Set in China mostly in the 1970s, "Wild Ginger" focusses on a love triangle that develops between three young people caught in the maelstrom of the Cultural Revolution brough on by Chairman Mao. Maple finds an ally in fellow schoolgirl Wild Ginger, whose foreign-looking eyes make her also a target of the school bully. In efforts to prove herself and to separate herself from her heritage, Wild Ginger embraces Maoism to the utmost and dedicates her life to it. When she meets a young man who also embraces Maoism fervently, Wild Ginger chooses to stifle her burgeoning passions rather than challenge Mao's proclamation against romantic love. As Maple and the young man are drawn together by their mutual love of Wild Ginger, it sets the stage for doom for one of the three. "Wild Ginger" is written subtly and dreamily, where the bright colors of love are muted as they would be because of the Cultural Revolution of the time. And while this might give some readers a sense of distance away from the characters, it also strengthens the grand context of the personal confusions brought on by the Maoist doctrines.

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.

yes, this was interesting. It made that particulary piece of history interesting to me. I was glad the author explored that piece of history with her story.

The book "China's Lost Daughters" is part memoir part history lesson into the dynamics of American families adopting Chinese girls. Evans weaves her own adoption journey with the eco-socio-political environs of China. Her research is thorough, though I found first-hand snapshots of the society from the local Chinese lacking. Though she covered most aspects of the East-West adoption, there was no firsthand experiences from the mothers who gave up their daughters. Evans uses secondhand knowledge, from the workers at the orphanages and the Chinese adoption officials, and her imagination. The other aspect of the East-West adoption that is not addressed is the effect on the adopted girls who are only grade school age. The limitations of the book are due to its purpose as a public memoir for her daughter.

My wife and I adopted our oldest daughter from Tonglu, Zhejiang, China in August, 1995. It was a wonderful experience and I am forever grateful to my daughter's birthmother, her orphanage caretakers and even the Chinese government for making my family possible.

Several things were striking about Karin Evans "Lost Daughters of China". First, the striking similarity and commonality of thought that prospective adoptive parents experience before during and after the adoption is amazing. It is as if Karen could read my thoughts about the paperwork anxiety, the diplomatic anxiety, the waiting, the shopping for baby things, the thought that this very baby was destined for us, the thought that my daughter's birthmother loved her so much that she made the supreme sacrifice so that my daughter could live a productive, fruitful and full life, the dealing with ignorant questions from well meaning strangers, etc. etc. Karen does a much better job of translating these thoughts and feelings into words than I have ever been able to do.

Second, Karen Evans as well as many China adoptive parents I have spoken with talk about the extreme difficulty of the adoption in terms of the dossier, the waiting time, multiple snafu's, etc. It is not an easy process under any circumstances. However, for anyone considering a Chinese adoption, and who read this review, use Chinese Children Adoption International (CCAI) in Denver, Colorado. This organization has now completed more that 3,200 adoptions from China as of this writing. People all over the USA have used them. It is run by two wonderful Chinese nationals and I know no one who doesn't give them the most glowing reviews. Karen could have saved months by using CCAI.

Third, unlike several of the reviewers who objected to the speculation about the birthmother's thoughts and state of mind, I appreciated this perspective. For people who have adopted from China and have no history of their daughter at all, informed speculation may be the best we ever have to hold on to regarding our daughter's immediate heritage. I also found the Chinese family profile (the abandoning family) very informative and useful.

Fourth, and this is my only real objection to this book, the idea that adoptive families of Asian children cannot live normal lives irritates me. I have been innundated by authors and lecturers primarily, over the past seven years that continue to remind me how I need to force feed Chinese culture down my daughter's throat. They tell me that because my daughter looks different than her parents, she is going to have all kinds of special issues requiring special treatment ranging from therapy to Mandarin language classes, to learning to use chopsticks, etc.

I think there is some kind of subtle racism at work here. I don't think there would be nearly the furor over the adoption of a baby of Swiss descent by American parents for no other reason than that they would look alike. I tell my daughter that she can be proud of her Chinese heritage and I will support her exploration into her cultural heritage as far as she wants to take it. But, and this is a big but, she is American now. She is as American as I am and as American as her school mates. I have no great affinity towards Britain where my ancestors came from and I don't think she should have her ancestry forced on her anymore than rest of us do. Maybe I am being naive, but I just want to raise my Asian daughters as daughters. I want normalcy. Is that asking too much? Is that impossible? I don't think so.

Regardless, this is a great book. It is an easy read and I recommend it without hesitation.

"A story of cross-cultural adoption conveyed with great narrative energy and skill-a story, really, of parental yearning and its fulfillment."-- Dr. Robert Coles, James Agee Professor of social Ethics at Harvard University

"Not only an evocative memoir on East-West adoption but also a bridge to East-West understanding of human rights in China." -- Amy Tan author of The Joy Luck Club

"In this balanced account of the extraordinarily complex issues involving the lost daughters of China, Evans is respectful of the Chinese, of adoptive parents, and of the rights of women. She is a wise, greathearted woman who writes from both a personal and a cultural perspective. As I read this book, I thought of many friends who would love it. I believe you will love it too." -- Mary Pipher, author of Reviving Ophelia

Lyrically written, precisely observed and emotionally evocative, The Lost Daughters of China is a cross cultural adventure of the soul. Did I tear up reading it? Yeah, a little. But I laughed in equal measure. Evans is simply dazzling." -- Tim Cahill, author of Pass the Butterworms

"Exceptional and very well written. I feel connected to this child, an orphan adopted from China. As Chinese females, we are in the battle together." -- Anchee Min, author of Red Azalea

"Powerful and important. Each page of this book was stained by my tears. The Lost Daughters of China is not simply a journey of a child, a man and woman, but a history of cultural mixing at the end of the millennium." -- Belle Yang, author of Baba: A Return to China Upon My Father's Shoulders

"A 'superfluous girl' myself, I was deeply moved by this book. It deserves the attention of everyone who wants to understand what the human heart cries for." -- Hong Ying, author of Daughter of the River

"Breathtaking-an unforgettable story. The Lost Daughters of China describes not only the tragedy of social engineering, but the healing power of a mother's love. -- Iris Chang, author of The Rape of Nanking

"There has been much press about rescuing (adopting) baby girls from China's oppressive sociopolitical climate, but little about the women and men who are losing their daughters. Here, Evans gives us a whole story, both moving and jarring. This is the book I have been waiting to see." -- Jan Waldron, author of Giving Away Simone

"A fascinating statement about the cultural phenomenon of unwanted girls in China, viewed through the lens of a Caucasian adoptive parent. In this book, the personal and the political intersect in important and enlightening ways." -- Claire Chow, author of Leaving Deep Water

"As an Asian woman, I truly understand and was deeply touched by this compellingly told, beautiful story." -- LeLy Hayslip, author of When Heaven and Earth Changed Places

As students at the University of Hofstra, we read Katherine, written by Anchee Min. This novel was about an American teacher that came to China to teach English to Chinese students after the Cultural Revolution. Katherine brought her American ideology to China, where it was not accepted. This novel consisted of many themes; betrayal, friendship, romance and innocence. Lion Head represents the theme of betrayal, he has an affair with both Katherine and Zebra Wong and doesn't stay with either one of them, he just sleeps with them. This also fits under the category of Romance. Katherine and Zebra represented the theme of friendship. They relied on each other when times got rough. Little Rabbit, Katherine's adopted daughter represented innocence because she was mute and this is how the Chinese government wanted the people to be. We think Katherine is a good book to be read as college freshmen because its not a hard book to read and understand, and it is interesting. It also gives you an understanding on how life is in other places in the world. The only disappointment about the book was the ending, we though it could have been better by adding more about what happens after Zebra and Little Rabbit leave China.

Being college students and having read Anchee Min's Katherine was a great experience because we all related to the novel. The novel takes place in Shangai China after the Mao-revolution. Katherine, an American teacher comes to China to research its communist government for a book she hopes to write in the near future. She uses the time she spends in China to open up the narrow minds of her Chinese students. Katherine develops a close relationship with one of her students, Zebra Wong. Once she enlightens Zebra with her "free spirit," Zebra undergoes a series of changes, and develops a strong infatuation with Katherine. We love the way the book approaches the relationship between Katherine and Zebra because it is not 100 percent pure. Everyone can relate to the fact that sometimes friendships and relationships have their ups and downs. However, it all depends on how we deal with the situation. In this novel, Zebra and Katherine show us how through betrayals and lies, a true friendship can overcome its hardship and two people show how they really need and depend on one another. The prose is easy for college students to understand and to relate to. It made it easy to follow the characters lives as well as learn about historical facts in China. Students today can most definitely relate to the social relationships and love triangles in this novel. They can also relate to feelings at times of low self-esteem and embarrassment.

Our English professor at Hofstra University asigned the class to read the novel Katherine by Anchee Min. The title was to simple and it did not appeal to us, but after several reading assignments, we fell in love with the characters.The novel takes place in Shanghai,China. Min's novel deals with the concepts of pain, betrayal and new beginings. It depicts the lives of chinese men and women during the post-cultural revolution.Through vivid and descriptive images a reader can easily become lost in the street of China. We come to understand the hardships of women in China through the eyes of Zebra Wong. Gender oppression, arrranged marriages,abortion and adoption are examples of the hardships which are protayed throughout the novel. Katherine, an American english teacher, goes to China to record her findings on chinese women and to teach an English class. She has a great impact on her students especially Zebra. Katherine imposes her veiw on how the chinese government has brainwashed their people to believe that their opions do not matter.Katherine develops personal relationships with her students that some might veiw as inappropriate. Katherine has a significant impact on Zebra, her way of thinking has made a complete 360 degree turn.During this time, oppossal of government lead to being sent to labor camps and even death. Zebra is constantly out in the situation of chosing the government or Katherine friendship. This book hit home with a lot of current matters that we see on a day to day base. It help people realize that human being are the same all accross the globe. We highly recommend this book for histrorical fact and for pure enjoyment. At first look this book may not seem interesting but we guarantee you pick up the book and you will not let it downuntil you are done.

In Red Azalea, Anchee Min creates a vivid image of growing up in China at the height of Communist rule under Mao. She became leader of the little Red Guard as part of the Proletarian Cultural Revolution and eagerly demonstrated her devotion to the Party. The real story begins when she is seperated from her family and sent of to the Red Fire Farm,a dreadful work camp, durring her teen years. Life under Mao was a struggle for survival where the individual's needs were not considered. In her writting, Min does not show disrespect for those in powere, but rather describes the poverty and condition of the counrty. Min's fate took a remarkable turn one day when she was chosen from many girls to become and actress in training. This account is easy to read yet the concepts are deep and meaningful. Her life makes the reader think about their own fortunes or perhaps misfortunes. Red Azalea is a beautiful autobiography that creates a powerful sense of life in China during the country's most heartbreaking time.

Red Azalea is not difficult to read - it is a book easily consumed in one or two sittings. However, when it comes to the digestion of what's been read, that's a different story altogether. Red Azalea is the story of the author's childhood under China's Cultural Revolution, but tackled with seemingly simple language that manages to impart complicated undercurrents of meaning to the reader. Min has stated in interviews that she admires the painting style of Henri Matisse, and that her writing style is a reflection of that simplicity and naivete.

Red Azalea tells Min's story from elementary school where she is a good communist leader right off the bat, to her time spent at a farm where she has a relationship with her supervisor, to being chosen to star in a film version of one of Madame Mao's operas, Red Azalea. I found Min to be inaccessible, and the memoir difficult to ground in reality; however, this did not prevent me from enjoying the book and being vastly educated by it. The tone of the book was almost otherworldly, perhaps because of the lack of everyday details that would somehow anchor the events. I found myself often glancing back at the cover of the book, as if to remind myself that this was indeed nonfiction. Red Azalea is quite different from any book I've ever read: a memoir both complicated and simple, a plot both clear and elusive. Recommended for a challenge where you'd least expect one.

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." Surely few documented lives have been so victimized by politics as hers was. 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. Indeed, in a society so fundamentally paranoid as she depicts, where citizens were conditioned to betray their neighbors over the pettiest infractions of party doctrine, 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. As late as 1989, the democracy demonstrations in Tianamen Square were a direct, if delayed, reaction against it. Her book stands as a testament to the personal toll of a dictatorial government.

I agree with one of the other reviewers - the shifting perspectives are very annoying. I would add to the list of annoyances, lack of punctuation. These qualities coupled with a general lack of a flow make the story difficult if not impossible to follow.

If the reader has any general knowledge of Madame Mao, the book hardly sheds any new light on this significant personality in recent Chinese history. The reader does not gain a better understanding of what made her tick or why she was so evil. The character Ms. Min portrayed is an extremely evil one, all evil and with little redeeming quality. However, near-one-dimensionally evil characters do not make very interesting subjects of novels.

The historical personality-based novel is a great tool for the author to share her view on the motivations and psychology of historical characters. Till this day, Jiang Qing lives in rumors and innuendoes yet little factual is known of her. One can only depend on fiction to explain the connections among the events in the life of the "White-Boned Demon". Ms. Min's novel, however, reads more like a poorly written newspaper account of a life rather than a deep psychological exploration. She could have done better with a really very interesting subject matter.

If your summer reading list is short, leave this title out!

Anchee Min, the author, grew up in China and was part of a labor collective. She also worked as an actress in Madame Mao's Film Studio. I loved her novel "Katherine" as it introduced me to the reality of living in Communist China. I was therefore very anxious to read "Becoming Madame Mao", in which she attempts to shed some light on the life Jiang Chang, the wife of Mao Tse-Tung, often referred to as the "white boned demon" and known for her vindictive cruelty.

The voice of Madame Mao come through clearly in the alternating sections written in the first person. It is here that the reader gains some psychological insight into the forces that have shaped her life. These sections are always followed by a dispassionate third person narrative. I found this technique effective in telling this story.

The tale begins when the young girl rebels against having her feet bound, and follows the headstrong young women through an acting career and three unhappy marriages before she meets the dynamic Mao and joins her life with his. She craves his love, but is treated badly throughout her life. There is always intrigue and betrayal. Favor or disfavor is subject to whim. The world she lives in is cruel and she lives in constant fear of her enemies.

I had hoped to learn more about Chinese history. But the focus is always on the person and much was not explained. I also found it difficult to follow the many different Chinese names and kept getting the people confused, especially since, with the exception of Madame Mao, most of them were not developed in depth. I was also aware that is was a historical novel about real life people and kept wondering about where the line was drawn between fact and fiction.

Mao Tse-tung saw everyone as an enemy, imprisoned anyone who seemed to threaten him. Madame Mao did the same. And whether or not she was able to ever achieve true love seems besides the point.

This book would probably be most interesting to those who already have a background in Chinese history. I can therefore not give this book any more than a very weak recommendation. It was a good try on the part of the author. But it just didn't work for me.

I'm going to be brief in my review of this Novel. I think it's terrific. In fact, I'll go a step further and say it is the best fiction work I've read in a long time. Not since reading Shogun, have I enjoyed a style of writing more. Anchee Min seems to be able to combine the terse style of Hemingway with the ethereal style of E. L. Doctorow in Ragtime--to create an entire universe that allows the reader to gently plunge in. I can't find a thing wrong with this book. True it switches persons in an unusual way, but I remain unfettered in opinion by virtue of that technique. The words fall off the page with imagery and Min's prose feels like poetry. All the critical reviews placed inside the cover are correct. Possibly we live in an age of negative aesthetics--due to lower educational standards and TV. But I promise you, this book is aesthetic and educational. What a perspective--getting inside the head of Madame Mao Jiang Ching--the White Boned Demon of China. It's incredibly historical and filled with facts about one the most repressive regimes in modern history. And yet, it is pleasing to the sensibilities and true to the simplicity of the East. I applaud Anchee Min for her most excellent achievement.