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Title: Wild Ginger : A Novel by Anchee Min ISBN: 0-618-38043-4 Publisher: Mariner Books Pub. Date: 01 January, 2004 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.7 (10 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A test of loyalty, friendship and love
Comment: "Wild Ginger" is the coming of age story of three teenagers set in China during the Cultural Revolution. Wild Ginger and Maple meet in grade school. Maple is the target of vicious bullying and beatings by classmates for being classified as a reactionary ("not from three-generations-of-labor family") and for not being fully indoctrinated in the teachings of Mao. Wild Ginger, new to the school, is an outcast for being the biracial daughter of a French father and a Chinese mother. When Wild Ginger rescues Maple from an after school beating by ardent Mao supporters the two become fast friends. Although the friendship appears, initially, to be based on the need for protection, the relationship develops into one of the deepest commitments each will ever make.
Wild Ginger is determined to gain acceptance by resisting the physical punishments from her classmates with the same conviction with which she embraces the teachings of Mao. Maple, though not as committed to Mao, remains loyal and supportive of her best friend. The bond the two girls establish is steadfast, impenetrable - until the help of a neighborhood boy is solicited and an unpredictable love triangle forms that threatens to destroy the thing both girls value most.
"Wild Ginger" is a skillfully drawn novel that explores themes of friendship, love and loyalty within the social and political backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution. Min's writing is crisp and uncluttered. The story flows like the rhythm of an ancient Chinese fable yet it possess all the elements of style and device commonplace in modern literature. "Wild Ginger" is insightful and enriching. This is the first novel that I've read by Anchee Min; I'm now looking forward to others.
Rating: 5
Summary: As good as Red Azalea
Comment: 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.
Rating: 5
Summary: Love and politics in during China's cultural revolution
Comment: 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.
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Title: Empress Orchid : A Novel by Anchee Min ISBN: 0618068872 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co Pub. Date: 03 February, 2004 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: Red Azalea by Anchee Min ISBN: 0425147762 Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub. Date: June, 1995 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Becoming Madame Mao by Anchee Min ISBN: 0618127003 Publisher: Mariner Books Pub. Date: 15 April, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Daughter of the River: An Autobiography by Hong Ying ISBN: 0802136605 Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: January, 2000 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Katherine by Anchee Min ISBN: 042515291X Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub. Date: May, 1996 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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