Revenge of the Mooncake Vixen: A Manifesto in 41 Tales

Marilyn Chin has composed a surreal exploration of family and Asian American identity. It is an amusing blend of hi-jinks, copped parables, zany violence, and political commentary dressed in erotic costumes. The book is a melee of many dishes joined together with seamless ease, and that is its victory. This fiery collage is a roller coaster ride that is altogether humorous, biting, violent, sexy, and so much fun.

Honestly, I did not understand the point of this book and that is fine. The narrative structure is not straightforward, nor is it easy to follow at times. The story (if you chose to call it that) primarily focuses on the experiences of Chinese twins Mei-ling and Moon struggling to adapt to American society while adhering to the traditional values of Chinese/Hong Kong culture taught by their domineering Grandma Wong. The book is mainly a vehicle to discuss various topics such as politics, sexism, identity, purpose, classism, sexuality, guilt and a wide spectrum of other subjects primarily told through the lens of second-generation Chinese Americans and their immigrant parents mostly in humorously violent and abstracts ways. This book is show more not for casual readers. I think this book should be added to a literary course, if it hasn't been done so already because it offers a different tone, voice,agency and perspective from our own. Read it, perhaps you'll not like it, but hopefully you'll learn something. show less

Revenge of the Mooncake Vixen by Marilyn Chin is a novel comprised of nearly four dozen interconnected pieces — essays, short stories, erotica, retellings of Buddhist tales. Somewhere in this rat's nest of stories is supposed to be the story of sisters living with their strict grandmother, being forced to deliver Chinese food ordered from the family restaurant — and the revenge they take on their worst customers.

Maybe it was the era (the 1980s) or maybe it was the location (Southern California), but the raunchiness (excuse me, erotica) was a hinderance to the plot, instead of something poetic or thought provoking.

I ended up skimming the book, skipping to the next chapter when things got too disgusting or too unbelievable. Except for show more the story of the grandmother terrorizing the neighborhood, the rest of the book has slipped my mind.

Your reading experience though may vary. show less

An interesting mix of several tales of twin Asian girls growing up in California in the 1980s. It had a mix of "parables" and almost erotic stories. The two girls live with their aging grandmother and help with the double happiness restaurant. Some parts were very good and other parts just kind of left me flat.

It wasn't what I was hoping for. I'm not prudish but it was a bit much for me.