Parents' Guide to The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts

Maxine Hong Kingston's THE WOMAN WARRIOR: MEMOIRS OF A GIRLHOOD AMONG GHOSTS received a National Book Critics Circle Award for general nonfiction in 1976, but the book stretches the definition of a memoir, as the author blends folk legends with personal memories and second-hand histories. The book begins with the narrator's mother telling her daughter a cautionary tale about a relative whose mistake earns her community's condemnation. Subsequent chapters include the story of a legendary woman soldier's training and battles, family memories of the narrator's childhood in Stockton, and tales from her mother's experience in medical school. The mother, Brave Orchid, who tells several stories, uses the term "ghost" loosely, to describe supernatural forces as well as anything or anyone she considers "other." She denigrates her children, yet tells inspiring stories about women's achievements, including her own. Many of this "creative nonfiction" book's stories and memories focus on the role of women in Chinese and Chinese-American society, and the impact of cultural attitudes on Chinese female children.