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Summary: Beautifully written, it captures many eras of Chinese life.
Review: great book. enough said. i learned much about chinese life in pre-revolutionary china.
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Summary: you can't put it down
Review: I never really studied the communist era in China, and even if i had i doubt i would understand it even fractioanlly well as i do with the insights provded by "Wild Swans". I am spending the summer as an intern in Hong Kong, and picked up the book to cure my embarrassing ignorance abut the roots of the culture in which i am living. I found it impossible to put down, and read it from cover to cover while standing at a photocopier for two days straight. it seemed all of my chinese co-workers had also read this book, and stopped to comment on its superiority. i took this to be the ultimate compliment to the book, that it is so well respected as an illustration of the people it describes. not only does it provide an insight into the lives and roots of the chinese people, it gives a voice to the culture's women, no small feat!!! and you also are enabled to understand communism from the perspective of what it meant to do and how power corrupted those aims, as power inevitably does. this book is a fascinating and highly readbale book about China and, in many ways, the rest of the world as well. if you are going to asia, its a must. but otherwise, its just simply fascinating.
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Summary: Gripping, informative about a country still mysterious
Review: I listened to the audio version of Wild Swans and found it compelling. I decided that Mao did not deserve the author's respect long before she did, but I understood better how and why the Chinese followed him. This book traces three generations of women in China--very special women, very different from one another, but all strong. I did want to know more about the author's life outside China.
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Summary: A moving human drama that transcends race/gender boundaries
Review: Wild Swans by Jung Chang depicts the day-to-day experiences of three generations of women who lived during one of the most tumultuous periods in modern Chinese history. Chang's grandmother had bound feet and was a concubine to a Manchu general at the end of the Qing dynasty. Chang's mother experienced World War II, became a dedicated Communist party official, and was free to marry a man of her choice, someone sharing her own ideals for a better China. Despite their loyalties to the revolution, Chang's parents were both persecuted as "class-enemies" during the Cultural Revolution, and suffered this betrayal both physically and psychologically. Chang herself grew up in the atmosphere of Mao's deification, was briefly a Red Guard, and eventually left China to live in the west. Although Chang's prose is simple, she effectively weaves this human drama in a way that makes the experience of reading Wild Swans an emotional roller-coaster. Readers can taste the hopes and disappointments experienced by millions of Chinese people at the fate of foreign invaders, political factionalism, and the painful changes caused by a neophyte government in the throes of economic and sociopolitical revolution. Wild Swans clearly depicts the growing pains of an ancient society in the new industrial world from the perspective of ordinary men, women, and children. It would be a mistake to think of this book as relevant only in the genres of Asian Studies or Women's Studies, for the universal themes of courage, loyalty, love, and the resilience of the human spirit transcend the boundaries of race or gender.
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Summary: Riveting!
Review: What a wonderful book this is, for so many reasons. I'd never heard of it, but bought it here solely on the strength of the other reader's rave reviews, and I wholeheartedly agree with everyone. For anyone interested in China, and particularly in the evolution of women's roles in that country, this is a must-read. (Take note all you "Joy Luck Club" fans -- this is the real thing.) Aside from that, it's simply an amazing story which transcends culture and language differences. So unique and memorable, I just want to call up Jung Chang and thank her for being alive and writing her family story.
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Summary: Real insights about China
Review: It seems absurd to add my voice to the chorus of accolades for this book -- but my husband, adult son and I just returned from a week in Beijing. I read China Wakes (also excellent) on the flight over; and Wild Swans on the way back. My husband, who is not a reader, but was enchanted by China -- kept reading (Wild Swans) over my shoulder and/or asking --- "What's happening now..???"
Apart from the overall context this book provides for the traveler -- for Americans it's a compelling view of the other side of the cold war. While the author was visiting her parents in detention, I was at junior high basketball games or at the MALL!!!!
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Summary: A beautiful land and its people destroyed by brutality
Review: This book compels you from the first moment ... and sweeps you into a beautiful land torn apart by a history of war and brutality. One is horror-stricken at what can happen when one is at the mercy of governmental policy bent on degradation and mindless destruction. The reader gets a horrific sense of China through the decades, especially the years when Mao was at the helm and the Cultural Revolution was at its violent peak. This book is written in a personal, tragic, sensitive manner by an extraordinary woman who is the descendent of extraordinary women. Ultimately, the book asks you to ponder the quality of your own life ... and strips away the urge to take your freedom for granted. For any number of reasons --- you must read this book!
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Summary: Better than a ten--A must read!
Review: This is not usually the kind of book I take to the beach, but I simply could not put it down. It's a beautifully written personal history of China. It reads like fiction but is all the more fascinating because it is a biography/autobiography/history of China. I would love to sit down and listen to any of these three women.
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Summary: EVOCATIVE
Review: We Westerners probably can't ever really understand China and its history, but this book does a beautiful job of helping us. The history, the characters, the beauties and the horrors (the foot binding description made my feet hurt) were obviously researched and accurate, and I thank Ms. Chang for that. I highly recommend this book; excellent to take traveling.
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Summary: A Genuine Story Of Life
Review: Wild Swans has had a mesmerising effect on my mind as a great story of struggle and it is undoubtedly one of the best novels I have ever read. It's only natural in a Chinese society that a concubine of a deceased warlord is rejected by all: her family, the warlord's family and even her own friends. However, a doctor, nearly forty years her senior, falls for her and sees her through, despite the firewall erected by his own family. She wishes for a better life for her daughter, De Hong, only to have her growing up under the chaotic rule of the Kuomingtung. De Hong becomes a communist revolutionary with the noble ideologies of Karl Marx. She struggles along, pregnant, during the Long March of six thousand miles. Like her mother, she strives for a brighter future for her children. Bitterly, she has to come to terms with the fact that life under Mao is quite something else as her own daughter and husband are swept away by the fervour of the Cultural Revolution. Wild Swans is set in the hazardous weather of China during the past hundred years. It tells of the horrific nightmares that have befallen China. Through the eyes of three women, in three generations, the ghastly details of the Warlord period, Japanese rule, the Nationalist corruption, fanatical communism and Cultural Revolution, are revealed. The reader goes on a journey back into the horrid life of modern China. Extraordinary aspects of life that cannot be imagined are revived: "Where there is a will to condemn, there is evidence available"; "Daughter for sale for 10kg of rice"; "The more books you read, the more stupid you become".
The personalities in the novel are of a great variety, drawn from all walks of life, from Mao the dictator himself to ambiguous peasants. In the centre, the three women are presented in a way that reflects their gentle strength. They are three very different people and we see how each comes to grips with the turmoil.
Wild Swans is a tremendous biographical memoir and succeeds in reaching out into the readers' minds. It is a masterpiece that provokes deep thoughts about the things that we have taken for granted in our democratic society. The tale is an epic that provides insight into the impact of war and totalitarianism on a quarter of the human race. Jung Chang has told a story that will linger in your heart for a very long time.
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