Pearl Buck in China: Journey to the Good Earth Hilary Spurling 2010 |
"Pearl Buck in China" gives a detailed and well-researched view into her upbringing, her struggles, and her influence as a novelist. Despite the slow first two chapters, much of which are devoted to her father's missionary zeal at the expense of his family, as well as his misogyny in the name of God, the book dives deeply into the psyche of young Pearl. By the age of ten, she had decided to be a novelist, finding escape in fiction from her parents' unrest, and enjoying connection with the Western world--particularly through Dickens' novels--which was still foreign to her. As we discover, she knew the street vernacular of the average Chinese, and grew to love them as her own. This familiarity caused a strain on her religious beliefs when fellow Westerners treated the Chinese with condescension. Later, she found a husband with a more practical approach to his missionary work, teaching the locals agricultural skills. She fought for the rights of women, of handicapped children, and of all races and cultures. She humanized the Chinese in America's eyes, even at the risk of losing her place with the missionaries she had grown up among. She was not perfect. She had physical, creative, and spiritual struggles. She left her husband after years of frustration. Reviewed by Eric Wilson |
Falling Leaves: The Memoir of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter Adeline Yen 1999 |
In 1937, Adeline Yen Mah's mother died giving birth to her. Because of this, she was considered "bad luck", tormented by her siblings and shunned by her father. Her father soon remarried a beautiful, young Eurasian woman who was cruel and manipulative. She treated all five of her stepchildren badly, but saved her real hatred for Adeline. Falling Leaves is the powerful, riveting memoir of emotional abuse and isolation that Ms Yen Mah suffered at the hands of her stepmother. At this point, most would say, "Why would I want to torture myself by reading a book about child abuse?" The answer is simple...Adeline Yen Mah didn't just survive her childhood, she triumphed. With great wisdom and insight, she tells a story not just about her life, but the life of China, before and after the cultural revolution and how both were changed forever. Despite her miserable childhood, she excelled, became a doctor, married and found freedom and a new life in America. Reviewed by Roz Levine |
Wild Swans: 3 Daughters of China Jung Chang 1991 |
Wild Swans is epic in it's historical backdrop moving untirelessly through the last century of China, roughly between the years 1911 and 1976, but this is no textbook. This is the story of the author Jung Chang, her mother, and her grandmother. It is through their lives that history unfolds and is exposed. From the end of Imperial China, through Japanese occupation, the Nationalist movement, the Civil War between the Kuomintang and the Communists, Communist takeover, Mao's Great Leap Forward starving tens of millions to death, the Cultural Revolution turning a national identity upon it's head and breaking it's collective spirit in the process, to Mao Zedong's death. Jung Chang explores her family so deeply that her subjects, such as her stoic father, a true beliver in the Communist cause, and her grandmother, a veritable symbol through her bound feet of a time and place long gone, become indelibly etched upon the mind of the reader. Reviewed by Ryan Brenner |
Red Azalea Anchee MIn 1994 |
Anchee Min's raw, abrupt writing style is a good vehicle for this compelling account of her life during China's misbegotten Cultural Revolution. From party loyalist to disillusioned communal farm serf to candidate for the starring role in an important propaganda film, her journey embodies the phrase "the personal is political." With all its rough edges, her spare, direct prose speaks through remembered pain to put experience into a larger perspective. Leaving the incredibly cramped quarters of her intellectualized family for the huge labor farm was an adventure that quickly soured, redeemed only by the dangerous passion she shared with an admired woman named Yan. The punishment meted out to a heterosexual couple found making love in the fields at night reflects the risks she and Yan were taking. Later, selected as the potential lead for a propaganda film, she competed fiercely with other young women equally desperate to escape the brutalities of farm life. Her story demonstrates how love does not depend on gender. One of the most remarkable sections of this memoir details the efforts she undertook to have a love affair with a party official referred to only as the Supervisor -- trying to connect in the midst of an anonymous crowd at a mountain Buddhist temple, and meeting him after dark in a notorious public park frequented by scores of others searching for love, or sex, in the midst of a regime that repressed sexual expression along with political freedoms. it is a small miracle that she finally managed to leave China at all. Anchee Min is one of the lucky ones. The effects of the Cultural Revolution were felt long after it ended. Reviewed by Andrew Rasanen |
Serve the People: A Stir Fried Journey through China Jen Lin-Liu 2008 |
A story about a Chinese-American who goes to China on a Fulbright scholarship as part of her journalism career and
ends up riding her bike down a narrow street to take cooking classes. The story (both humorous and touching) is told through her quest to learn about authentic Chinese cuisine both past and present, home cooking and high end restaurants. One of the many compelling things about the book are the Chinese people we are privileged to meet. It is a very personal portrait of Chinese people of all ages and classes. One memorable moment is when Chairman Wang finally tells about the Cultural Revolution and how it affected her and the people around her. It is heartbreaking to hear about it, but amazing to see how the Chinese people survived and continued their lives. And of course there are the mouth watering recipes peppered through out the book -- favorite recipes from people the author meets along the way -- Beijing-Style Noodles, "The Best" Mapo Tofu, Tea-Infused Eggs, Smashed Cucumbers, Drunken Chicken, Lamb-and-Pumpkin Dumpling Filling -- the list goes on and on. Reviewed by V. Foster |
Foreign Babes in Bejing Rachel DeWoskin 2006 |
Rachel DeWoskin arrived in Beijing during the mid-90s, among the first wave of Westerners to see the city since the protests and reprisals at Tiananmen Square a few years earlier. During her stay, China relented from rigid socialism, opened up to foreign capital, and incorporated western business practices. On one level, "Foreign Babes" is the story of this process. DeWoskin's descriptions of these cultural convulsions are pithy and delightful. From the introduction of Coke and McDonald's (and the resulting obesity epidemic), to the latest trends in Chinese rock music and performance art, she was a witness and an insider - the perfect guide.
DeWoskin was not just an anonymous tourist, though, she was a pop-sensation. Starring as an American temptress in China's version of Beverly Hills 90210, her weekly seductions were seen by half a billion people each week. Hundreds of fans mobbed her on the streets of Beijing and followed her through stores, buying whatever random products she put in her bag. But the heart of "Foreign Babes" is not the fascinating backdrop of Beijing in bloom, or the glamorous and sexy soap opera, but the relationships between the characters. Sparring across a huge divide of language, politics, and culture,they must shed stereotypes and find a personal space in which to understand each other - not as American or Chinese, but as individuals and friends. DeWoskin possesses an astute social sensibility, a pitch-perfect ear for conversation, and the gift of spot-lighting the most awkward - and revealing moment in any interaction. Just going to China after college was adventurous. Signing on for the TV-show was audacious. Most impressive, however, was DeWoskin's ability to bridge the gaps and surround herself with friends in a foreign country. Impressive, but not surprising, since the author's warmth and grace are apparent on every page. Reviewed by Thai Jones |
The Lady and the Peacock: The Life of Aung San Suu Kyi Peter Popham 2011 |
Contains good background information on Aung San Suu Kyi and how this former Oxford housewife and privileged daughter of Burma's hero and founder of the nation's modern military, General Aung San, became involved in Myanmar's struggle for democratic rule. Now that Suu Kyi is a minority leader in Myanmar's two-house parliament, let's hope we get some writers who treat her as a typical politician instead of as the much hyped saint-like persecuted embodiment of the democratic ideal.
Reviewed by Graeme |
The Girl with Seven Names Hyeonseo Lee 2015 |
I thought this was a very well-done book. Ms. Lee had quite a story to tell and she does it ( with her ghostwriter) in a clear voice that kept my attention for the last day and a half! She tells the story of her relatively privileged early life in North Korea, (Of course that privilege is only by comparison to others- it was still pretty rough). This "privilege" did not shield her from watching the atrocities fellow citizens endured or from the untimely death of her father. Neither did it shield her from astoundingly far reaching propaganda machine and the militantly enforced worship of the North Korean God King leaders. Several times when I was reading the accounts of her earlier life, I asked myself "can this be real"? But the honesty of her voice is convincing. I did not find her voice overtly bitter; she was remarkably evenhanded. This started with her assessment of herself. She neither put herself in the role of hero or wasted our time with false modesty. She was equally circumspect when it came to analyzing the different worlds in which she has lived. She doesn't create a fairytale out of China or South Korea. she is very honest about the challenges the refugee will face, but at the same time she never loses her optimism and hope in freedom. A must-read . Reviewed by Cadizaeh |