The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts by Maxine Hong Kingston

This was an eeire memoir. I love Chinese ghost stories and legends. Alot of chinese are very superstitious, and ghosts are just part of life (or afterlife?), and it's just accepted that they exist. In this book, the author takes the idea of ghosts a little further, to explain her family's history.

There's the aunt no one talks about, who commited suicide in the village well with her newborn baby. The author talks about her, and her mother does not want her too, it's taboo. She says her mother cut her tongue as a baby too free her tongue, yet tells her to be silent. It's just one of many conflicting things that she has to deal with, walking between her ancient chinese culture and the alien new american culture. She's rebellious, but not in the typical way we think. Just as she asks questions about taboo subjects, she refused to talk in american school, her way to have some control and rebel.

She creates her woman warrior, which is a theme that is woven throughout the short stories. There's a legend of a girl child who is taken by a bird to an old couple who train her to be a powerful warrior. She then returns and saves her village and others against powerful warlords and rulers. The author admires this woman, yet it seems strange at first because she is so opposite of this legendary warrior. But she has a quiet resolve and fierceness, that does eventually come through.