Has anyone read this family biography telling the story of Chinese history through the lives of three generations of women? It is totally impossible to put down - even though I disliked several aspects of the authors writing - namely her total lack of regard for any form of intelligence being present in the mind of Chinese peasants, her inability to fully recognize just how privliged her upbringing was in comparison to many Chinese of the same period and also I got the feeling that she was glossing over many of the mistakes her own Communist Party parents may have made that affected those below them in the food chain, focusing instead of the mistakes and cruelty of other CCP members. Having said that - this is an incredible book. For me it cleared up a lot of the mystery and unanswered questions I had about Chinese culture and how the Chinese interact with their government - post 1949. The destruction and death caused by the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution is something many in the West are unaware of - the scale of death I mean, not the events themselves, most are aware of those. This book reveals in pretty shocking detail how badly Mao planned to kick start the new Chinese economy, and how Chinese paid the price with millions of their lives. The history of a country told through the history of a family is by no means an original idea, but this book is something special. Jung Chang is an incredible writer and the fact her family was actually heavily involved in the turbulant history of the time in China gives the book a personal touch. Has anyone else enjoyed this one?
read it many years ago, chinese women had it bad but not as messed up as history of black women. Neverless, powerful read, deep story telling
I've read it many, many years ago. I've loved it. Very good book. It was very nice to "see" that part of History through the eyes of people who were there.
I read it a few years ago now, and I was really taken in by the book. Admittedly, I was pretty naive when it came to Chinese history when I read the book, so I was hugely shocked and surprised by many of the events happening. It certainly opened my eyes to Chinese history!
