Wild Swans : Three Daughters of China
by Jung Chang
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jung ChangEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2003-08-12
ISBN: 0743246985
Number of pages: 544
Publisher: Touchstone
Book Reviews of Wild Swans : Three Daughters of China
Book Review: An horrific story beautifully told. A revelation.
Summary: 5 Stars
Subtitled "Three Daughters of China", Wild Swans charts the lives of three successive generations of Chinese women, ending in Jung Chang herself. In these three generations China, like most other nations, changed immensely, but what is strikingly recalled in this book is the violence and brutality of it all. Chang recounts events with the clarity of someone born into a society with a rich tradition of oral history, starting with the immensely painful practice of "binding feet" through which her grandmother went as a child, and which ultimately crippled her. We travel through Imperialist China, the wars with Japan, "Liberation", first by the Kuomintang, and then by the Communists under Chairman Mao. She tells of unquestioning loyalty to Mao, in the face of insurmountable contrary evidence, and a succession of purges, each more brutal than the last, and each putting those of Stalin to shame.That Chang recounts these events and their horrifying effects on her family in such a calm, level-headed fashion, and in such beautifully constructed prose is a sign of a masterpiece. The reader feels that they are being told the facts, and spared any emotionally-charged analysis. Well, up until the death of her father, and the eventual failure of her faith in Chairman Mao. It is a book at once both gripping and repelling, but always compelling. Recently voted one of the 100 most important books of the century, it had a profound effect on my view of China, and our own society, without lecturing or outwardly seeking to educate. Truly excellent.
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