I really like Anchee Min and was excited to read this book. However, i couldn't even get half way through.

The style of writing was very dry and at times confusing, as it kept switching from 3rd person to 1st person and back. I did keep reading a while after I lost interest because I thought it would get better, but the characters were so distant and flat that I really couldn't connect with them. I'm the type of person who likes to connect with the characters or at least the idea that the author is presenting, but could do neither in this book.

The reason I gave it two stars instead of one is because the premise of the book has promise, so maybe someone who is really interested in Madame Mao would find it interesting, and also because I did not finish it, so really couldn't tell you if hte second half of the book is any better.

i loved her memoir (red azalea) & her fictional story of a girl growing up during the cultural revolution (wild ginger) -- but the combination of nonfic & fic in this one didn't really work (for me)

Wow. Becoming Madame Mao. This book is certainly thought-provoking. It raises many interesting questions and forces much-needed perspective on the reader. No matter who you are, or what you know about China’s recent past, this book is extremely helpful to gain perspective on the “white boned demon”, Mao, China’s leaders and Chinese (and Western) culture, although keep in mind that is historical FICTION. And important note, this is not a review, but a reflection, a reaction to this book.

First comment: Reading this made me realize that Jiang Ching was a damaged soul. She was both the abuser and the victim, even though at the end of Mao’s reign, she was made out to be the sole person that hurt China. I know that this book is fiction, and that she did commit horrific, vengeful crimes against humanity, but as a damaged little girl, does she deserve the title of the white boned demon? For the better part of the Cultural Revolution, when she found vengeance for her suffering as a young woman, she had the backing of Mao (who was never charged as a criminal, whose portrait still hangs above Tiananmen) and other powerful figures in Chinese history.

Second Comment: If she was a bitch an crazy and vengeful and stuff, I'll give her this: she’s crafty and smart, acute to subtle political and emotional changes. And like a great chess master, she has her plans and she can see what her enemies (real and fictitious) will do to harm her. But at the same time, her blind devotion for Mao and the extremity of her actions make her blind to the coup that took her out of power. So in the end, she’s not known for being politically savvy. But to have risen from Shandong Province to Shanghai to Yuhan to Beijing, as the wife of a deity, she must have been lucky, smart and patient.

Third Comment: China’s sexism. Mao is allowed to divorce his wife, but Jiang Ching is blamed. Women have a hard role in life, always treated like grass, so often stepped on, by men and even other women. The struggles of womankind never end, and they tear your soul apart and leave you broken. Like tides, constantly knocking down the toddler wading in the ocean, men, life, other women and circumstance constantly knocks you down. Even though feminism was preached in Communist China, it sure wasn't practiced. Jiang Ching faced additional obstacles to power because of her gender. As a struggling actress in Shanghai, her opportunities were extremely limited, she could act (sometimes, because she wasn’t that good and because most male directors wanted young women to sleep with them for roles), but a female director or producer was unheard of.

Fourth Comment: Mao’s war leadership style. As for his ideology, he picks and chooses what he wants from all philosophies, Taoism, Marxism, Leninism, Stalinism he draws what aspects of any ideology in order to suit him, creating a new Maoist form of Communism, very different than pure communism. Left wing, right wing. He doesn't have a firm, clear ideology; he's really just a wartime leader, inept at dealing with peacetime issues. He thirsts for bloodshed, he lives for the kill. He considers himself a true communist, but he defines his own rules, and is never questioned or challenged intellectually. He doesn't even realize he's a major hypocrite. He just self-appointed himself emperor in his world that praised conformity and disallowed superiority (he saw talent that surpassed his own as a threat, what a typical man). The Chinese people were manipulated by him, and they didn’t even realize it. Even at the height of the Cultural Revolution, when literally EVERYTHING was being challenged and overthrown, Mao was never even touched. There was just a gap in thought in the minds of the Chinese people that looking back on history, I recognize. But what if there’s a gap in modern thought? As an international society, are we really questioning everything?

Fifth Comment: I don't think anyone's completely to blame nor is anyone completely innocent for the, for lack of a better word, stuff that transpired in the early and mid 20th century. Even the Kuomintang that fled to Hong Kong, they turned their backs on their countrymen. Furthermore, the Kuomintang government was corrupt, inefficient and hurt many innocent people (sound familiar?). So if the Communist Revolution never occurred, would the nation still be a third-world country? Although Mao destroyed many parts of ancient Chinese culture and tradition and many Chinese suffered under his reign, many prospered as well. China was opened to the New World, and the Mao-era still hugely shapes the Chinese identity and character. His teachings, his example, his legacy, or on the other hand, many Chinese are trying so hard to move away from what is considered to be an “ugly past”, and they ignore certain parts of their history altogether, which makes me uneasy.

Sixth Comment: The Cultural Revolution in Mao’s mind is almost like Gotham City in the Joker’s mind. Only by causing chaos can there be a just, fair world. But, the Joker just “wants to see the world burn”, but Mao believes that chaos and conflict among his followers is the only way he can thrive.

Seventh comment: During his reign, Mao maintained power by encouraging infighting, but never taking a firm stance on dividing issues. He silently supported Jiang Ching while also promising his throne to Deng, Lin Biao, Zhou and probably others. He allowed his advisors/ other government officials to use China as a battleground in their own power struggle. His own reputation as a leader maintained intact, while his country went to hell. This was the best policy for Mao, but had horrible repercussions on the Chinese people, which Mao knew about, proving that he was a crappy leader. Moreover, Mao left China in the hands of a man that essentially solved nothing. He, although slightly aligned with Deng, was really just a mediocre substitute intended to be a neutral choice, not a genuine leader.

Final Comment: If China’s history shows the tenacity of the Chinese people, it also shows the undying, often prevailing principle of self-interest as a form of self-preservation.

This is the story of a woman whose warped personality and ambition is stymied at times but, nevertheless, pushes her to the top of the political pyramid when she marries Chairman Mao. The author gives us Madame Mao's words, layered with her own comments about what is true and what is not. Madame Mao is vindictive, unforgiving for the most part, but loves Chairman Mao most of the time. I'm not sure I understood this woman and I certainly disliked her. She is insecure unless she is in control of what is happening to her. She views herself as an actress, preferably the leading lady, which puts her in the limelight. However, I couldn't help wondering how anyone living in this period could survive with their own values intact. No wonder a woman would have trouble surviving in such an political climate, especially one as determined to control her destiny as she was. It's a revealing read and quite well done.

Throughout the whole book , Anchee Min switches from third person to first person and it becomes confusing. I did like how Anchee Min displays the character of Jiang Ching in a vivid manner. However she made it more confusing by including 3 names of a the same character rather than one. The only thing that I didn't like about the book was how there were a lot of facts on Chinese politics which for a kid like me , politics did not interest me.

This was a good book to read because I learned a lot about Chinese history and Maoism. I respected, felt sorry for and despised Madame Mao by the end of this book. It wasn't one of my favorites, but I still couldn't put it down and would recommend it if you want to learn about modern Chinese history.

I led discussion on this book for my book club. Below is the outline we used for our chat.

Becoming Madame Mao
by Anchee Min

Questions for Discussion:
1) Anchee Min described Madame Mao as "...an early feminist" Do you agree with her?
2) Do you like and/or respect Madam Mao? Did this change throughout the book?
3) In the beginning of Mao and Lan Ping's relationship, Do you think Madame Mao was acting out of ambition or was she really in love with Mao?
4) The epitaph says "You are what your deep driving desire is. As your desire is, so is your will. As your will is, so is your deed. As your deed is, so is your destiny."
What do you think Madame Mao's desire is? What do you think Mao's desire is?
5) The author fluctuates between first and third person. Did you find it effective or annoying? Did it help you empathize with Madame Mao?
6) On page 189 Madame Mao (Jiang Ching) says, "A woman's biggest wish is to be loved" Does is surprise you that she says this?

Quotes and sayings:

"Ten thousand people's spit can make a well deep enough to sink a person"
"What I do know is that if one wants to get a boat ride, one must be near the river" -p21
"Some evil hands are always there, trying to bind my feet"
"Zhang Min is a harbor to and from which I come which I come and go. I am here to rest, but not stay" -p87
"Have you ever heard the legend in which different kinds of wolves join forces to prey on cattle" -p93
"She would rather disappear than be unrecognized" p115
"She thinks of the men who traveled over her body, but never found the jewel inside" p108
"You must not compare yourself with Fairlynn and her like. You are an empress, not another vagina. Your true lover is not Mao but the emperor whose clothes he is in. Your true lover is power itself" p 191
"God provides food for every bird, but he doesn't throw it into its nest...you have to come out and pick it" p194

I wanted to score this review higher than I have done, but two stars covers it. I ended my reading by feeling I wanted to discover more about the infamous period of Chinese history that Chairman Mao and his wife came to dominate, which is positive. However, I found the writing disjointed and dry and it was hard to overcome my dislike of the character of Madame Mao herself, even accepting her tough start in life as the unwanted daughter of a concubine. I became very confused by the long list of characters, many of whom only qualified as a 'bit-part'. I was glad to turn the last page.

If I could have I would have given this book 1 1/2 stars - I wasn't crazy about it, but it did give me a feel for what it was like to be in China during the 20th century. I love "Empress Orchid" and "The Last Empress" by this author but I found the writing in "Becoming Madame Mao" very undeveloped and distant. The book switches from the voice of Madame Mao in a flat one-person tone to a distant observer of a third person. I wish the author had kept it one or the other instead of switching back and forth every few paragraphs. Also, I don't know much about the history of China during this time so maybe that is why I found the book hard to follow, but I would have liked a little more plot development and detail added to the events in the book.

Before reading I knew that Madame Mao was not well-liked in history and I can say now after reading that she was a selfish, and deluded woman. I think as a young woman she may have tried to be kind but hardened her heart after each failed marriage and experience until she was able to put to death anyone who went against her wishes. Her husband Mao Zedong is equally as evil and thoughtless as she is - no wonder they married but still they are cruel to each other. I did like the way the story ended though with her ending her life as if it was all just a part she played in an opera as an actress.

The book is historical fiction so the author has embellished history with what she knows about the character, but I am sure she got the basic feeling of this powerful lady of China fairly accurate.

Maybe more like 3.5. This was a tough one to rate because Anchee Min makes some stylistic choices that are intriguing, but that I was never quite sure what to do with. She has the protagonist cycle through names as she goes through life until she becomes Madame Mao, which is in keeping with her actress's approach to life as playing a role. What throws me for a loop is the way that Min shifts from first-person to third-person POV, sometimes within the same paragraph. It didn't make the story too difficult to follow, which is kind of impressive if you think about it, but I was never able to work out what these POV-shifts meant. Right now my working theory is that since a portion when Madame Mao was a girl has her slipping into third-person while explaining that she slips into roles and feels more safe, the portions of the story that slip into third-person are moments when Madame Mao is feeling the need to slip into a role to get by. But honestly, I'm not sure that theory really works all the way through the book. If any other readers out there on the internet have theories, I'd love to hear them, because it's driving me nuts!

Arduous. This is a colorful 'character study,' which casts Madame Mao Jiang Ching as the lead actor in her own life. It's compelling, for a while, and the author can spring a memorable, uniquely powerful sentence on you here and there. But her stylistic choice to switch perspectives, 1st-person to 3rd-person, often several times on the same page, made it needlessly choppy, difficult to read. Some authors manage that choice better, with more control (see Rachel Carson). Going without quotation marks for the dialogue further confused matters. Again, in unfortunate contrast, some authors can do that really well (see Cormac McCarthy). I just couldn't get into the story.

All in all, I feel like Anchee Min is definitely a talented writer, but some of the talent is obscured by ill-conceived choices made with this work.

Also, did anyone else who's read this happen to think it was weirdly... scatological? Is there some significance to farting in Chinese culture that I'm missing? Just asking.

Becoming Madame Mao was a very insightful novel, of how a woman who would become one of the most powerful people in China for a time, developed from a young girl whose Mother was an abused concubine, and who at time was just a tiny child who narrowly escaped, having her feet bound, and later in life two marriages that left her heart broken. The book is written from her perspective, and from the perspective of someone else looking in from the outside. It takes the reader into the struggles of an actress and an individual who had many hardships, and while it does help you understand where they led in Madame Mao's life, it still shows how she let cruelty take over in a lot of cases in her later life. My favorite part of this novel was actually the last page, and I would recommend it to anyone, it was very thought provoking.

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I'd love to see inside the Chinese mind. It seems to be full of imagery and very intense, at least that's what I got from the style of this writing and what people and the narrator relate in the story. Do all Chinese write in this lyrical fashion? I tried to figure out what made it FEEL so FEELY. I wonder if Chinese people speak in such illustrative language, so much simile and metaphor.

This was a fascinating and delightful way to learn what was going on in the world when I was a young girl--I had no idea!

Torture and persecution described in this way was jarring but also comforting. Much was left UNdescribed, thank goodness. These were evil people. The author tells it from Madame Mao's point of view, so somehow it all makes sense. Madame was a woman with a WHOLE story, which I am glad to know. The story starts with the binding of the feet, which appealed to me. I'm so INTERESTED in that whole phenomenon.

Opera pressed over her story made me happy; I like how the author did that. The whole "final curtain" thing... how she felt best when playing a role ... how she found her power by using the artists.

Mao. I'm glad there's a hell.

There was a whole lot of gas-expelling in this book--more than in any book I ever read! Actually used the f-word (fart).

Loved her descriptions of people, especially. Here are a few:

"How do these women keep their husbands? One can almost pity Deng Yin-chao for her yam-shaped face. She has turtle eyes, a frog mouth, a hunched back, gray hair, and a soy-sauce-bottle body draped in gray suits. There is no color in her speech. Nor in her expression. Yet her husband Premier Zhou is the most handsome and charming man in China. I am pleased with Deng Yin-chao. She is a lady who knows when to shut up, when to disappear, and she treats me like a queen.
Wang Guang-mei is not so wise. Wang Guang-mei is the opposite of Deng Yin-chao.
Madame Mao Jiang Ching can hardly stand Wang Guang-mei. Wang Guang-mei is a New Year's lantern that shines the way to warmth."

"Vice-chairman Liu has a donkey's long face. His skin is the surface of the moon. He has bad teeth and a big garlic nose. It is his wife, Wang Guang-mei, whose beauty and elegance bring to light his quality."

"Marshall Lin has always been physically weak -- the opposite of his name, which means king of the forest. He is so thin that he can be blown by wind. His wife has told me that he can't stand light, sound, or water. Like a thousand-year vase, he decays from the moisture in the air. He has a pair of triangle eyes and grassy eyebrows. He tries to hide his slight frame in military uniform. Still, one can tell his sickness by the bamboo-thin neck and the lopsided head as if it weighs too much for the neck."