Red Azalea
by Anchee Min
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 779)
Read in June, 2008
This book gives an interesting insight into how sexuality was controled during China's Cultural Revolution, and is a very moving depiction of the loss of faith in communism in China.
Despite the dreary communist setting and forced labor camps, this book is very lyrical and is really about the destabilising role of love in such a tightly controlled life.
And what a life - Anchee was plucked from her family in Beijing and sent to a labour camp in rural China.
There, she falls in love with...more
Despite the dreary communist setting and forced labor camps, this book is very lyrical and is really about the destabilising role of love in such a tightly controlled life.
And what a life - Anchee was plucked from her family in Beijing and sent to a labour camp in rural China.
There, she falls in love with...more
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Read in February, 2007
recommends it for:
anyone
As prep for my trip to China earlier this year I started reading all I could about the country, and especially the Cultural Revolution. Out of everything I read nothing affected me more or stuck with me longer than Red Azalea.
Even among the spate of memoirs out of the Cultural Revolution , all of which have unbelievable stories of a society tearing itself apart, this one strikes me as the most remarkable. As a child of persecuted "intellectuals" turned Red Guard turned model commu...more
Even among the spate of memoirs out of the Cultural Revolution , all of which have unbelievable stories of a society tearing itself apart, this one strikes me as the most remarkable. As a child of persecuted "intellectuals" turned Red Guard turned model commu...more
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This memoir was very haunting in that it is a story of a young girl growing up in the last days of Chairman Mao in China. The peasant labor she was forced to go into as an act of HONOR to Mao and his ideas. (As it was law for every family unit to have ONE peasant serving the government to produce crops and goods.) It was really interesting to see how she, although following a path paved by communist ideas being drilled into her from an early age, finds her own path in which she discovers hers...more
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Read in February, 1998
Anchee Min grew up in China during Mao's Cultural Revolution -- this is her memoir, running from her childhood in a labor camp, as she tries to be a model communist, to her young adulthood, where she's selected as part of the Shanghai Film Studio. Eventually she emigrated to the US. Her other books on China are also fascinating -- especially Becoming Madame Mao (historical fiction).
For another wonderful and true story of the Cultural Revolution, try Red China Blues by Jan Wong. She's a Canadi...more
For another wonderful and true story of the Cultural Revolution, try Red China Blues by Jan Wong. She's a Canadi...more
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Read in September, 2001
recommends it for:
anyone interested in the Chinese Cultural Revolution and queer memoirs
If you haven't exhausted yourself of Chinese Cultural Revolution memoirs yet, this one is worth it. The main character is sent to the country for re-education and falls in love with her female comrade (who outranks her). Their affair is kept secret, as revealing it could have meant death. This was the first book Anchee Min wrote in English as a second language, and the grammar and wording are simple and crisp. My favorite line from the book: "I was the opera," in reference to he...more
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Read in November, 2005
Never had heard of the book, the title, or the author until it was given to me by my Grams last summer along with other books she and my aunt had finished. Communism was a big part of the book, for it was set in China during the Mao government. This book is an autobiography written in a novel style, which had drawn me in immensely. I felt like I lived through communism, their class/caste system, and the history of China through the main character, Anchee's eyes. I honestly do not think I have he...more
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Read in June, 2008
recommended to Alyssa by:
Nicolerecommends it for: Destiny Sevigny
I loved this book. After it was over, I found myself wanting it to go on to find out what happened next in her life. Her writing style is so delicate and leaves a lot to the imagination, which I like, especially with the intimate scenes. I hate when authors hit you over the head with exaggerated descriptions of things. Min doesn't do this at all. It's almost like you feel intrusive because you're reading about these taboo relationships that she has. I'd highly recommend it!
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Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
people who like memoirs/learning about China
I love memoirs. I also love to read about China. And this is a good memoir about living through the Cultural Revolution in China. I like the love relationship that is explored in this book. I like reading about how confusing and confining the world was for so many during that time period in Chinese history. But I have to say, at times, I got bored with the writing-style in this book. It's pretty simplistic. So, overall I'd have to say: good content, weak writing.
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Anchee Min participated on a panel discussion I heard at LA Times Festival of Books. She has an incredible personal story, growing up in an impoverished village in China during the Cultural Revolution. Anchee is passionate about the subjects of her books and it was refreshing to see this as she talked about China and her books. It's remarkable that someone with her background can end up as a best selling author in the United States.
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Read in February, 2002
i've read and re-read this book at times of transformation. for me it is one of those books i objectify. it is the book for me, sometimes even more than the story, which is set during the chinese cultural revolution. 1966-76. A decade during which the self and individual were virtually annihilated from intellectual and creative activities. their is family, love, and farm work. fast paced. an 'achingly beautiful' read.
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Anchee Min grew up in Communist China. She was bright and ambitious. She toed the party line and was, as a young adult, chosen as one of the girls to be part of the party's propaganda films and posters. She gives a candid account of her journey from a leader of the Little Red Guard at age six to her disillusionment with the party and what it represented. Very interesting and beautifully written.
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Read in December, 2006
i first read this book my first year of college. last year i recommended it to my mom's book club & they accepted it.
it's a nonfiction written by a woman in china during the time of mao. she worked in the fields, eventually to become an actress in mao's propaganda films because of her generic look. her experiences are extremely interesting and the book itself is enjoyable.
it's a nonfiction written by a woman in china during the time of mao. she worked in the fields, eventually to become an actress in mao's propaganda films because of her generic look. her experiences are extremely interesting and the book itself is enjoyable.
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Read in June, 2005
This book is an autobiographical account of a young woman's life in 1970s China. She begins in a Shanghai school, recounting her successful childhood in the school's communist organization, and describes her experiences in labor camp and a propaganda movie. My review does not do justice to this interesting coming-of-age/relationship/Mao-era memoir.
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Read in February, 2008
This book was filled with emotions from me: from frustration, to anger, to understanding and inspiration.
The characters were easy to identify with, and the story was incredibly moving. I liked the way the love between Yan and Anchee was developed, and thought the complexity of everything was portrayed well; it didn't seem over-simplified.
The characters were easy to identify with, and the story was incredibly moving. I liked the way the love between Yan and Anchee was developed, and thought the complexity of everything was portrayed well; it didn't seem over-simplified.
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Read in May, 2007
This is the true life story of the author Anchee Min. The relationships she developed in the story took me by surprise and though many focus on that aspect of the book I felt like this book explored the complex emotions of someone born into the early days of communist China. What a confusing world that would have been for a child.
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Read in June, 2008
recommended to Holly by:
dean
I found the author's style to be somewhat difficult to follow. The truth about China's not so distant past is very hard to digest. I find it very upsetting that this was happening a mere 25 or 30 years ago, and very likely is still occuring on some level even now. I think I'm done with reading about the cultural revolution for now!
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I love to read memoirs. What I love about memoirs is that a person can learn so much about a different culture through the eyes of a person who experienced it first-hand. In this book we get to see the effect of Communism on a young woman's life. We see how Communism strips this young woman of all she has and all she yearns for.
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Read in October, 2000
This memoir is somewhat pedestrian until about 100 pages in, when suddenly the heroine comes out of the closet and starts a torrid homosexual love affair in the midst of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Then she becomes a famous actress. (Of course later she becomes a famous author!) A slightly crazy and interesting book.
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Red Azalea contains powerful prose and a startlingly honest narrative from China's bravest female author, Anchee Min. Upon the success of her autobiography about growing up in Cultural Revolution-era China as a young Red Guard, Min would go on to write some of the best-selling books in the China historical fiction genre.
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Read in June, 2007
SO FRUSTRATING! i'm tired of unhappy endings and yes, i consider this an unhappy ending. so much personal growth but the sacrifice of such an intimate relationship. i want to know if she ever sought out the past once she came to the States - if that love was ever sustained as a friendship on any level later in life.
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 3.83 (625 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 3.84 (572 ratings) number of reviews: 80popular shelves
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quote
"If you can't go back to your mother's womb, you'd better learn to be a good fighter."
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