The Cooked Seed: A Memoir by Anchee Min
The sequel to Anchee Min's internationally bestselling memoir, Red Azalea, in which she leaves China for America, struggles to find her way, her voice and her love - and succeeds in all.
In 1994, Anchee Min published Red Azalea, a memoir of growing up during the violent trauma of the Cultural Revolution. It became an international bestseller. Twenty years later, Min returns to give us the next chapter, as she moves from the shocking deprivations of her homeland to the sudden bounty of the promised land of America, without language, money or a clear path.
With the help of actress Joan Chen, Anchee applied to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She showed a portfolio of her self-taught brush paintings at the US consulate and was granted an entry visa, but once in America, Anchee finds she is on her own, forced to survive by her wits and indomitable spirit. She teaches herself English by watching Sesame Street, has five jobs at once and lives in unheated rooms. As well as her struggle to understand her new country - the food, the warm showers - Anchee suffers rape, collapses from exhaustion, marries poorly and divorces before giving birth to her daughter, Lauryann. Despite her tough, lonely journey, Anchee finds that it is Lauryann who will save her and root her, finally, in America.
As a child, Anchee understood herself as a mere bolt on the great machine that was Communism; in America she learns how to succeed in a radically different culture despite bitter hardships and countless setbacks. The Cooked Seed is an unforgettable story.
About the Author
Anchee Min was born in Shanghai in 1957. At seventeen she was sent to a labour collective, where a talent scout for Madame Mao's Shanghai Film Studio recruited her to work as a movie actress. She moved to the United States in 1984. Her first memoir, Red Azalea, was published in twenty-seven countries. She has since published six novels, including the Richard & Judy choice Empress Orchid and, most recently, Pearl of China.
Paperback | 368 pages
153 x 234 x 30mm | 557g
14 May 2013
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
London, United Kingdom
English
ISBN10: 1408838184
9781408838181
Condition: Good
A book that has been read but is in good condition. Very minimal damage to the cover including very minor scuff marks, and some minor but obvious creasing, but no holes or tears. All pages are undamaged with no creasing or tearing, no pencil underlining of text, no highlighting of text, no writing in margins. No missing pages. The book is in excellent condition between the covers.