Katherine
Riverhead/Penguin, 2001
Agent: Sandra Dijkstra
This novel, described by the San Francisco Chronicle Book Review as "nothing short of miraculous," is the story of Zebra Wong, a Chinese girl whose pragmatic mind conflicts with her passionate heart; Lion Head, her classmate, whose penchant for romantic intrigue belies his political ambitions, and Katherine, the seductive American with the red lipstick and the wild laugh who teaches them English and other foreign concepts: individualism, sensuality, the Beatles. In Katherine's classroom, repression and rebellion meet head-on-and the consequences are both tragic and liberating.
Reviews:
"Searing, uncompromising prose."
—Harper's Bazaar
"Joltingly honest...and arresting tale of tyranny, deprivation, culture shock, eroticism, spirituality awakening and courage."
—Booklist
"Superb writing...Katherine explores the complex hungers of human soul caught up in the whirlwind of epic-making events."
—San Francisco Chronicle Book Review
"The story changes forward with its own energy. But with Min, there is a second reward-her eloquent, passionate writing."
—Detroit Free Press