Katherine

As a current student of Asian Studies in College, I decided to read Katherine after enjoying Anchee Min's memoir: Red Azalea. I started reading Katherine on a Saturday afternoon and finished it Sunday night. The book was simply amazing. Having taught English in China myself, the head on collision of Western ideas and post Cultural Revolution Chinese life in Katherine not only stirred up memories from my Beijing classroom but also produced a powerful and fascinating novel. Min artfully balances the personal rebirth of a Chinese woman with the struggles of a civilization still healing from the scars of the Cultural Revolution. Anyone interested in China and its interaction with western ideas and culture will most certainly love this book as much as I did. Although I read Katherine on my own and neglected to complete my assigned coursework to do so, my only wish after finishing the book was that the story didn¡¯t have to end.

This little gem of a book kept me up awake until I finished every word. It is the story of the impact that an American teacher, Katherine, makes on a class of students in the 1980s, after the death of Mao and during a time of change. The teacher brings new ways of thinking to her students. And danger.The language is simple, evocative and clear. The voice is fresh. Simple sentences opened worlds of understanding for me. The main character, Zebra, is in her late twenties. She is confused with the changes around her. She was brought up to worship communism and Chairman Mao, was sent to a labor camp as a teenager, now works in a factory and lives in an overcrowded apartment with her parents and brother. Life is harsh for her and those around her. And then the American teacher, with her western ways comes into their life.Concepts such as travel, choice, moving from place to place are introduced. The students learn to talk about how they feel about things, which is something that Chinese people just don't do. There's a intertwining love story including obsession and deception. And all of this is under the watchful eyes of the government, who control every aspect of Chinese life and signs of individualism are looked at with suspicion.We, Americans, walk around with our eyes closed too. We can't quite understand what we're dealing with in China. I've read articles about this. But through this simple novel of a sparse 254 pages, I began to understand.

I received this novel in a batch of books that a friend of a friend wanted me to sell for her. "Katherine" caught my eye and I flipped through the first few pages. I was completely taken offguard by what I read. Anchee Min's prose gives one the impression of reading the literary equivalent of a Chinese painting, the words simple and delicate. Her fragile sentences provide a stark contrast for the harsh world of which she writes. "Katherine" is a slight breeze with the force of gail winds.

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