Rating: 
Summary: Let me make a suggestion
Review: Before you order this book, please read "Wild Swans" by Jung Chang (and then cancel your order for the "Colors of the Mountain"). "Wild Swans" weaves the gripping story of three generations of Chinese women from the era of the warlord and concubine to modern China in such a smooth and stylish narrative the reader will have little use for the choppy and unpolished story. Nice dust jacket, though.
Rating:
Summary: Color me bored
Review: Hey, I thought this book was going to be interesting. To me it sounds like it was written by some "privileged" kid who woke up one morning and found himself on the other side of the fence! Yes there is a little color, and a bit of humor, but over all not much substance or compassion, especially when he talks about how he and other people treat animals. May I suggest "Waiting" by Ha Jin. Does anybody have a cigarette?
Rating: 
Summary: Colors of the Mountain
Review: To me, this memoir was better than "Angela's Ashes" or maybe it was because I knew so little of rural life in China. I am constantly amazed that out of such poverty and humilation, these people can have moments of true happiness and have an insight that few of us ever understand. Da Chen lived a life where most would give up and adhere to the system, and I admire his eagerness and willingness to study and learn in an effort to change his life. It is a book that touches your very soul. Anyone who enjoys memoirs or biographies will truly enjoy this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Mao Turns Over in his Grave
Review: In spurts the main character goes from being a loved child, to a maligned schoolboy. Da was born into a loving family, but due to the unfortunate circumstances of being a landlord's son during Mao's rule, he was persecuted at a young age. The story continues to tell how Da fell out of favor at school and adopted some unlikely friendships with other "outsiders," whom he considered his true friends. Most likely, if Da had never suffered he would never have had to work so hard, but also, no such suffering can be excused when it has been intentionally inflicted. Good for all, the story has a happy ending, though I know that on many levels this young student was just getting started. It was an uplifting and compelling story, and one of the few memoirs I've come across that is so inspiring.
Rating:
Summary: It's no Angel's Ashes, but it succeeds in other ways.
Review: What "Colors of the Mountain" lacks in lyricism, it more than makes up for in visceral impact. Although an obvious linguistic genius, Mr. Chen is no match for Frank McCourt and his Irish way with words. But Mr. Chen's story is no less moving. He details the life of a landlord's son during the Cultural Revolution in China (1966-76), a life of discrimination, physical and mental abuse, and worst of all in Mr. Chen's mind, a life destined for the drudgery and toil of farming with 19th century technology. Mr. Chen's hope for escaping that life and achieving a better life lay with education, a route foreclosed to him as an enemy of the people. I felt rising frustration and anger as Mr. Chen's story unfolded -- which is precisely what he wanted to evoke.
Rating:
Summary: Very good read!
Review: This book fills a gap that I've found in non-specialist writing on the Cultural Revolution era, and that is the impact of disrupted education on a young child's life. As I teacher, I can just imagine the horrible ostracism that he experienced. Most memoirs are written from an older person's perspective, while this one is written from a child's (even with it flaws, it's still very interesting...)
Rating:
Summary: A Triumph of the Human Spirit
Review: Da Chen writes with grace and humility about a childhood and a way of life that simply doesn't exist in America. Born in 1962 in a small, coastal village in China, Chen's sensitivity and artistic nature found mighty odds in the fear-based world of communist China. His family, the people who befriend and those that torment him are richly drawn with such heartbreaking clarity, I found myself unable to stop reading last night. This is a memoir of extraordinary depth and beauty, a life unearthed from the poverty, prejudice and ignorance that might have snuffed it out. On the contrary, Da Chen's courage is unforgettable. I would recommend this memoir to anyone. A triumph.
Rating:
Summary: Oh, the Arrogance!
Review: Don't buy this book if you're looking for a humourous, touching memoir like "Angela's Ashes".
Rating:
Summary: Coming to understand
Review: As with many recent memoirs, "Colors of the Mountain" is a warm-hearted, plain spoken, attempt at understanding a childhood -- one more difficult than most of us can possibly imagine. A born artist, Da Chen seems to have spent most of his life in America determining how to come to grips with this impossible youth. Most reader criticisms have to do with the book's flawed factual details -- but what writer is going to remember the names of office-holders and bureaucrats from when he was nine years old? The more important point is that Da Chen made something out of this remarkably trying childhood and became a remarkable man and writer. That is why the book was written. I look forward to the sequel.
Rating:
Summary: awesome
Review: the man from cambridge is simply a racist who cannot understand the harsh realities of chinese life because he is living comfortably in harvard square. this is a significant book of great lucidity, passion, and understated grace. Buy it, please
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