell's 1984 sounds like a walk in the park compared to China in the midst of the Cultural Revolution.
Against this totalitarian nightmare of a backdrop the reader is introduced to the title character through the eyes of Maple, a kind natured child. Wild Ginger is tainted because she is ¼ French, and she is ostracized and loses everything as a child because of it. Through sheer will and a singlemindedness to become the best Maoist ever she rises in the party and ascends to power. Being a perfect Maoist leaves no room for marriage, love or humanity, though, and when she and another rising Maoist fall in love tragedy results.
The author survived the Cultural Revolution, and her experiences lend a chilling authenticity to this story.