SOURCE: "This Girl's Life," in Newsweek, Vol. CXXIII, No. 15, April 11, 1994, pp. 76, 79.

[In the following review, Shapiro and Springen comment on Red Azalea and Min's life after she left China.]

Harrowing tales of life under totalitarianism have been published before, but Anchee Min's Red Azalea—the story of a young girl coming of age in thrall to Maoism—ranks as one of the most memorable. Much of its strength lies in her prose, as delicate and evocative as a traditional Chinese brush painting.

Growing up in Shanghai in the 1960s, Min was the best student in her class, a junior Red Guard who memorized the revolutionary operas of Mao's wife, Jiang Qing, and sang them all day. But her faith was tested when she was told to denounce a beloved teacher, who had been accused of spying. Sobbing, Min spat criticisms into a microphone. She still feels the agonizing...