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Maxine Hong Kingston
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The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts (Vintage International) Kindle Edition

by Maxine Hong Kingston (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 1,237 ratings
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NATIONAL BESTSELLER • An exhilarating blend of autobiography and mythology, of world and self, of hot rage and cool analysis. First published in 1976, it has become a classic in its innovative portrayal of multiple and intersecting identities—immigrant, female, Chinese, American. • NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER

“A classic, for a reason.” —Celeste Ng, bestselling author of Little Fires Everywhere and Our Missing Hearts, via Twitter

As a girl, Kingston lives in two confounding worlds: the California to which her parents have immigrated and the China of her mother’s “talk stories.” The fierce and wily women warriors of her mother’s tales clash jarringly with the harsh reality of female oppression out of which they come. Kingston’s sense of self emerges in the mystifying gaps in these stories, which she learns to fill with stories of her own. A warrior of words, she forges fractured myths and memories into an incandescent whole, achieving a new understanding of her family’s past and her own present.
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  1. Print length
    201 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Vintage
  5. Publication date
    September 1, 2010
  6. File size
    2172 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
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  9. Enhanced typesetting
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The Woman Warrior is a pungent, bitter, but beautifully written memoir of growing up Chinese American in Stockton, California. Maxine Hong Kingston (China Men) distills the dire lessons of her mother's mesmerizing "talk-story" tales of a China where girls are worthless, tradition is exalted and only a strong, wily woman can scratch her way upward. The author's America is a landscape of confounding white "ghosts"--the policeman ghost, the social worker ghost--with equally rigid, but very different rules. Like the woman warrior of the title, Kingston carries the crimes against her family carved into her back by her parents in testimony to and defiance of the pain. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

About the Author

Maxine Hong Kingston is the daughter of Chinese immigrants who operated a gambling house in the 1940s, when Maxine was born, and then a laundry where Kingston and her brothers and sisters toiled long hours. Kingston graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1962 from the University of California at Berkeley, and, in the same year, married actor Earll Kingston, whom she had met in an English course. The couple has one son, Joseph, who was born in 1963. They were active in antiwar activities in Berkeley, but in 1967 the Kingstons headed for Japan to escape the increasing violence and drugs of the antiwar movement. They settled instead in Hawai‘i, where Kingston took various teaching posts. They returned to California seventeen years later, and Kingston resumed teaching writing at the University of California, Berkeley.

While in Hawai‘i, Kingston wrote her first two books. The Woman Warrior, her first book, was published in 1976 and won the National Book Critics Circle Award, making her a literary celebrity at age thirty-six. Her second book, China Men, earned the National Book Award. Still today, both books are widely taught in literature and other classes. Kingston has earned additional awards, including the PEN West Award for Fiction for Tripmaster Monkey, the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature, and the National Humanities Medal, which was conferred by President Clinton, as well as the title “Living Treasure of Hawai‘i” bestowed by a Honolulu Buddhist church. Her most recent books include a collection of essays, Hawai‘i One Summer, and latest novel, The Fifth Book of Peace. Kingston is currently Senior Lecturer Emerita at the University of California, Berkeley. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B004089I10
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vintage; Reissue edition (September 1, 2010)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 1, 2010
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2172 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 201 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 1,237 ratings

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Maxine Hong Kingston

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Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
1,237 global ratings
Hmmm...
4 Stars
Hmmm...
Well, I'm a Chinese-American, with immigrant parents from the Canton region, whom spoke Cantonese, with relatives in Hong Kong... and from NYC. I wanted to read this because just like how black people enjoy reading about their culture from acclaimed books and authors, I feel the same way about my culture. So for my birthday, I told my MIL I wanted this book and she bought it for me.Amy Tan is one of my favorite authors, but her characters all seem to be from the Northern regions of China, from major cities, speaking Mandarin... who assimilated when arriving to America. This book is the opposite, and I was able to relate to the characters more. They were from villages in the Canton regions, who spoke Cantonese, and owned a laundry business.I took a star off because the actual, direct "memoir" portions of it was great - but the author filled a lot of pages and paragraphs (and even a whole chapter) with "talk-stories" which really had nothing to do with anything. Like, there's a whole talk-story chapter about Mulan, which doesn't really add any depth to the book other than as filler content. Personally, I wanted to find out more about why Moon Orchard went crazy, and the doctor-husband with his new wife and abandoned adult daughter in LA. What the hell was the point of writing a lengthy chapter about the folktale of Mulan!? Of course, this was published in the mid-1970's, way (way) before Disney introduced Mulan to the general public in 1998 - so I take that in to consideration... that no one knew who Mulan was when this book was published, and so it was important for the author to tell the folktale (but I'm still taking a star off for it!).
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Top reviews from the United States

MM in Costa Rica
5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful Beyond Words
Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2023
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While I have read others descriptions of The Woman Warrior using words like “complex” and “difficult” I find reading it rather to be like riding the wind. Enchanted by breathtaking dips, turns and changes in person and perspectives I loved holding on for the ride. How can a reader not be blown away by the rich inner life and imagination of the author, all the while gaining insight into one’s own journey?

In 1976 Maxine came to my door with a preview copy of her book. I barely knew her for as a quiet, thoughtful presence at occasional gathering of friends and colleagues. At receiving the gift I felt no little chagrin. We lived in the compound of a boarding college prep school among students and staff. It was a small-town atmosphere in which one’s opinion spread quickly. (A persnickety judge of grammar and flow weaknesses, what if I didn’t like it?) A very few pages in, however, I felt thunderstruck by the depth, power, insight and imagination all impeccably conveyed. This month, over 45 years after my first reading I will lead The Woman Warrior discussion in my book club in Costa Rica.
2 people found this helpful
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N. B.
5.0 out of 5 stars 1970s feminist classic
Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2024
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This is a 1970s feminist classic. As the daughter of immigrants, MHK grapples with being of two very different cultures and not feeling at home in either one. Each chapter can stand alone as a separate essay (for assigning to students), but the book is worth reading in its entirety. Highly recommend!
One person found this helpful
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Gamer
4.0 out of 5 stars The Woman Warrior was authored by Maxine Hong Kingston, ...
Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2018
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The Woman Warrior was authored by Maxine Hong Kingston, a first generation Chinese immigrant, and published in 1976. This book can be understood in the historical context of the May Fourth Movement of 1919 and the 1949 Communist Takeover of China. The May Fourth Movement influenced a new wave of Chinese novels, many featuring a first-person point of view and themes of individualism and self-examination. This new literary and cultural movement led to a shift in attitude towards the education of women. In The Woman Warrior, Kingston’s mother Brave Orchid, decides to pursue a medical education which can be understood in this historical context. However, despite her progressive education, Kingston’s mother remained a traditionalist in many aspects of her life. The May Fourth Movement of 1919 also marked the emergence of the Chinese Communist Party. In “White Tigers” Kingston briefly touches the brutal treatment of her landowning, Chinese family members. Their letters, detailing the torture and execution of her relatives, further illustrate the contrast between her childhood tales and the reality of her life in America.

As a whole, I believe the rich detail and shifts between fantastical descriptions of folklore and Kingston’s reality make the Woman Warrior interesting to read but ultimately difficult to comprehend without further analysis. The book is split into five chapters, each detailing an influence on Kingston’s life whether it be a Chinese legend told by her mother or an exaggerated account of her life in America. The first part, No Name Woman, recounts the tragic death of Kingston’s paternal aunt, who was driven to suicide by her “shaming” of her community and family by having a baby out of wedlock. The second, White Tigers, is a story about the female warrior Fa Mu Lan presumably told to Kingston as a child by her mother. Shaman, the third chapter, shifts from a story about Brave Orchid’s medical education and her ghost stories to her life in the United States.At the Western Palace focuses on Kinston’s maternal aunt Moon Orchid who is pushed to seek out her husband in America but ultimately fails to rekindle her marriage. The final part, a Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe, is the most autobiographical, told from the first person point-of-view of Kingston.These powerful stories together illustrate the traditional role of women in Chinese society and Kingston’s struggle to find her own identity within those norms. The contrasting stories of Fa Mulan, her aunts, and her own life emphasize Kingston’s effort to find her own voice, both literally and figuratively. The novel’s content, as well as the passion with which Kingston writes, brings life to these stories, and ensures that they are powerfully alive on the page, making a lasting impression on the reader.
11 people found this helpful
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Russell J. Sanders
3.0 out of 5 stars A complicated book to like
Reviewed in the United States on November 4, 2021
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I’m ashamed. I read Maxine Hong Kingston’s celebrated book The Woman Warrior and felt nothing. Maybe it’s because I’m not a woman; maybe it’s because I couldn’t decipher the Chinese parables that make up much of the book; maybe it’s because it simply was not what I expected. I’d thought it was a memoir—and it is, to some extent—but it is filled with flights of Chinese fancy. I do think I gained some insights into Chinese culture, but what I saw made me not like her mother much at all, with her firmly rooted old-world Chinese ways. Of the five sections of the book, the one titled At the Western Palace was the most captivating. But it portrayed Kingston’s mother as a pushy, demanding woman, lording it over her sister. Not a pretty picture. And then the last section showed a childhood Kingston as a total, cruel bully. I got the message. She was a product of her mother and had fairly good intentions with her bullying and even learned from it. But by then, for me, it was too late. So I left the memoir feeling like there was something wrong with me for not getting the message, for not liking a book that was a bestseller and won great acclaim, for feeling like a racist because I did not like the Chinese ways painted in the book for us readers.
14 people found this helpful
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Cindy Campopiano
5.0 out of 5 stars Changed the way I thought
Reviewed in the United States on July 26, 2013
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I loved this book when I first read it, at age 22. I've reread it twice. I felt no negativity towards Chinese people or Chinese-American people from what Kingston wrote, as many reviewers seem to have. I actually gained more respect for Chinese culture; it's rich history, it's honoring of worlds beyond this world.

I loved the twist on typical memoir style via Kinston's rendering of part of an old myth to fit her experience of growing up. Anyone who claims this is a work of fiction needs to look a little further in. The story of Fa Mulan as told by Kingston is portrayed as her girl-self interprets it. She presented it as told through the mind of her growing-up self. Not fiction, merely a portrayal of thoughts, of daydreaming.

A few years after reading this the first time, one of my literature teachers showed a video of Maxine Hong Kingston speaking at our school the year before. She passed on something I've never forgotten: "Be as big as the universe," she said. "Able to contain paradoxes." Because life presents us with so many, I felt inspired by this encouragement.

I saw her speak at a bookstore not long after. She told anecdotes and stories, nothing phenomenal, but she remains, to me, one of the best memoirists of the last fifty years.
2 people found this helpful
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KEN
5.0 out of 5 stars great packaging and fast shipping
Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2024
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wonderful seller, thank you - highly recommended.
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Baby Panda Pants
5.0 out of 5 stars Classic
Reviewed in the United States on January 13, 2024
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There's a reason it's a classic...READ IT
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Wing Tai Victor Ng
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing, passionate book.
Reviewed in Canada on July 6, 2020
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In The Woman Warrior, Maxine Hong Kingston dives deep into the cultural intersection of Chinese and Western culture. Told through old traditional tales and her own experiences, the book is insightful, passionate and ageless.
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Des Argyrou
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 14, 2018
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as expected
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Cliente Amazon
5.0 out of 5 stars Ottimo
Reviewed in Italy on March 13, 2017
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Bellissimo libro! Super consigliato! Inglese non semplicissimo per dei principianti ma facilmente intuibile! Un libro per le donne ma che dovrebbe essere letto da tutti !
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F
4.0 out of 5 stars Love it
Reviewed in France on September 19, 2013
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Kingston writes with a very nice style, and I love the way she compares her story with Chinese legends. The view of an immigrated girl in the United States is really amazing, and interesting.
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S. Johnson
4.0 out of 5 stars but I would also recommend reading it for personal enjoyment
Reviewed in Canada on December 13, 2016
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The Woman Warrior is one of the most common taught texts in undergraduate classes. It is a memoir, not a novel, but this line is blurred throughout the book, as Kingston's narrator often recedes into the background of the story, leaving the action to be told in third person. Kingston narrates a compelling account of her childhood as a Chinese-American girl by weaving together her personal history with her family's history, Chinese history, and Chinese myth.

I bought this book because it was required reading for a class, but I would also recommend reading it for personal enjoyment. It is a well-written and compelling book.

My book arrived in good condition and within the expected shipping time, although I received a different edition from the one in the picture.
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