From the best-selling author of RED AZALEA, this extraordinary novel tells the stirring, erotically charged story of Madame Mao Zedong, the woman a...
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reviews
Sep 02, 2008
alana
rated it: 
This gets two stars instead of the one it probably deserves because it's an interesting premise. A human side to Madame Mao. But it's told in three different voices -- often on the same page -- which makes it difficult to follow and not very engaging. You never get very close to the character, which is the whole point of a book like this. I read in the afterword that it took 5 years to get published, and I wonder if the publisher played around with it a lot or something. I kept thinking it read
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Dec 17, 2008
Kevin
rated it: 
I loved it. It combines three things I love; China, historical fiction, and a strong female lead.
This book is written as if it were a memoir of the wife of Mao Zidong. Anchee Min pieced the story together with various historical records and all of the characters in the book were actual people. We see her as a young girl refusing to submit to having her feet bound, to a young lady who pursues Mao out of intrigue and a desire for power. From the neglected wife kept hidden from the More...
This book is written as if it were a memoir of the wife of Mao Zidong. Anchee Min pieced the story together with various historical records and all of the characters in the book were actual people. We see her as a young girl refusing to submit to having her feet bound, to a young lady who pursues Mao out of intrigue and a desire for power. From the neglected wife kept hidden from the More...
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(3 people liked it)
Dec 18, 2008
Nicolebroadwater
rated it: 
I have read several books by Anchee Min and this by far is the worst. I enjoyed all of her other books so I kept reading this book thinking it would get better yet it never did. She switches from third person to first person throughout the book and it becomes confusing. In addition, you never get into the character. This book is touted at making the "white bone demon" seem more human but it does not do this. Instead, you are left hating the so called heroine of the book and wonder
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(3 people liked it)
Apr 07, 2009
Terry
rated it:
Reduced the history of Chinese communism to petty personal quests for influence and the affection of a tyrant. Made me want to learn more about the era.
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(3 people liked it)
Feb 21, 2011
i really liked this book, the writing style fascinated me.
although we covered a bit of China's history with Mao Zedong in school, i was not very familiar with who he was exactly. and so, it was out of interest of Mao that i pulled this book from the school library's shelf.
not only did this novel help me to understand who Mao was, it also gave me insight on his own private life and habits.
yet, the text is not only about Mao. it is about his actress of a wife, Jiang Qing. More...
although we covered a bit of China's history with Mao Zedong in school, i was not very familiar with who he was exactly. and so, it was out of interest of Mao that i pulled this book from the school library's shelf.
not only did this novel help me to understand who Mao was, it also gave me insight on his own private life and habits.
yet, the text is not only about Mao. it is about his actress of a wife, Jiang Qing. More...
Jul 11, 2008
Alyssa
rated it:
I read Anchee Min's Red Azalea before reading this one and I enjoyed Red Azalea SO much more than Madame Mao. In fact, I disliked her writing style in Madame Mao so much that I didn't even finish it. I felt bad because I liked Azalea so much that I really wanted to like this one, but I just couldn't do it. It bugged me that she went back and forth from first person to third person and I just found myself not really caring... :(
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Aug 08, 2011
Yvette
rated it: 
While the first two-thirds of the book were riveting and extremely well-written, I was disappointed with the last third, which deals with Madame Mao's role in the Cultural Revolution and beyond. At this point, the story gets bogged down in politics and historical facts, including a lot of name-dropping of figures in Chinese politics, which have no resonance for your average Western reader. I loved the emotional insights and vivid, convincing descriptions of Jiang Ching's (Madame Mao) interior wo
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Nov 13, 2011
Tess
rated it:
This book incorporates some of Mao's writings and poems which I found appropriate. I enjoyed reading the book but found some difficulty because of many characters involved. I found Madame's Mao life very colorful starting from her family background, career as an actress and her role as Chairman Mao's wife.
Some interesting points mentioned about Mao were having many concubines (most of which were actresses) for longevity but his health dwindled maybe because of poor diet and old a More...
Some interesting points mentioned about Mao were having many concubines (most of which were actresses) for longevity but his health dwindled maybe because of poor diet and old a More...
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Dec 31, 2009
Ive read this 2 times. As a historical fact, i dont keep this book as really accurate. First, there are errors about the exact dates of things. Second, there never wasnt "Last Supper" concerning the death of Lin Biao. Lin wasnt killed by orders from Mao, inside the Forbidden City. His son was plotting it all up, and they really crashed on a plane crash. The plane crash was real thing, it wasnt cover up made my Mrs. Qing, as its told in this story! Third, its frustrating that she didnt
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Aug 04, 2009
Shelly
rated it:
I really like Anchee Min and was excited to read this book. However, i couldn't even get half way through.
The style of writing was very dry and at times confusing, as it kept switching from 3rd person to 1st person and back. I did keep reading a while after I lost interest because I thought it would get better, but the characters were so distant and flat that I really couldn't connect with them. I'm the type of person who likes to connect with the characters or at least the idea tha More...
The style of writing was very dry and at times confusing, as it kept switching from 3rd person to 1st person and back. I did keep reading a while after I lost interest because I thought it would get better, but the characters were so distant and flat that I really couldn't connect with them. I'm the type of person who likes to connect with the characters or at least the idea tha More...
Mar 21, 2010
David
rated it: 
This was a great historical novel about Mao Zedong's wife, Jiang Ching. Madame Mao is not just the White-Boned Demon everyone labeled her to be. Through her novel, Min vividly paints the life of Madame Mao Jiang Ching and her transformation from a lowly commoner to the most powerful woman in China. The epigraph Min includes describes Madame Mao's life:
You are what your deep, driving desire is. As your desire is, so is your will. As your will is, so is your deed. As your deed is, so i More...
You are what your deep, driving desire is. As your desire is, so is your will. As your will is, so is your deed. As your deed is, so i More...
Jul 22, 2011
Cina
rated it:
I found this book to be entertaining and a nice read. I found myself being drawn to Mao too like a moth to a flame. Tyrannical leader that he may be, his personality attracted me.
I felt Jiang Ching through out the whole book only wanted to feel sincere love, of course the benefits of being powerful as well but under it all love was her goal. I think more so her ultimate goal was not really to play the character of a heroine like she thought and felt but more so to play the character More...
I felt Jiang Ching through out the whole book only wanted to feel sincere love, of course the benefits of being powerful as well but under it all love was her goal. I think more so her ultimate goal was not really to play the character of a heroine like she thought and felt but more so to play the character More...
Sep 14, 2011
Mariel
rated it:
Who knew Chairman Mao was so hot?
Oh that was shameless, Mariel. Way to start off a book review! With sex! Bad, bad, bad. Historical figures shouldn't be used to write cheesey love scenes. They should be used to advertise products on tv and that's it! Anchee Min, you're shameless. Have you no shame?
I don't feel like writing two Madam Mao book reviews so I'm going to shamelessly combine reviews of this chick lit book with a review of a biography written by an Australian guy t More...
Oh that was shameless, Mariel. Way to start off a book review! With sex! Bad, bad, bad. Historical figures shouldn't be used to write cheesey love scenes. They should be used to advertise products on tv and that's it! Anchee Min, you're shameless. Have you no shame?
I don't feel like writing two Madam Mao book reviews so I'm going to shamelessly combine reviews of this chick lit book with a review of a biography written by an Australian guy t More...
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May 04, 2011
Sarah
rated it:
I just could not get into this historical biography of Mao Zedong's wife. Jiang Qing, as she was later known, lived a fascinating life in twentieth-century China as both an actress and wife to a Communist dictator. However, while I knew a little about Jiang Qing's life, I failed to find Becoming Madame Mao compelling. While Anchee Min does a good job of describing Jiang Qing's background as an actress and its effect on her later actions, I found the novel difficult to follow and far from engr
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Aug 02, 2010
Silvia
rated it:
Got lost in its poetic prose. The way Min describes things is genuine and wonderful. She described the sunset horizon as that of watermelon, green grass, topped with orange and bright red sky; described the heroine's state as raddish (couldn't remember the vegetable exactly) pickled in sorrow...wish I had taken down notes.
It could have been a boring biography with all the details, but Anchee Min weaved gems in her story and presented us with a beautiful and sad story.
Lo More...
It could have been a boring biography with all the details, but Anchee Min weaved gems in her story and presented us with a beautiful and sad story.
Lo More...
Jan 18, 2010
Bill
rated it:
Being able to put herself into Madam Mao life took courage on Anchee Min's part. So much is speculation, yet she ties it well to historical knowledge with an excellent story line. I found the Soviet connection interesting in that of a Mother to a fledgling child, yet Mao's preceptive resistance to their way of constructing a Soviet satellite state.
I came away realizing had only the US military and Johnson had studied Mao's war against the Nationalist would they have known how More...
I came away realizing had only the US military and Johnson had studied Mao's war against the Nationalist would they have known how More...
Jan 01, 2012
I believe that this was a extraordinary interesting book about someone love and struggle to achieve a higher purpose in her life, finally achieve it thought lie, deceit, and conniving her way up the communist hierarchy in China. This is exactly what Madame Mao Jiang Qing did after she became the wife of Mao Te-Tung. Many historian blame her for the extension of Cultural Revolution in China which kill over 25 million people, leading to her name as the White Boned Devil. Personally order her past
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May 30, 2010
Carol
rated it:
I've wanted to read this book ever since seeing John Adams' opera Nixon in China this past March, but it took this long for the library to finally have it available. A fictionalized biography of Madame Mao Jiang-Ching (the wife of Chariman Mao), it allows Anchee Min to explore the motivations of both Madame and Chairman Mao. It's written in a very unusual style: frequent shifts between first and third person, and short sentences that gave the prose a breathless quality. I'm not sure I liked this
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Aug 30, 2009
Steve
rated it:
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. ... Visit my blog for more: http://www.stephenrganns.com
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Mar 21, 2009
Cyndi
rated it:
This book is one I should have put down a quarter of the way through... but I get stubborn and put my head down and plow through. The "characters" are flat - the one insight (repeated over and over and over) is that Madame Mao was an actress playing the role of her life as she dreamed of playing on the stage. She adapted scenes and characters to use in her performance in life. Otherwise the portrayal was flat and boring. 1.5 stars (I save 1 star for those that are so bad that I actu
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Jul 06, 2011
G
rated it:
Wow. Becoming Madame Mao. This book is certainly thought-provoking. It raises many interesting questions and forces much-needed perspective on the reader. No matter who you are, or what you know about China’s recent past, this book is extremely helpful to gain perspective on the “white boned demon”, Mao, China’s leaders and Chinese (and Western) culture, although keep in mind that is historical FICTION. And important note, this is not a review, but a reflection, a reaction to this book.
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Sep 16, 2010
Lezlee
rated it:
I just really can't give this more than 2 stars. It took me AGES to finish this book. First off, it's very weird to read a book that vacillates between third and first person every other paragraph. It's very odd and not a particularly engaging way to read because you constantly have the feeling that you've misread something. Second, though I give the book credit for informing me a little better on the history of communism in China, I don't feel like I understand Madame Mao any better than I
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Sep 25, 2011
Yas
rated it:
Paperback version: 309 pages
Genre: Historical, Asian, Chinese.
Rating: 1 *
Synopsis:
Set in early days of China, post Opium war where China becomes subject to Communist rule.
Review:
Only made it 30 odd pages in before I had to give up on this one.
It seems I've not come across anything but bad Chinese fiction recently, after having abandoned 'Shanghai Girls' for being another poor Chinese book.
Sad really because my usual favourite More...
Genre: Historical, Asian, Chinese.
Rating: 1 *
Synopsis:
Set in early days of China, post Opium war where China becomes subject to Communist rule.
Review:
Only made it 30 odd pages in before I had to give up on this one.
It seems I've not come across anything but bad Chinese fiction recently, after having abandoned 'Shanghai Girls' for being another poor Chinese book.
Sad really because my usual favourite More...
Aug 12, 2010
LonewolfMX
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Dec 31, 2008
Jodi
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Sep 09, 2008
Elizabeth
rated it:
This story is amazing. Min's Madame Mao comes across as somewhat Eva Perone, somewhat Anne Boleyn, and completely intriguing. This book takes the reader through her youth and ascent into power, the terror involved in holding it, and the fateful descent from power as the tide turns against her. Although these years were spent alongside Mao, Min chronicles how different the experience was for her, as his wife, and how uncertain her future was at all times.
Min carefully and imaginative More...
Min carefully and imaginative More...
Feb 23, 2008
Diane
rated it:
Although I liked much about this book, I also found it very disturbing and even frightening. The fact that I read it while I had a serious case of the flu and probably a high temperature might have influenced my reaction. The book is a fictionalized account of the rise of an actress, the girlchild of a last concubine, to the role of the powerful Madame Mao in China. I use the word "role" purposively since this girl Lan Ping (she changes her name 4 times so it is hard to identify her by
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Mar 17, 2009
Sara
rated it:
This is a beautifully written book, the style is very poetic. The story pulls you into the build-up to and the events of the communist revolution in China as experienced by Madame Mao, most infamously known as a member of the Gang of Four. While it is historial fiction, I felt that it was written in such a way that the history and the fiction were fairly easy to distinguish. I think it does what historical fiction does at its best: describes an era in a way in which facts alone cannot.
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Feb 06, 2012
Sherry
rated it:
The first half of this book is terrific -- the young protagonist's desperation, her heartbreaks, all that emotion. Then, when she marries Chairman Mao, she becomes so detached. I found my interest waning, and my sympathy for her fading. I think Anchee Min raced toward the finish line and packed her book with events and characters rather than focusing on her protagonist's emotional life. By the end, I didn't really care what happened to her. I was simply glad to be finished.
Apr 02, 2011
Georgette
rated it:
When I went to teach english in china , I wanted to read about China but not be bored by factual books, this was a book that entranced me, largely because Anchee Min has a poetic and descriptive way of writing that captures everyone. In China, Madame Mao is considered a unsavory memory and "white boned demon" this book humanizes her and offers a glimpse into what being madame mao might actually have been like.. one of my favorites!
