Wild Swans : Three Daughters of China
by Jung Chang
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Book Reviews of Wild Swans : Three Daughters of China
Book Review: I liked the book, but it may not be for you.
Summary: 3 Stars
I have mixed feelings about the book Wild Swans. It certainly was not a page turner, rather it was a book I could lay down at any time, and even walk away from for a couple of days, which I did a number of times. It didn't read like a novel, as some memoir/biographies do, rather it was as though the author, Jung Chang was narrating to me the history of her family, beginning with her grandmother. The narration is well written, but long, and ends when she is 26. A short epilogue at the end then updates you as to what she has done with her life in the 10 years following the writing of the book. So if you are looking for a wildly entertaining book you can hardly put down, this is not a book for you.
Having said this, I do not consider reading the book was time wasted. If you are at all interested in the history of China, especially what it was like under Mao's years in power, you would find many fascinating passages in the book. Of course most of us know that Mao was not good for the people of China, but I was truly surprised at what all went on under Mao and his wife. Some of it was so strange, that it seemed down right bizarre to me, such as when Mao determined that grass and beautiful things should be removed from the cities. People all over China were pulling up flowers and grass. Students even spent school time out in the yard pulling up the grass. Reading the book was a learning experience about a time that it turned out I really knew very little about.
Book Review: Informative, thoughtful, and enjoyable
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of the best books I have ever read, and reread, for that matter. It should be studied as political history, and read for being a compelling family saga.
The story of three generations of a Chinese family goes into the suffering of both this family and China as a whole, and how Mao led China out of a difficult time only to bring down even worse horror. Chang's parents were betrayed by an idealogy they believed in.
This is better than Chang's other book, a biography of Mao, which is good, but very biased. Nevertheless, the bias does not invalidate the research and message of Mao's evil.
I've been censored by Amazon, had my rating taken away, and can no longer make comments. I don't know why I can still write reviews, but we'll see how long that lasts. The reason for the censorship, when I asked Amazon, was not addressed, and thus I can only assume it is because of my stand on Mao's evil, and my criticism of those who defended Mao. I don't care about my rating, but not being able to debate with comments is annoying.
Amazon, along with Google, Intel, Yahoo, and who knows how many other companies, according to a Frontline documentary, have bent and conformed to the Chinese government wishes in order to do business in China. Check out Chang's biography of Mao, and how every positive review gets flooded with negative votes, something mighty fishy is going on.
Book Review: In depth history of Maoist China
Summary: 4 Stars
I have only seen two of the reviews posted here, and they were both very thorough and accurate. It seems silly to presume to write a review given that there are 400 reviews already posted. If any one gets this far, I would like to point out that Chang's "Wild Swans" provides one family's experience of the Japanese occupation, the civil war between the Communists and the Koumintang, and both the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. Because of Chang's detail and thoroughness, she is a source that I have seen referenced in scholarly articles. Without being in the field, I would guess that her book is a required work for scholars of the period.
It reminds me never to put things in ideological boxes. The rhetoric of Marxism and social justice has really nothing to do with Maoist China. Everything that the top power people did was to consolidate Mao's power and very little had to do with social justice. I had had some exposure to life under Mao via Han Jin's powerful novel "Waiting," and other literature, but it took Chang's "Wild Swans" to give me the full picture.
Both books are almost unbearable to read because one wants to turn away from the cruelty and oppression, but in both books I found myself pulled along by the struggle of individuals to survive. It is difficult to read about such things, but well worth the effort.
Book Review: Only Jung Chang could make such a great story so boring!
Summary: 3 Stars
It was almost impossible for me to get through a single page of Wild Swans without checking my watch or finding an excuse to set it down and go do errands. As fascinating as Jung Chang's family life must have been, and as admirable as her and her husband's historical research was in Mao: The Unknown Story, the truth is that Jung Chang is not a very good writer. Her prose is yawn-inducing at best, and her story-telling as flat as a can of pop left out over night. Imagine your most boring-ever Asian Studies lecture in college, and put it between two covers. Not even the professional editors at Simon & Schuster could bring life into this book. My guess is that when Chang's publishers realized that Wild Swans was not valid at an academic level, they decided to market it to Middle America, whose literary tastes are, how should I say it, less discernable. My negative review, by the way, has nothing to do with politics; I firmly believe that there is a warm place in hell for Mao Zedong and rest of the CPC. But as far as good reads go, Wild Swans is laughably bad; I question the reading level of all the above reviewers. Nien Cheng's Life and Death in Shanghai (Hardcover) is far more gripping.Book Review: Superbly Moving Memoir
Summary: 5 Stars
Jung Chang's superb recounting of her family's struggles in times of war, tragedy, and change is one of the best narratives of China. This is very moving story of family, hardship, triumph and love. The author begins by describing her maternal grandmother, who was a concubine for a warlord general during the tumultuous 1920's. More attention is then paid to her idealistic parents, who joined the Communist Revolution of the 1940's but two decades later were denounced and double-crossed during the Cultural Revolution. By that time the author was herself a witness to events, and we hear her story as well. Jung Chang spent her teens as an enthused Maoist, until the abuses heaped on her father (and others) eventually led her to a different view. Her family's efforts to maintain health and sanity given the dictates of Kuomintang, Japanese, and Maoist rulers shows why China is a compelling land of great tragedy.
Women really connect with this superbly moving narrative, although it appeals to men as well. I was once on a group tour of China and several of us were reading this book - until our interpreter told us that it was banned in that nation. Readers of this superb memoir might also RED CHINA BLUES by Jan Wong.