The anti-feminist backlash this novel seems to elicit (e.g., on this review page) should be testimony to how provocative it is, and how many assumptions it can challenge.

As for it being a misrepresentation of Chinese culture, well, it's a subjective account. It's the culture through Maxine's eyes (and her family's eyes); it is not meant to be an objective anthropological study. And I did not find it at all exoticizing. In fact, it's a shame that MHK often gets mentioned in the same sentence as Amy Tan -- beyond the superficial similarity of both being Asian-American women, they have little in common. MHK does none of the silly exoticization that AT does, and at least to me, does not engage in the "Asians must be rescued by Western culture" ideology of AT. This is ultimately a personal, autobiographical account, that is neither judgmental nor self-pitying.


The first of this genre   November 17, 2003
Peggy Vincent (Oakland, CA)
37 out of 41 found this review helpful

I didn't know beans about Chinese women when a friend put this book into my hands about 20+ years ago. Talk about a revelation. The Woman Warrior preceded Amy Tan's novels by at least a decade and went on to win several awards. It's about growing up Chinese American in California's Central Valley, working in the family laundry, and having to listen to her mother's stories that were designed to scare her into "good behavior." Some of these "talk stories" depicted women as fierce and strong warriors, while at the same time they were enslaved by their culture.
This memoir is intense, mystical, introspective, and full of marvelous and unexpected twists and turns. If you haven't yet read it, now's your chance.


A Voice in the Darkness   October 13, 1999
15 out of 16 found this review helpful

Much to my dissapointment, I find that many people who have read Kingston's "Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Childhood Among Ghosts" do not understand the underlying theme and meaning. If you didn't like the book, that's okay. However, if you just thought that Kingston shouldn't "mess" with your mind, then you shouldn't even be reading "Woman Warrior" in the first place. "The Woman Warrior" attacks the themes of finding a place in American society and being both a Chinese-American and an American-Chinese. Kingston writing is powerful and full of vivid imagery and anecdotes that made me laugh outloud and relate her personal experiences with those of my own. Besides that point, Kingston makes a powerful statement about the empowerment of women and their ability to find a "voice" both gender-wise and culture-wise. I am glad to see that this book has made it to countless institutions of higher learning around the nation and has also made it to the "required reading" lists of many high schools in the country.


Chinese American identity   December 3, 1999
12 out of 13 found this review helpful

The beauty of Warrior Woman is that Kingston does not pretend to lay it out exactely how it is because it is impossible to do so. What Kingston provides is her own representation of her cultural heritage and her own interpretation of what it was like for HER to grow up a female Chinese American. Each chapter is about a different warrior woman (except for one) because even though she struggled with her identity growing up, it was the warrior women surrounding her that she ultimately drew her strength from. This is a wonderfully written book that is at once angry and poetic. Kingston provides the reader with a look at one woman's interpretation of her cultural identity that does not pretend to be factual, (which is a truer rendering of life and identity).