Katherine, a radical American teacher, brings about a minor revolution in the minds of her repressed Chinese students, and in doing so becomes a problem for the Chinese authorities. This novel is about her attempt to understand China and China's attempts to suppress her.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Would you be willing to devote eight years of work in a labor camp for mere political recognition? Faced with this question, the average Jane Doe or American would answer no. However, Zebra Wong jumped at the opportunity. We can assume that Zebra is no Jane Doe neither is she American. In fact, Zebra Wong is the absolute opposite. Under influence of the Communist Party, Zebra Wong and her family sacrificed their lives to glorify their "god," Mao Zedong. Years later, Mao's plans for China had failed. The people of China asked themselves why, when they had worked so hard, were suddenly so miserable? Zebra lost her faith in Mao and decided to end her work. Unfortunately, Zebra was not permitted to leave the labor camp. Can you imagine "slaving" for eight years against your own will? For Zebra, she dreaded every moment. "My education from age seven to eighteen was spent learning to be an honest Communist." Not up till the age of twenty-nine did Zebra enroll in a special English program. At school, an American teaches English to Zebra and her Chinese classmates. Her name is Katherine. "Like an evening star, she appeared quietly in our lives, in complete harmony, and before we realized it, she was installed above our heads" is how author Anchee Min described Katherine. Her existence was overwhelming, bringing 'a story of the western world' with her. In return, Zebra and her classmates exchange their tales with Katherine. Katherine became Zebra's confidant. Through time, Zebra learned to repress her past. A friendship begins; Zebra discovers a world of acceptance despite the unexpected consequences and misfortunes.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This book captures the Chinese view of weterners. It is one of the few books that I have started and finished in one sitting. Its prose captures the rhythms and thought patterns that are so prevalent in Chinese culture (the intricate interpersonal politics of love in modern China). I have known characters that could have acted as stand ins for ALL of the characters in the book. Although it is a sad story, it is one that is painfully close to reality and anyone who has lived for many years in China could easily mistake the book for non-fiction.
This book is a fascinating look into the heart and soul of a/some/many Chinese women.
By A Customer
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This book can be safely recommended to anyone who enjoys reading intelligent, articulate and emotionally powerful fiction. Sensitively handled, non-judgemental descriptions of Chinese culture bring credibility to the story-line. Similarities in style to Ann Michaels and Jane Hamilton, both of whom I couldn't recommend strongly enoough.
By A Customer
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Never have I been so captured by a book as Katherine. The love, passion, desperation, it is not just words on a page. Anchee Min makes you part of the emotions of the characters.
By A Customer
Format:Mass Market Paperback
It is always so amazing to read a book which is written by someone of another culture. This was definitely the case with Anchee Min's "Katherine". Min, very easily, puts the reader in the shoes of a troubled chinese woman, Zebra, who is in conflict as she begins to question her lifelong opinions about China and herself. Zebra is led to this introspection because of her exposure to an American woman, Katherine. Katherine has come to China to teach English and get to know the culture. The reader is taken along on Katherine's journey from naive optimism about China and the Chinese people, to confusion, and eventually quiet resignation. This book was incredible and horrid at the same time. If you like to be touched by what you read, I definitely recommend "Katherine". -JoAnn Hawkins
By A Customer
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Reading "Katherine" is a painful experience, in many ways. The American reader (especially one who is teaching English in another country) might be disturbed by the recognition of himself/herself in the title character, a "freewheeling," independent, optimistic, "typical" (?) American woman who seems painfully incapable of the subtlety necessary for life in post-Cultural Revolutionary China. Katherine dresses strangely, seeming to flaunt her physical characteristics, speaks her mind without thinking about the political and cultural situation in which she finds herself, and even has an affair with one of her students--all the while claiming that she was probably Chinese in another life.
The Chinese reader might be disturbed by what could be interpreted as Zebra's (the main Chinese character's) hatred of her own people. Indeed, Zebra's statements about her fellow Chinese often reminded me of Bo Yang's _The Ugly Chinaman_ in their overwhelming negativity. China after the Cultural Revolution is portrayed as a place where no one trusts anyone else, and where selfishness has replaced politeness and concern for the welfare of others. Zebra, however, might be forgiven for overemphasizing China's problems to Katherine, who seems to wander through China with the illusion that, as an American, she is "above" any of the customs or protocols that have evolved as a result of both the 5000 years of Chinese history and everything that has happened after 1949.
Without giving away the ending, I might say that the book reminded me of _Life and Death in Shanghai_ by Nien Chung, whose author, in some ways, seems a combination of the characteristics of Katherine and Zebra, and who also shares the fates of those characters.
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