Bookshelf: Wild Swans

I finally finished Wild Swans last weekend and the book was amazing. It took forever to read only because it's very dense and I was essentially reading a page at a time. Not a reflection on the book. It is a memoir about three generations of Chinese women in the twentieth century, from the pre-World War II period through Kuomintang rule to the eventual rise of the Communist Party. The woman who wrote the book was the third generation and her parents were both Party officials. The experiences of the family in Mao's China, especially during the Cultural Revolution, were fascinating and horrifying. It was particularly interesting because I read Life and Death In Shanghai several years ago, and Wild Swans offers a different perspective on many of the same events and similar experiences. An excellent history lesson and a profoundly moving tale of family, loyalty, and courage. Read it.