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Title: Katherine

Author: Anchee Min

Narrator: Emily Zeller

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 47 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-05-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Traveling to China during the Cultural Revolution to become an English teacher, the free-spirited, Beatles' music-loving Katherine awakens in her students a desire for Western lifestyles and becomes caught in a doomed love triangle. A first novel. By the author of Red Azalea.

Members Reviews:

Katherine

The novel Katherine written by Anchee Min tells the story of a Chinese Girl "Zebra" living in China during the 1980's after the chaotic, and painful years of the Cultural Revolution in China during which the lifestyles of the rich were condemned and the peasants and the good of the people and modern knowledge were held up as the standard as well as Chairman Mao's teachings and beliefs. These philosophies led to many underground cruelties and a generation who was now living under a government who controlled almost every aspect of their lives, they were used to living in a restricted environment and with restricted emotions.

Into this world walks Katherine, an American in her thirties who has been married and divorced, who loves color, and dances to music and dares to speak her mind in a country where this is not only discouraged but it can get you arrested just to speak out against a party official. Zebra; and her friends quickly come to both admire and yet at times hate their new teacher for her outgoing ways because she is the opposite of everything they have been taught to be and yet they yearn to be able to feel and act as freely as she does.

With love triangles, arrests made in the middle of the night, and moments when you just want to cry along with the characters this is not a book that will lose your attention. The writing was a little choppy at times for my taste, but overall it was a good read.

Check out more of my reviews on my blog:http://booksalicious.blogspot.com/

China

A very good read

Katherine

Five stars for a wonderful book. Will recommend to my book club.

slow moving

Interesting about China customs and beliefs, but repeats and is slow moving. Red azalia is much better. If you like reading about China, you will like it

Slow start, furious finish

After several aborted attempts, I finally finished âKatherineâ in a flurry this morning. In my previous attempts, it was difficult to get past the first third of the novel, as it was slow in starting and setting characters and plot. Once past that point, however, things snowballed furiously towards the end. What had started as a slow tale about an American ESL teacher coming to China in the early 80s quickly warped into a harrowing, tense and rapidly paced drama. Author Anchee Min expertly illustrates the dangerous and random world of authority in the post-Mao years, and how such power can determine oneâs future. The book is bound together with frequent contrasts between the positivity and endless opportunity of the American approach to life with that of the pessimistic and gray pragmatism of the Chinese, as demonstrated in the dialogue, interactions, and thoughts of the protagonist Zebra.

One interesting thing to me was that there werenât that many likable characters, even the titular one, who is written as a self-absorbed and arrogant westerner who dances condescendingly above the meek and obedient Chinese. Granted this was intended, but it made it hard for me to see her in the manner the locals did, which brings up an interesting aspect of the novel.