Wild Ginger: Yet another unmerited book

It is obvious to see that Wild Ginger is another cliche plotted, charactered, and put together book, similar to many other books we've read in whisl. With obvious plot lines like a classic Sherlock Holmes Mystery, a puppy love story, and anti-communist characters like Evergreen and Maple, this book has accomplished nothing specatularly new. While it tells a story of true effects of communism and Marxist ideals, its lack in literary merit, and originality do writing no justice. It is obvious to see the McCarthyesque style of anti-communist this and that. It is obvious to see that Communism ruins the rights and accomplishments of the individual, and the other unnecessary additions of love, mystery, and perversion all prove this point as well, but why need we point out whats sitting on your nose? When an economic system pools all possessions and materials, the motivation of the individual drops to a complete 0. When all one is working for is the better of one's country, and his only pay is a bunk in a dorm, and a plate of food it is clearly seen why Mao's ideas failed. Min uses Wild Ginger as a character to show the blatent failures of Maoist ideals. While she persists in the ways of the Red Guard, it is clear to the reader that she should chose another path. Then Evergreen and Maple are shown to the reader as the reason that Capitalism is fair to the individual, while Communism ruins originality and creativity. Perhaps Min should have read and studied Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. Both extreme societies warrant different kinds of suffering. Its more of a pick your poison situation. Hopefully next year's WHISL class will atleast get to read books that have enough merit to make it on sparknotes, let alone the AP exam.

Communist China at its best!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-nXT8lSnPQ

Wild Ginger- embrace Capitalism, this author did

As a student in WHISL, I believe it is right to be disgruntled. As an American citizen I have rights, both guaranteed by prose and those unspoken. Obviously so does Anchee Min, the author of Wild Ginger and Becoming Madame Mao; by being an American she has the rights to act in a free market economy. That right is being exploited to its full extent. This time New York Times, I have to disagree. Wild Ginger is pulp, a mere rape of Americas fear of Communism. Min takes advantage of America's attraction to repulsion (Poe), in this case the ingrained terror of "The Red Threat" passed down a generation from McCarthyism and LBJ's "Domino Theory". Even
superficial book reviews pin point the motive for Min: to publish and bank on a cult following, "which should mean strong sales" (Publisher's Weekly). Go Capitalism! Minn is quick to hint at the perversion of Marxist teaching by Mao, and then greater distortion by his people, but seems to do it out of a distaste for all things Communist, with her thinly hidden narrator drawn towards the old ways of China. What does her narrator represent? Well Min herself of course; Maple is a great character to mold after yourself, innocent, misguided, and a bastion of moral goodness. One of the underlying literary themes we could explore is Min's narcissism and lack of shame for selling a dramatic retyping of her memoir Red Azalea (Mariner Books). It is a simple equation, heaven sent for superficial success for under-educated housewives with disposable income.

One, a young female protagonist, just budding into a woman, feeling the pressures of sexual perversion (Sex sells, especially since every American woman feels those pressures in a sexist society such as ours)

Two, make it dark. Not really, actually, just dark enough for those same housewives to feel a taste of "reality", and throw in a sad ending so it can't easily be identified as pulp. If she wanted reality she should have thought of other minority writers who struggled before her, such as Richard Wright. "I swore to myself that if I wrote another book, no one would weep over it; that it would be so hard and deep that they would have to face it without the consolation of tears." Wright went on to say that, he didn't want a book that banker's daughters could read, cry deeply, and then feel superficially catahartic because they feel the plight of minorities. That is exactly what Minn does in Wild Ginger, a novel that gives housewives the chance to emphasize with poor, children in Communist oppression. :(

Three, Write a novella, then have it printed in ridiculously huge font so it comes out to be 217 pages long. Give your readers that sense of accomplishment they didn't earn.

Four, add a love story. Of course, what pulp wouldn't be complete without a love story, especially forbidden by higher powers. Think a re-hashing of Romeo and Juliet

Five, Violence! Schoolyard battles with a bully, who doesn't vicariously love defeating a bully like Hot Pepper!

Six, Hint at deep literary themes, to fool an untrained reader to think they are in over their head. Actually, there is nothing of substance

Seven, WTF! Add a Nancy Drew style mystery story were a pre-teen girl defeats the criminal, that's low. Min must have really been pulling at straws here. Try and imagine this: Scooby Doo in Shanghai! Yay!

Eight, pretty cover. ohhh! Catches the light!

Finally, you get the product. Some pulp barely worth the paper its printed on but apparently addicting to housewives. Min has sold you a bill of goods. Reading this is analogous to going on a blind date and finding you are spending the night with a paper cut out of Jessica Alba.

Unfortunately, this will never be read. On the off chance you do read this Mrs. Bell, I would like to discuss Wild Ginger with you. However, I believe that this has all been for naught.

The little Seamstress 2

So Four Eyes caught my attention, he makes me think about Squid in Rocket Power. Him and his mom seem to be better of then most, ecspecially since he has the suitcase of treasured books. Also its sort of weird to think about how much these kids valued books and really wanted to learn something when today kids overlook the value of their education. I feel that Luo when he first met the little streamstress was just stereotyping her by thinking that she was unkoweledgble and wasn't for him. Of course she gets entangled as they introduce her to the captivating stories and gains her own wisdom. Also, the poverty during the chinese culture revolution is astounding and I've noticed the narrators growing confidence in his own stories while Luo was the more headstrong of the two

Wild Ginger 2

I cannot even imagine the pain Wild Ginger feels about her mom. The news of her death must have been horrifying. Her new life style waking up super early to go to the market just so she can buy her own food and pay for school sounds very rough. She has enough will power to make it through. I hope that Wild Ginger wins the Mao Quotation-Citing Contest. She has put in a significant amount of effort into preparing for it. I think Evergreen will become an important piece of Wild Ginger and Maple getting out of troube later on in the book. I am still enjoying the read, and am interested by the different life style they have; the ruler is everything.

Son Of the Revolution- thoughts about the beginning of the book

So far, this novel makes me have sympathy for the main character. Overall, he seems easily convinced by the communist party and society about how he should live his life, yet he still questions certain aspects of this such as why he should not be allowed to join certain groups because of his mother. I find it so hard to believe and so mind boggling really that his mother can be shunned from society based on her "crime". In reality, she was only doing what the party asked her to do, and yet her whole family is torn apart by it. Communism, in this light, seems to me like a cult of brainwashing of sorts. How can her husband honestly believe that she acted wrongly? Does he truly believe this, or is it more of a result of the pressures of society? It is scary to me that eventually even the children turn against their mother because of her "rightest actions". Through the beginning the novel and the family's experiences, I see communism as the ultimate way ato mold individuals into a specific ideal to be easily manipulated.

Callie_Wild Ginger

The ideas of Maoism completely form the kids, like Maple and Wild Ginger's, views of society and change their views of their parents. It changes the way they relate to their parents, the kids become the authority, they no longer respect their parents. These ideas that are put in their heads are totally anti-Confucius. Confucius also states the studying the past will define the future. Maoism goes against this idea of Confucius because rather than the children learning the past they are destroying the past in order to define the future.