Rating: 
Summary: Eye Opening
Review: Oh how the world needs to pick this jewel up. Showing a very accurate portrayal of life as it was in China during the Cultural Revolution Heng's own life experiences put to paper made me laugh, cry, and evaluate how very blessed my life actually is today.
One of those stories that siezes your heart in a reminder to never forget our past and the terrible atrocities that did and still do occur.
Rating:
Summary: Monumental Book
Review: I have read many books concerning people whose lives were destroyed by the Cultural Revolution in China, but none can compare to "Son of the Revolution." Liang Heng paints a very vivid and clear picture of life from an enthusiastic Mao Youth to a cynical, knowledge-starved young man. If there is any book out there that records the folly of both the Cultural Revolution and Communism in general, it would be this masterpiece.
I have read this book many times, and each time I go over it I discover something new. If you are truly interested in a first-hand account of the brutality of the Communist Chinese regime or is in interested in a great read, you must get this book.
Rating:
Summary: Monumental Book
Review: I have read many books concerning people whose lives were destroyed by the Cultural Revolution in China, but none can compare to "Son of the Revolution." Liang Heng paints a very vivid and clear picture of life from an enthusiastic Mao Youth to a cynical, knowledge-starved young man. If there is any book out there that records the folly of both the Cultural Revolution and Communism in general, it would be this masterpiece.
I have read this book many times, and each time I go over it I discover something new. If you are truly interested in a first-hand account of the brutality of the Communist Chinese regime or is in interested in a great read, you must get this book.
Rating:
Summary: Monumental Book
Review: I have read many books concerning people whose lives were destroyed by the Cultural Revolution in China, but none can compare to "Son of the Revolution." Liang Heng paints a very vivid and clear picture of life from an enthusiastic Mao Youth to a cynical, knowledge-starved young man. If there is any book out there that records the folly of both the Cultural Revolution and Communism in general, it would be this masterpiece.
I have read this book many times, and each time I go over it I discover something new. If you are truly interested in a first-hand account of the brutality of the Communist Chinese regime or is in interested in a great read, you must get this book.
Rating: 
Summary: INTERESTING BOOK ABOUT A MAN WHO EXPERIENCED MUCH PAIN
Review: I THOUGHT THIS BOOK WAS RATHER INSIGHTFUL. YOU COULD ACTUALLY FEEL THE PAIN THAT COAUTHOR HENG MUST HAVE EXPERIENCED AS A CHINESE CITIZEN. IT MUST HAVE BEEN HARD FOR HIM TO FIRST SEE HIS PARENTS' MARRIAGE CRUMBLE ALL BECAUSE OF POLITICAL PRESSURE, AND THEN FOR HIM TO SEEK ESCAPE (ANYWAY HE COULD) FROM WHAT APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN AN UNHAPPY EXISTENCE. I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK FOR PEOPLE SEEKING TO UNDERSTAND A LITTLE ABOUT CHINA.
Rating:
Summary: INTERESTING BOOK ABOUT A MAN WHO EXPERIENCED MUCH PAIN
Review: I THOUGHT THIS BOOK WAS RATHER INSIGHTFUL. YOU COULD ACTUALLY FEEL THE PAIN THAT COAUTHOR HENG MUST HAVE EXPERIENCED AS A CHINESE CITIZEN. IT MUST HAVE BEEN HARD FOR HIM TO FIRST SEE HIS PARENTS' MARRIAGE CRUMBLE ALL BECAUSE OF POLITICAL PRESSURE, AND THEN FOR HIM TO SEEK ESCAPE (ANYWAY HE COULD) FROM WHAT APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN AN UNHAPPY EXISTENCE. I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK FOR PEOPLE SEEKING TO UNDERSTAND A LITTLE ABOUT CHINA.
Rating: 
Summary: The Lost Generation--A Personal Narrative
Review: In recent years, a plethora of books have been written on the Cultural Revolution and the folks who had to live through it. This book is interesting, because the author begins with a description of his mother's detention as a result of the "anti-rightist" campaign, which preceded the Cultural Revolution by almost a decade. In some respects, there is nothing particularly unique about this, because every book I have read on the Cultural Revolution eventually becomes a repudiation of the system that produced it, or, at least, of Mao as a leader. But it is still helpful, because it puts the Cultural Revolution in context. The Cultural Revolution happened mainly because of too much power and or influence being given to one person. Liang Heng came from a "bad" family. Over and over again he mentions the influence that this superficial categorization has on his life. He is beaten and harassed as a child, and hounded throughout his life by the shadow of his past. This book is fascinating as a study of how a regime which claimed to be building a classless society, actually created one that was exponentially more segmented than what had preceded it. It may take us a long time to fully understand the meaning of the Communist Revolution in 1949, and the Cultural Revolution of 1966-1977, or, for that matter, the revolution of 1911, which was really a pseudo revolution, because Sun Yat Sen was in power for only three months, and he was replaced by Yuan Shikai, who was one of the Empress Dowager's henchmen. What are we to conclude about the past century of China's history? Will it be viewed historically as a unique dynasty of its own, or an interlude between dynasties? And what of the new China that is currently developing? Are not the current developments in China in some ways more revolutionary than the political changes of the past century that bear that name? I'm just thinking out loud now--this book is not philosophy. I mention some of these questions, not because the book specifically raises them but because I think this book has brought me a little closer to understanding them. I was interested in this book primarily because of my interest in the developments which shaped the history of China during the last half of the twentieth century. I would not recommend building your entire knowledge of its history only from the personal narratives of those who have left China behind them. But books like this one are most definitely an essential part of understanding what went wrong-what kinds of forces came together to produce the Cultural Revolution. The Chinese government is understandably sensitive about material which seems to discredit the current government as a legitimate authority. But disdain for the Cultural Revolution is now established orthodoxy in the People's Republic, and books like this have a role to play in developing a better understanding of that tragic period in the history of modern China, of the "lost generation" that it produced, and especially, of the extent to which the current atmosphere in China is perhaps, in part, a reaction to the excesses of the Cultural Revolution.
Rating:
Summary: The Lost Generation--A Personal Narrative
Review: In recent years, a plethora of books have been written on the Cultural Revolution and the folks who had to live through it. This book is interesting, because the author begins with a description of his mother's detention as a result of the "anti-rightist" campaign, which preceded the Cultural Revolution by almost a decade. In some respects, there is nothing particularly unique about this, because every book I have read on the Cultural Revolution eventually becomes a repudiation of the system that produced it, or, at least, of Mao as a leader. But it is still helpful, because it puts the Cultural Revolution in context. The Cultural Revolution happened mainly because of too much power and or influence being given to one person. Liang Heng came from a "bad" family. Over and over again he mentions the influence that this superficial categorization has on his life. He is beaten and harassed as a child, and hounded throughout his life by the shadow of his past. This book is fascinating as a study of how a regime which claimed to be building a classless society, actually created one that was exponentially more segmented than what had preceded it. It may take us a long time to fully understand the meaning of the Communist Revolution in 1949, and the Cultural Revolution of 1966-1977, or, for that matter, the revolution of 1911, which was really a pseudo revolution, because Sun Yat Sen was in power for only three months, and he was replaced by Yuan Shikai, who was one of the Empress Dowager's henchmen. What are we to conclude about the past century of China's history? Will it be viewed historically as a unique dynasty of its own, or an interlude between dynasties? And what of the new China that is currently developing? Are not the current developments in China in some ways more revolutionary than the political changes of the past century that bear that name? I'm just thinking out loud now--this book is not philosophy. I mention some of these questions, not because the book specifically raises them but because I think this book has brought me a little closer to understanding them. I was interested in this book primarily because of my interest in the developments which shaped the history of China during the last half of the twentieth century. I would not recommend building your entire knowledge of its history only from the personal narratives of those who have left China behind them. But books like this one are most definitely an essential part of understanding what went wrong-what kinds of forces came together to produce the Cultural Revolution. The Chinese government is understandably sensitive about material which seems to discredit the current government as a legitimate authority. But disdain for the Cultural Revolution is now established orthodoxy in the People's Republic, and books like this have a role to play in developing a better understanding of that tragic period in the history of modern China, of the "lost generation" that it produced, and especially, of the extent to which the current atmosphere in China is perhaps, in part, a reaction to the excesses of the Cultural Revolution.
Rating: 
Summary: One man's story in a time wherein millions suffered horribly
Review: Liang Heng and Judith Shapiro have made a significant contribution to the study of contemporary China. The story of Liang Heng is truly a unique one; however, Shapiro and Heng fall far short of accomplishing what they could have. The reader is exposed somewhat to the fear, anguish, and vicious spite of the Cultural Revolution. Yet, they never bring one to a state of outrage or shock like Jung Chang does in her riveting story, Wild Swans. This book was definetly worthy of my time; however, I suspect many other readers will be displeased.
Rating:
Summary: Simply told, poignant memoir of enormous events
Review: Son of the Revolution is a spare book, the sort of small biography you might pick up and read in a couple of days some weekend. It packs an enormous punch, though. Liang Heng, its author, experienced essentially every side of the cultural revolution in China, and his graceful, somewhat understated prose only acts as a sort of smooth surface to the roiling undercurrent of those huge events. This book often gets assigned as a college-level textbook for History courses, and it's easy to see why. Liang Heng literally experienced almost everything about the cultural revolution first hand. In the course of the book, he lives both sides of almost any set of events you can think of. For example, as a young boy he's involved in a revolutionary group that's excitedly denouncing capitalist influences at its school. In a fit of enthusiasm, he draws a scathing poster of a favorite teacher. Almost immediately he feels tremendously guilty over the drawing. His father and he talk about the teacher's reaction, and Liang Heng goes to apologize. Then, just when the teacher's benevolence and the father's wisdom seem to have smoothed over this pang of overzealousness in the student, Liang Heng discovers that his father, too, has been denounced in a poster, and that he himself has been shut out of his revolutionary group -- as the son of an intellectual. Within a single day he's gone from revolutionary youth to excluded son of a reactionary. He goes home that night to find his sisters threatening to move away to live at school, so as to distance themselves from his supposedly traitorous father. His father sits whispering, almost to himself, that the children should sincerely believe in the party and Mao, and that things will turn out right if they do so. This book is filled with tumultuous turns like that. Just when you've seen the sharp edge of one dilemma, it changes shape and presents another side. Throughout all those twists, Liang Heng keeps a sympathy for those around him that brings you through the book. He can understand why people caught in these events acted like they did, and he doesn't seem to really hate anyone for it despite all he's been through. His father and mother, who divorced early during the revolution because of his mother's political background, become very different objects of sympathy, but neither one is regarded with disdain. (His father, in particular, becomes the sort of quietly tragic figure you'd find in some sprawling Russian historical novel.) Other English language memoirs from these years in China don't approach the startling emotional clarity of this book. Life and Death in Shanghai, in particular, comes across as both shallower and more bitter. Son of the Revolution tells the entire story, first hand, with a sort of forgiveness, a sort of understanding, that I haven't forgotten in the six years since I first read it. This is worth a rare (for me) five stars.
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