"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Before her stint as Mao's first lady, Jiang Ching, as she was then known, was an actress, a singer, and a star in Communist films. Anchee Min grew up in Red China and watched Jiang Ching from afar; she was fascinated by her for many years, by tales of her independence and strength, and by images of her beauty. In a way, the great villain and demon was a role model for Anchee Min, and her teenage devotion is the engine of her remarkable novel. Moving back and forth between stories of the actress and the evil dictator, Min complicates the Madame Mao of history.
As a girl, Madame Mao narrowly escaped having her feet bound. The book opens with graphic descriptions of this process and of the ensuing infection that freed her. But if her feet were not bound, her spirit was. Reared by a mother who was the last concubine of a rich man, and a father who liked to hit his girls with shovels, Madame Mao as a young girl felt herself doomed: "I see my father hit Mother with a shovel. It happened suddenly. Without warning. I can hardly believe my eyes. He is mad. He calls Mother a slut. Mother's body curls up. My chest swells. He hits her back, front, shouting that he will break her bones." The father then goes on to treat his daughter the same way. Decades later, when Madame Mao manifests deep brutality, Min seems to be saying that what goes around comes around. Flawed by a clumsy structure that vacillates between third and first person arbitrarily, Becoming Madame Mao is nevertheless an immensely interesting work--defiant, morally ambiguous, and difficult to put down. --Emily White
"The original material was so rich and exciting that it enabled me to visualize Mao and Jian Ching, as a man and a woman, walking in time toward each other, leaning on one another. They touched and fell in love. They entered the cave of Yenan and closed the door tightly behind them. and here is where the historians are shut out."
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
US$ 4.00
Within U.S.A.
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New. Fast Shipping and good customer service. Seller Inventory # Holz_New_0618004076
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. Buy for Great customer experience. Seller Inventory # GoldenDragon0618004076
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New. Seller Inventory # Wizard0618004076
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New Copy. Customer Service Guaranteed. Seller Inventory # think0618004076
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Brand New!. Seller Inventory # VIB0618004076
Book Description Condition: new. Seller Inventory # FrontCover0618004076
Book Description Condition: New. New. In shrink wrap. Looks like an interesting title! 1.32. Seller Inventory # Q-0618004076