After the Cultural Revolution, Maple’s life in basic school becomes a hell. Her father has been sent away to a labor camp and the girl gets beaten daily by a classmate, Hot Pepper, who is the leader of the Red Guard at her school. Maple and her family are, according to the Guard, anti-Maoists and it's Hot Pepper’s job to beat the impure and bourgeois thoughts out of Maple’s head. That is, until Wild Ginger arrives at the school; a girl equally unaccepted by the Party. Having nothing to lose, the new girl is the first to stand up against the bullying Hot Pepper, creating the beginning of a deep and loving friendship between Wild Ginger and Maple. Most impressive about this book is how palpable the yearning of each character’s feelings are. Maple’s urge is to find something more real than her belief in Mao. Not simply something that will keep her warm spiritually, but the touch of another human being, something she so much misses in a community where love, dancing and festivities are labeled as bourgeois, unless they are used to express the brilliance of Chairman Mao.Even more touching is Wild Ginger’s search for approval. As the daughter of a Frenchman and therefore labeled as an international spy, she is never good enough to be recognized as a true Maoist, no matter how hard she studies the little red book or how well she tries to lead her life according to the leader’s rules.When, through luck, Wild Ginger uncovers a theft on the market where she works, her wishes suddenly come through. Being beaten to within an inch of her life, she has sacrificed herself for the greater good and receives the rewards of being a hero of the Party. Doors that were previously closed due to her mixed heritage, suddenly open and Wild Ginger does whatever it takes to remain in the spotlight the Party has put on her. This is what she's been fighting for all her life.But feeling the pressure of having to be the perfect Maoist comes at a cost. Disregarding every personal desire she feels, her rise to fame and her commitment to the Maoist movement pushes her further and further away from her friend Maple, who feels conflicted and restricted by the rules of the Party as her feelings for local boy Evergreen grow ever stronger.Set against the disturbing and cruel background of China after the Great Leap Forward, ‘Wild Ginger’ is a beautiful coming of age story, the classic love triangle peppered with the harsh reality that hit the Chinese people after they started discovering how restrictive this new political system was.But it’s the relationship between Maple, Wild Ginger and Evergreen that remains front and center in this book. ‘Wild Ginger’ is a moving, lovely story with an emotional, heartbreaking ending. Pure narrative magic.
This book was surprisingly good. Like, I mean really good. It had been on my list for a while because I was hesitant about reading something about the cultural revolution without really knowing what that was, but once I finished a history class on China I felt like I was more than ready to understand the main points of the novel. With that being said, I would at least brush up on communism in China so you're not completely lost while reading.The first few pages where Min was describing Maple and how the classrooms were structured are what had me hooked for the rest of the book. She really captured the grit and hardship that came along with living in China during the peak of communism--her words were never vague nor over-extravagant, if that makes sense. While I was obviously never there to experience the tumultuousness of the Cultural Revolution, I believed she captured all of its facets very well. There were times where I laughed at its absurdity, but I quickly realized that it wasn't a joke, that this really happened, and that people had to worship Mao (and communism) or suffer.The characters were another strong point. Wild Ginger's obsession over becoming a true Maoist was odd yet true to the times, I believe. It mirrors any other girl trying to fit in amongst her peers, or in this case amongst society. She dedicated herself wholeheartedly to the cause, and lost a great deal in the process. That I believe is one of the most cruel aspects of the book, and of Maoism itself--children were essentially robbed of their innocence and forced to embody the "model" communist" without ever discovering themselves as they matured.The romance in the book was well written, but hard to really enjoy when you consider that one character's happiness came at the cost of another. Maple (and Evergreen) could barely be happy on their own since they were so closely tied to Wild Ginger. The love-triangle was odd but fitting for the novel because it really captured how Wild Ginger separated herself from a normal life in order to become the #1 Maoist.I feel like I could go on and on, but in summation this book was a great combination of an account of the Cultural Revolution and a coming-of-age story between two young friends. Chances are once you pick up this book, you won't be able to put it down until you finish it.
What do You think about Wild Ginger (2004)?
A long-time fan of Anchee Min and her keen insight on the Cultural Revolution, this novel rocketed to the top of my favorites quite quickly - I could not put it down and resigned to doing things one-handed. She manages to pack a punch in less words: Her descriptions of the oppressive atmosphere, the irony of the fractured solidarity of the Mao "supporters," and how swept up in fear the adolescents are, is palpable and able to be touched. It hurts to read about. Wild Ginger is portrayed in the beginning as a little curbed and broken, but her wildness emerges fast. Constantly, I was torn between pitying her and loathing her, although on the other hand, Maple as a character was irking in her acquiescence of her friend. Evergreen straddles a line of being relevant and then being just as swept up in Wild Ginger's simmering insanity. Admittedly, I didn't expect the dramatic end - and to that end, I can't resolve my feelings about Wild Ginger as a character. She's broken, different, but upon reflection, she was doomed to that wild, fiery end - a firework, an explosion, a timebomb. And she was bound to that from the beginning, even as a frustrated adolescent, rejecting her history to overwrite it with her new Maoist narrative. What tugs on me is how helpless Maple and Evergreen feel in her wake, and never once did it seem to have to do with the granted (authoritative) power she had over them. It had everything to do with Maple feeling guilty and simultaneously loving her. Evergreen tries to escape by proposing the teaching idea, to no avail - and I don't know how I feel about what those two do to Wild Ginger, betraying her. Hot Pepper was a great person to weave into the end of the narrative, and it had a sense of "full circle." As a reader, I almost forgot about her; but then, I bet that was the point.
—Nicolette
Maple comes of age in the midst of Mao's red China. She is lonely and constantly harrassed by a group of girls at her elementary school who enjoy beating on her and use the excuse that she is an anti-Maoist in order to get away with it. Then, Wild Ginger, a new girl, begins attending school with them - and suddenly Maple has a new friend and a staunch ally. Wild Ginger is exotic looking because she is part French, but she wants more than anything else to show everyone what a good Maoist she is. The two girls have very different ideas about what it means to be a good Maoist, but they have a strong friendship until their love for Evergreen comes between them. This was a quick read. The descriptions of what day-to-day life might be like under the Maoist regime in China were fascinating - as was the intolerance for anyone who was perceived to be indulging in anti-Maoist activities/thoughts. It reminded me of 1984, and descriptions of the Nazis - young people were so caught up in the nationalism and the movement, desperately seeking something to believe in, to cling to, something to organize their thoughts and help make sense of the world. It got me wondering if young people in general are just caught up in causes - if they are easily brainwashed into believing...and why that might be. For Wild Ginger, it was a longing for acceptance that led her to Mao and to Communism. She wanted to show everyone how good she was. And she really believed that people should be comrades. It's just that her life became a lie when some of the principles of Maoism interfered with her own feelings. Then she felt obligated to shut down the human part of herself, so that she could live the ideology better. Whereas, Maple understood that there was a natural way for people to be and that Maoism was wrong in demanding that people give that up. But in such a rigid society, it was difficult for anyone to make criticisms of what was seen as the ONLY way to be. After reading this, I'm very much interested in learning more about what China was like under Mao, and what the lives of the people were like. Fascinating.
—Arminzerella
Set in Maoist China during the Cultural Revolution, Anchee Min's "Wild Ginger" begins with two young outcast girls who find friendship as a means of survival. They live in a hostile environment where anything different is considered "anti-Mao" and can be grounds for death. Despite their intense bond, as the novel progresses their friendship is torn apart as Wild Ginger pursues militant Maoism and Maple follows her heart to love. This book is a fascinating look at how Mao's reign affected every aspect of society; even the minutia of basic human relationships. It explores Wild Ginger's inability to allow her love for Evergreen (a local man and friend to both girls), while at the same time not fully embracing the emotional and physical isolation of complete Maoism. Both Maple and Evergreen are caught in this political fire storm that almost destroys them. A heartbreaking book, Wild Ginger is about love and politics at a volatile point in China's history.
—Brooke
