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The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood…
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The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts (original 1975; edition 1989)

by Maxine Hong Kingston

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
4,950702,207 (3.79)116
Biography & Autobiography. Sociology. Women's Studies. Nonfiction. HTML:NATIONAL BESTSELLER ā?¢ An exhilarating blend of autobiography and mythology, of world and self, of hot rage and cool analysis. First published in 1976, it has become a classic in its innovative portrayal of multiple and intersecting identitiesā??immigrant, female, Chinese, American. ā?¢ NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER
ā??A classic, for a reason.ā? ā??Celeste Ng, bestselling author of Little Fires Everywhere and Our Missing Hearts, via Twitter

As a girl, Kingston lives in two confounding worlds: the California to which her parents have immigrated and the China of her motherā??s ā??talk stories.ā? The fierce and wily women warriors of her motherā??s tales clash jarringly with the harsh reality of female oppression out of which they come. Kingstonā??s sense of self emerges in the mystifying gaps in these stories, which she learns to fill with stories of her own. A warrior of words, she forges fractured myths and memories into an incandescent whole, achieving a new understanding of her fam
… (more)
Member:samantha464
Title:The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts
Authors:Maxine Hong Kingston
Info:Vintage (1989), Paperback, 224 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:*****
Tags:Memoir, Chinese History, Chinese Literature, Chinese-American Literature, Chinese-American Culture, Immigration, Von's

Work Information

The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts by Maxine Hong Kingston (Author) (1975)

  1. 20
    The Ballad of Mulan by Song Nan Zhang (bertilak)
  2. 00
    The Opposite of Fate: A Book of Musings by Amy Tan (cransell)
    cransell: Another memoir by a Chinese-American woman. Both are very good.
  3. 00
    Fifth Chinese Daughter by Jade Snow Wong (Imprinted)
  4. 00
    The Calligrapherā€™s Daughter by Eugenia Kim (Anonymous user)
    Anonymous user: The first widely read Asian American book written by a woman, blending memoir, fiction and legend.
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» See also 116 mentions

English (67)  Hebrew (1)  Dutch (1)  All languages (69)
Showing 1-5 of 67 (next | show all)
A haunting story of a Chinese American trying to make sense of her heritage and confusing family history. She uncovers a story so powerful that finally allows her to accept her position in life. ( )
  marquis784 | Oct 17, 2023 |
Kingston is a master at weaving first, second, and third voices into a memoir filled with anicient Chinese folklore and cautionary tales about womanhood. I felt a lot of sadness in Woman Warrior. The tragedy starts early in as Kingston describes her mother, a former Chinese doctor, telling a horrifying tale about an aunt giving birth to a sexless child in a pigsty and then committing suicide with that baby; drowning together in a well. There was such shame in this pregnancy, "To save her inseminator's name she gave a silent birth" (p 14). So much contradiction in culture! There is a crime to being born female and yet there is the story of the fierce woman warrior, the legend of the female avenger. My favorite parts were when Kingston addresses the difference between American-feminine and Chinese-feminine. ( )
  SeriousGrace | Oct 3, 2022 |
This is an extraordinary book. It is a memoir of Kingston's childhood and adolescence, interspersed with Chinese legends featuring women.

There is no question that it requires committed reading, especially at the beginning where the line is blurry between reality and "talk-stories", or cultural myths (including that of Mulan, of Disney fame). This confusion is further complicated by Kingston's use of the first, second and third person narrative voices. But the rewards are worth the effort, as we become part of her unique experience. ā€œThose of us in the first American generations have had to figure out how the invisible world the emigrants built around our childhoods fits in solid America.ā€

There seem to have been two reactions to this book when it was first published. It won the National Book Critics Circle Award, no small achievement. But it was also dissed by a number of Chinese-American critics who felt her interpretations of the Chinese-American experience lacked authenticity.

From what I've been able to determine by a quick internet search, those critics were primarily male, which brings us to a key element of this book: It is not simply an exploration of the overall first generation Chinese-American experience, it is a specific Chinese-American woman's experience.

I would posit that any memoir legitimately reflects the life of the person writing and no one else. This 2017 quote from a much younger Chinese-American author, Angela Chen, who avoided reading [b:The Woman Warrior|30852|The Woman Warrior|Maxine Hong Kingston|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1541333110l/30852._SY75_.jpg|1759] for many years expresses that opinion more elegantly than I can: "But taken off this pedestal, the innovations and craft of The Woman Warrior become more apparent. It is a complex account of what it was like to be Kingston, writing about experiences at a time that few others did. It is the personal and not the general. It is not template, not beginning or end."

This came to be my first read of 2021 by chance. I recently listened to a series of lectures about American best sellers through the centuries, and the only book that I hadn't already read that piqued my curiosity was [b:The Woman Warrior|30852|The Woman Warrior|Maxine Hong Kingston|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1541333110l/30852._SY75_.jpg|1759]. I'm so glad it did; it was a great way to begin the year. ( )
  BarbKBooks | Aug 15, 2022 |
A powerful collection of a few non-fiction pieces about being female and Chinese. Sons being revered while daughters could be given away. Much of it features Kingston's awesome mom Brave Orchid. As a fiction fan, I especially like the 'White Tigers' piece, as it imagines so vividly dreamlike a woman warrior's training. "I continue to sort out what's just my childhood, just my imagination, just my family, just the village, just movies, just living." (pg 205) We need more books like this. Rich & full & real. ( )
  booklove2 | Oct 15, 2021 |
My favorite chapters: White Tigers, Shaman. ( )
  misslevel | Sep 22, 2021 |
Showing 1-5 of 67 (next | show all)
The author is so talented. With that, I'm inviting you to join N0velStar's writing competition. This is open to all...either exclusive or non-exclusive novels.
added by Gab_Cruz | editbook
 

» Add other authors (10 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Kingston, Maxine HongAuthorprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Evenari, Gail K.Author photographersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Guo, XiaoluIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Lai, Chi-YeeCover designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Sann, JohnCover photographersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Biography & Autobiography. Sociology. Women's Studies. Nonfiction. HTML:NATIONAL BESTSELLER ā?¢ An exhilarating blend of autobiography and mythology, of world and self, of hot rage and cool analysis. First published in 1976, it has become a classic in its innovative portrayal of multiple and intersecting identitiesā??immigrant, female, Chinese, American. ā?¢ NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER
ā??A classic, for a reason.ā? ā??Celeste Ng, bestselling author of Little Fires Everywhere and Our Missing Hearts, via Twitter

As a girl, Kingston lives in two confounding worlds: the California to which her parents have immigrated and the China of her motherā??s ā??talk stories.ā? The fierce and wily women warriors of her motherā??s tales clash jarringly with the harsh reality of female oppression out of which they come. Kingstonā??s sense of self emerges in the mystifying gaps in these stories, which she learns to fill with stories of her own. A warrior of words, she forges fractured myths and memories into an incandescent whole, achieving a new understanding of her fam

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