Total Page : 528
Publisher : Anchor
Publication Date : 1992 10 03
>> Review of Wild Swans
It s strange how things work out I randomly picked Wild Swans out from the list of 1001 Books to Read Before you Die I can t tell you why I chose it except that as I do with all of the books I read from that list I just scrolled through it and stopped and pointed my finger and that was the book I would request
Then I noticed that it was due back to the library so after reading my Book Club s selection of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford I decided to move on to Wild Swans This was a good decision I knew nothing of China especially China under Chiang Kai shek and then later on Chairman Mao I got a glimpse of the hatred that one of the main characters in Hotel had toward the Japanese being from China himself but still had no idea the extent of the torture the pain and the horrible version of life going on within China s borders
After I began to read Wild Swans people around me started to talk about it without even knowing that I was reading it I was asked at my book club if I had read Wild Swans and asked by two random people I know through daily life if I d ever read this book Before I began to read it though I d never even heard of it
So I should talk some about the actual book since this is technically a review
First it s non fiction It s readable in its own way Although very densely packed with names dates places and events I was able to easily follow the lives of Jung Chang s grandmother her mother and herself through the changes of China
This is not an easy book to read and you shouldn t pick it up unless you are willing to be thoroughly invested in learning difficult names reading about difficult things and prepared to have your eyes opened to something that in my opinion is not taught about enough I ve always considered China to be a country of mystery one that I always hear rumors about and honestly if I hadn t been working my way through the 1001 Books I don t think I would have willingly chosen this book to read I chose to begin reading through the list for that very reason to expose myself to books I wouldn t normally choose and this book is a prime example of why I consider myself enriched by learning the stories of Jung Chang and her family and blessed to not have to endure even a small fraction of what they had to endure
There are times I believe that the right book comes along at the right time to be read and this was one of those books
>> Unbelievably Enlightening
I never imagined when I sat down to read Wild Swans that I would become so enthralled in it I found myself emotionally involved and in complete disbelief that this horrible atrocity was happening and the whole world either didn t know or looked the other way The strength and character that the Chinese must have come out of this with is amazing to me This is definitely one of the best books I have read in a very long time
>> Kindle edition full of errors
I doubt anyone read the text of Wild Swans after that fine book was scanned or ported into a Kindle version Dates are confusing since 6 s become 0 s Terns are garbled capitalist roaders become capitalist readers Shame on Simon Schuster and Amazon for presenting their customers with such shoddy work
