Red Azalea: A Memoir

Anchee Min has been out there for a while now and the accolades have seemingly died off. This is unfortunate but mirrors the way American readers, at least, tend to mostly get caught up in the whatever is newest thing. Initially enthralled, we may now sadly have become inured to the way, like many of the Chinese writers of her (our) generation, Anchee Min will no doubt have to bear the burden of the cultural revolution for the rest of her days. That her books are one of the ways she works this out is inevitable. Infinitely and intimately personal, Min helps us to see our own fearful blindness, greed, lust, and envy, while simultaneously challenging us with hope. Red Azalea is just one of the true life stories she uses to capture what it is like to try and be a human being in our world in which, after all, no country is more than a generation away from yet another "cultural revolution." Would that we all could be so courageous.

The book is a easy read, meaning, the characters are easy to keep track of. It is one of the books that you kinda know about China, but, never really knew the details until now. If you like books about different countries, this is one. It is also a book that makes you thankful and appreciate the fact that you live in the United States.

I expected to find that the main character would have a relationship with another woman but was a bit taken aback when later into the story there is a section describing their meeting outside the camp with a man and how she is involved. I found it very disturbing and too graphic. It is always very eye opening to see how a person's circumstances can change the way they must think to survive the hardships. It helps us to understand a bit better why the Chinese tend to act and react so much differently than us in the western world. Overall very insightful and helpful in understanding their communist way of life, but thought the latter part could have been done more subtly and less shockingly. I assume the author wanted us to experience that along with the main character, but very unnecessary.

Devoured the book. Captured my interest and never lost it. But, i did stumble at the author's relationship with Yan when it became physically intimate. The details force the reader to participate as an observer. The author should keep the intimate private. Perhaps an editorial comment as a footnote would refocus the reader on the culture of living under a totalitarian system that micromanages even sexual behavior: who can have intimacy with who and when and under what conditions, with who's permission. The One Child Policy is an example of unintended consequences of socialism. Forced abortions under the rigorously enforced One Child Policy has lead to persecution and subsequent suicide of pregnant women and mothers. The Policy has forced parents to select boys and abort girls as a form of private old-age-security. Traditionally and practically, boys were favored because China was largely rural and agrarian and a man was suited to farm while a woman was suited to be a wife and mother. The insidious One Child Policy has produced too many men and too few women. Hundreds of millions of Chinese men will never have a wife or family. Further, with a super abundance of testosterone shloshing about men in their prime, the only option may be the Army to channel their aggression and caged frustrations. The Army will be increasingly involved in aggressive adventurism and the ruling elite will encourage war as a means of population control. The elite will purposely place the Army where the risk to life is greatest in order to slaughter hundreds of millions of male soldiers. Stalin did exactly this during the great purges of the third decade of the 20th century. Stalin, as a matter of policy, murdered and starved to death the Kulaks and rural peasants and completely destroyed the Army in the Soviet by placing it where it would be slaughtered as a means of discipline and preserving his power. The Army of the Soviet Union was destroyed to the extent that in had to be reconstituted over subsequent decades. Stalin and his sycophant henchmen were stone-cold ruthless. The Chinese Communists who covet their power and control over their enslave population will do the same to maintain "order and stability."

This is an excellent, some have said definitive, autobiographical journey with Anchee Min as she goes from denouncing a teacher, to life on a Red Farm, then almost a star in a movie and finally to America where she has written two more books.Some people have been put off by what they consider a homosexual relationship on the farm. Nothing could be further from the truth. Two sensitive people find a way to be there for each other and share their feelings, actually about men by the way. It's more about innocence than sex.

Anchee Min has written a very honest and compelling personalhistory of life in China under Mao. I think this is an importantbook for anyone interested in that time period in China's historyto read. She writes in a very natural style that vibrates with life.Books like this serve a great purpose---that purpose is to makeus aware that often what we see on the political and social surfaceof life has little bearing on the reality of day to day life for theaverage person and family. Books like this help us to see thatwe shouldn't take things at face value, but we should "look underthe rug" so to speak to see what is really going on.Anchee Min is not merely a survivor, but someone who came throughher ordeal with her humanity and ability to love intact.

Fascinating book, interesting writing style. A unique personal perspective on the human impact of the cultural revolution. Coming of age under complex and challenging circumstances.

It is about life under strict Chinese communist regime.Gives a good picture but not a great one.

I recently read an article about Anchee and her latest book. I'm always amazed and fascinated to read about life during the cultural revolution being of similar age to Anchee.. What was happening in her life was so dreadful compared to my own, and I'm just a regular girl who grew up in UK. Her writing is wonderful, full of little snippets from Chinese proverbs. Although it is a personal account it's easy to read as she has a marvellous story to tell. A powerful and remarkable story, would thoroughly recommend this book. I'm just about to start on her sequel - The Cooked Seed.

Having lived in Shanghai as an Expat for 5 years in the early nineties this story was of great interest. It supports & reinforces the stories told to me by some of my colleagues who were sent to the country side during the cultural revolution. The events depicted in this story did happen, entire families were destroyed simply because they were educated, imagine a society where it is illegal to read anything that was not sanctioned by the authorities!! Yet today Shanghai is an incredible city, what an amazing recovery.

A close look at the life and hardships of a young girl growing into womanhood in China during the eighties. Showing the resilience needed to survive that extreme environment with its paranoia, mind control, and constant surveillance. Never knowing who you could trust to express your real feelings to, a mistake could mean death or life long hardship.