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Rating: 
Summary: Truth vs. Fiction
Review: More than unbelievable! Is this story actually true? In this book, it seems as though the fine line between truth and fiction is nonexistent. Riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies. Does confusion reign? The most inaccurate accounting of World War II I've ever read. Was this story ever verified? The stories themselves were quite interesting and entertaining, yet I can't help but question the historical accuracy of this book.
Rating: 
Summary: quick and powerful
Review: This book is a quick read as there is no one highlight, no one climax...the book is chalk full of horrid surprise, history, and wisdom filled insight. This is being made into a movie currently. Vivid, powerful, a must read.
Rating:
Summary: superb
Review: What a stunning and well written account of Ursula's amazing story. A must read.
Rating:
Summary: Shanghai Diary, the little-known story of the Shanghai Jews
Review: When I started Shanghai Diary, I found that I simply couldn't put it down. I hadn't known the story of the Shanghai Jews in the Hongkew ghetto, and I was riveted by the well-written story of Ursula Bacon's 8 years as a young girl in Shanghai, where it was nothing to see a dead baby girl thrown on a heap of trash and where day-to-day existence was harsh and often degrading. Despite all of this, Ursula's family managed to maintain their dignity and prevail. To me it was a story of great courage. When she left Shanghai at the end of the war, far from being devastated by the experience, Ursula took away the lesson that she had seen first hand what hate can do, and she would never hate anyone as long as she lived. The book was so moving that I had to sit quietly and reflect for quite some time after I read the final page.
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't put it down
Review: While many would choose wallow in the dispair of loss of family and home at the hand of the Nazis, Ursula Bacon tells her fascinating and terrifying story with grace and optimism. As a child of 10 she escapes with her parents to Shanghai after all other countries closed their doors to European Jews trying to escape the horrors of WWII. There, they joined 20,000 other refugees and lived in horrific conditions. But they survived. Told with humor and sensitivity, this story is inspirational.
Rating:
Summary: Inspiration, History, and a Study in Contrasts
Review: Wow! I was in tears by the second page. I ordered takeout and left dishes in the sink just so I could keep reading this compelling glimpse into a lesser known aspect of World War II. I'm not a history buff, but Ursula Bacon's story drew a sketch of the war at such a personal level that I couldn't stop reading. The book covers the eight year period during which an aristocratic Jewish family fled Nazi occupied Germany to Japanese occupied Shanghai, only to be trapped in a detention center when Japan joined the German Axis. Lest you think the subject might be depressing, let me assure you that it is quite the opposite. The courage, enthusiasm, and even humor that this family mustered to deal with their adversity is inspirational. I especially enjoyed how the author shared the spiritual insights she gained during this period. She blended her Jewish background with Catholic schooling, enhanced by teachings from a Buddhist monk and her own intuition. The result is that she could feel compassion for those who would victimize her. That's a lesson most of us can't achieve in a whole lifetime of petty annoyances. Yet, this young girl managed to love the enemy that treated her as a "sub-human" and "lowest form of life," to use her own terms. I think this book would appeal to a wide variety of people at any age. Some of the images portrayed will stay with me forever- the bombings, the squalor, the beauty. The author's style vacillates between conversational and lyrical. The way she dealt successfully with the contrast between her former life of unimaginable opulence and then her ordeal with abject adversity was stunning. I already find myself taking guidance from her Buddhist teacher Yuan Lin who always reminded her, "Remember, it's all the same."
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