Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
54th out of 225 books
—
218 voters
Leaving Mother Lake: A Girlhood at the Edge of the World
- The hardcover edition of LEAVING MOTHER LAKE debuted at #3 on the San Francisco Chronicle's bestseller list.- A revelation of a culture virtually unknown in the West, a contemporary society in which women enjoy true sexual and economic freedom.- A huge international success, with rights sold in England, Finland, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, Spain, and...more
Paperback, 320 pages
Published
February 10th 2004
by Back Bay Books
(first published 2003)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
1,268)
I first learned of Chinese pop singer Namu when she was quoted in the New York Times as offering to marry French President Nicolas Sarkozy. So, I Googled her and this book was a prominent mention there, and in a recent New York Times profile.
This is a fascinating look at an old Chinese-Tibetan ethnic group so isolated Namu writes of dirt floors, and the pig living in the courtyard (before he's slaughtered and eaten - every bit). And this was the 1960s.
The Moso is an ethnic group that has a matri...more
This is a fascinating look at an old Chinese-Tibetan ethnic group so isolated Namu writes of dirt floors, and the pig living in the courtyard (before he's slaughtered and eaten - every bit). And this was the 1960s.
The Moso is an ethnic group that has a matri...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
this was an amazing story. i gave it four stars because i did not find the writing all that great. but the story is incredible and a real inspiration. about a young girl from Moso country, a matrilinial society. the concepts in this woman's culture were so hard for me to imagine actually existing - a culture in which, for instance, young women have sex and babies with various men (of their choosing), and then let them know when they don't feel like seeing them again. a culture where men never li...more
A really fascinating biography that is almost unbelievable in this day and age. It is the story of a young girl coming of age in the 70's in an unusual society in the Himalayas - a society run by women who control the households, pass property to daughters, make all the important decisions, consider marriage inconvenient and unnecessary... The women take many lovers, but live with none, in order to produce more daughters. (Hmmmm, maybe not such a bad idea...).
The author was a stubborn and rebel...more
The author was a stubborn and rebel...more
This is the most interetsing culture I have ever heard about! The Moso are a Chinese minority near the Sichuan / Yunnan provinces border who have a matrilineal society, where property is handed down through female lines. There is no marriage, but men go to visit their lovers at their house and then leave in the morning. If a woman wants to end the relationship, she hangs his pack near the front gate as a message. Children are raised in the mother's house with their uncles as the male presence.
T...more
T...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Wow, this was fascinating stuff. A teenage girl from China's minority Mosu culture, where women take lovers instead of marrying and everyone lives in extended matrilineal households, leaves for the bright lights of urban China to become a singer in the '80s. It’s refreshing, because she LOVES the outside world – cars! Hot showers! Fashion magazines! But she also has great love and affection for her home, and is able finally to move between them. Usually this kind of narrative ends with the concl...more
An intriguing story about a girl raised in a matriarchal society. The girl wants more. I loved this part. Wanting more and having higher aspirations is a common, natural reaction. She had (has) so much talent and knew she had talent. Most people think they are better than they are, but she knew. She overcame many obstacles and I love that part! But, and this is a big one, I wish they weren't matriarchal. The men were only like sperm donors! I found this horrible. A little slutty too! I understan...more
It took me quite a while to 'get' into this story. Once I realized it was non-fiction I did better. I had it on my Nook and didn't realize it was a memoir of a young Moso woman. Honestly, I had no idea these people existed and was totally unfamiliar with their culture. Namu tells the story of her life in this odd, matriarchial world of the Moso. I found it funny how the Chinese have tried to understand them and have looked for ways to bring them into the Chinese way of living. Her story is a uni...more
There is actually still a place in the world where women control their family structure and inherit their family's property. The Moso culture, isolated from the rest of China on the China Tibetan border, has realized for centuries that romantic love is fleeting and families are most stable if arranged around a matriarchal heritage rather than conventional marriage. Because of their isolation, their way of life has survived, although it is now threatened by the cash economy that has invaded and t...more
Okay. Just... okay.
There were interesting bits here and there (basically anytime there was a potential for culture clash -- Han, Yi, etc.), but never enough to make me invested.
As a kick I googled Namu, and found this TIME article.
Well. She's certainly a character.
But knowing that, I have a hard time separating the reality and fantasy of Namu's life, and what areas Mathieu had to fill in. And so now it's in that weird gray-zone between memoir and fiction -- and that doesn't sit well with me.
Hone...more
There were interesting bits here and there (basically anytime there was a potential for culture clash -- Han, Yi, etc.), but never enough to make me invested.
As a kick I googled Namu, and found this TIME article.
Well. She's certainly a character.
But knowing that, I have a hard time separating the reality and fantasy of Namu's life, and what areas Mathieu had to fill in. And so now it's in that weird gray-zone between memoir and fiction -- and that doesn't sit well with me.
Hone...more
As I was reading this I thought it wasn’t my thing and that it wasn’t particularly well-written. After finishing it, I saw that this is her eighth book, though the first one in English and in China she’s famous for being famous… The point of the story is that she was raised in a community between China and Tibet that are matrilineal, called Moso, where the women own the houses, pass them on to their daughters, and take lovers as they like. But there is some question as to whether any of it is tr...more
Perhaps matriarchy is not what we expect, one of Mathieu's professors points out. What we call matriarchal culture is usually more accurately matrilineal culture, which is neither inherently matriarchal nor egalitarian. He thinks the difference lies mainly in that patrilinial societies accept the domination of women by their fathers and husbands and in matrilineal society they are bullied by uncles and brothers.
This problemitizaion of viewing the Moso people's seemingly female-driven culture thr...more
This problemitizaion of viewing the Moso people's seemingly female-driven culture thr...more
A fascinating look at the life of a particular young girl in a unique matrilinear culture, and her relationaship with her mother. The Moso are a matrilinear society, NOT matriarchal, which is a completely different concept. Property and the home pass from mother to daughter, and the sons and daughters remain in the home of their mothers, so, while there are no "fathers," there are brothers cousins and uncles. The elders of the family, of both genders, make the decisions, but the home and all the...more
Yang Erche Namu (Treasure Princess) cried a lot when she was a child. In a land where shamanism mixes with Buddhism, her mother was instructed to name her child by going to a certain place and having the first person that came along name the baby. That person was Lama Gatusa. When she had her name, the baby would stop crying. She didn't, exactly, but she did go far. She became a popular singer in China, and eventually found her way to the US. I especially liked the time she spent with her uncle...more
This book was loaned to me by a friend a@ work and I really enjoyed learning a bit of Chinese culture from it. It is the story of Namu, a young, "coming of age" Moso girl. Truly enlightening story of her life in the Moso society in the Himalayan region of China. Written in 2003, I have to wonder what has happened to this woman today? Story reveals that she was chose her own path, that of independence, but she needed her "roots" every so often to remind her of her choice and of her family traditi...more
Highly recommended. In the afterword the co-author claims that the Moso minority group are not matriarchial merely matrilineal but their familial arrangements are fascinating and according to Yang Erche Namu's account their cultural mores seem to really work in avoiding a lot of the ills common the the rest of the world such as sexual jealousy, break-down of the family unit due to infidelity and divorce, teenage sexual experimentation. Could it ever work in a rich modern society?
This book is phenomenal. Utterly captivating. Compelling. I read it in just over a day (ok, or 2, but: very quickly). Highly recommended!, especially if you have an interest in SW China.
It was very interesting for me to read this book after having visited Lugu Lake last July, and currently living in Zhongdian (now 'Shangri-la'), to put images of places to those in the book. But even without such prior knowledge, this book would still be a good and captivating read.
It was very interesting for me to read this book after having visited Lugu Lake last July, and currently living in Zhongdian (now 'Shangri-la'), to put images of places to those in the book. But even without such prior knowledge, this book would still be a good and captivating read.
This book was fascinating. It gives us a glimpse into the life of a young woman from the Mosuo society an ethnic minority group in southwestern China where the women rule society and the men only engage in "walking marriages" but have no real responsibility. It was especially interesting since we visited and met some of these people on our trip to southwestern China. It is a true story of a young woman who grows up in this society and becomes a well-known singer.
This is the memoir of a girl who grew up near the Himalayas in southwest China in a region with a culture unlike any other in the world: their society is matrilineal, there is no marriage, and women sleep with as many people as they wish, with nothing negative attached. Her story is fascinating, and the writing is very evocative of the region. (I really felt I was there in the freezing cold, trying to warm up by holding my legs under yaks while they pee.)
I'm wishing for 3.5 stars for this one. I very much liked the insight from the unique culture that Namu was raised. Her description of life as a minority Moso in a remote mountainous location in China kept me very absorbed through the first half of the book. However, like my common complaint about memoirs, she seems pretty self absorbed and didn't seem to truly care about anyone else but herself, which is a little difficult to slug through to the end.
Oct 10, 2010
Ine
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
china,
memoirs-biographies
It was a privilege meeting Namu and a pleasure reading her book. Namu is a charming lady, straightforward about her desires, which also shows clearly in 'Leaving Mother Lake'. In my opinion, it's exactly her self-absorbed narration that allows us to see the Moso culture, the matriarchal 'country of daughters', through the eyes of an insider. It should be required reading for anyone with an interest in Yunnan, and in China's recent history.
My book club read this--absolutely amazing story about a girl who grew up tending yaks in a remote region of China, and through her singing traveled to modern-day China and eventually the rest of the world, essentially jumping over centuries of change in her lifetime. Just as fascinating are the accounts of her life after she discovered the rest of the world and the 20th century---but you can Google for that. Highly recommended.
I still can't decide if I liked this one or not. Definitely interesting. One woman growing up in the "mother society" of a small part of China (where there is no marriage - and everyone just grows up and stays forever with their brothers and sisters). The culture was fascinating but I don't know what to say about the narrator. Talk about tempermental!
This memoir is truly unique. The Moso are a truly amazing and intriguing culture. The only reason I didn't give this book 5/5 is that I was forced to read it in such a short time and could not enjoy it for everything it is. Matrilineal culture characterized by walking/visiting marriages; the Moso seem to be the happiest culture of family I've ever had the pleasure of learning about.
This was a fascinating auto-biography written by a woman from a remote part of China. She is a member of an ethnic minority, the Mosuo people, who have a matriarchal society. The story of her life is unique and her descriptions of her home region and the other parts of China she travels to are evocative of a time and place faraway.
Aug 21, 2008
Jukka
added it
Leaving Mother Lake (2003) - Yang Erche Namu
What would it be like, if women owned all the property, ran the family, and could send their lover away and take a new one on whim? This memoir gives a view into the Moso culture, a matriarchal society (a vision of utopia?) in rural China. This book caused me to reflect on the challenges of adapting from traditional cultural ways to those of a dominant culture. I also found it impossible not to reflect upon our own cultural values especially regarding...more
What would it be like, if women owned all the property, ran the family, and could send their lover away and take a new one on whim? This memoir gives a view into the Moso culture, a matriarchal society (a vision of utopia?) in rural China. This book caused me to reflect on the challenges of adapting from traditional cultural ways to those of a dominant culture. I also found it impossible not to reflect upon our own cultural values especially regarding...more
This book was compelling in ways that anthropological autobiographies usually aren't, so the ghostwriting by Christine Mathieu (and perhaps Larry Engelmann...) really did her favors. I've read a few books by/about Han Chinese and Chinese ethnic minorities who lived through the cultural revolution and its aftermath, and this one definitely stood out, due to the relative isolation and the matrilineal society of the Sino-Tibetan Mosuo people. The book was best when it was romanticizing/exoticizing...more
Cannot recommend this highly enough. A fascinating look at a lifestyle so far removed from my own that it seemed like a fantasy world (fantasy meaning wholly invented, not meaning that I coveted it) yet it was reality for someone who is not that much older than myself. Her journey is so captivating.
A wonderful read about a surviving matriarchy (or metrilineal peoples) on the Tibet-China border. Even the Han Chinese couldn't dissuade the "walking marriages," where a man waits to be invited by the woman to her bed, and this can go on serially as is the custom.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
