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alexism26's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
tense
slow-paced
3.25
A very unique memoir that can help lay a foundational knowledge of Chinese history starting in the 1950’s and 60’s. I very much enjoyed how the authors made it very clear that this is a biased and a singular look at the events that unfolded. The art style is very unique and is very off putting at first but once I got to reading more It grew on me and was a very good reflection upon where and the circumstances that he learned to draw, making me think that even the way that the author draws is a reflection of the impacts of the story (seeing that it is a graphic memoir that makes perfect sense).
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content and Body horror
robertrivasplata's review against another edition
4.0
A memoir of growing up in Mao's China, and adulthood from Deng Xiaopeng's China to today. The memoir reminds me of Soviet Daughter, in that it's about a person who lived through revolutionary upheaval, and eventually thrived. The last part which covers China's boom times kind of drags, maybe because making a lot of money is less fun and interesting to me than revolutionary socialist constructing, or maybe it was because the revolution had gone on without Kunwu, or perhaps because Kunwu feels limited in the commentary he can make on contemporary politics. A Chinese Life is also interesting because it provides the little guy's perspective & also the Chinese Communist Party's perspective of the disasters and successes of communist China.
lovegriefandgender's review against another edition
4.0
Although quite genuinely brilliant in places, and unquestionably authentic, the infrequent racist caricatures taint the whole book for me. They provide no commentary or argument but only an example of prejudice which serves no purpose.
merixcil's review against another edition
4.0
The art style in this book is my first port of recommendation. At first it feels off kilter and messy, before easing into itself and finally showing its hand at how it harks back to traditional Chinese methods of drawing.
The plot is mundane but fascinating, demonstrating the horrors of the author's life without sanitising its overall positive perspective on China for a Western audience. Quite the most interesting bit of biography I've read in some time.
The plot is mundane but fascinating, demonstrating the horrors of the author's life without sanitising its overall positive perspective on China for a Western audience. Quite the most interesting bit of biography I've read in some time.
andhertz's review against another edition
4.0
What A Chinese Life does best is to expose that what it means to be a Communist has changed over time. The hyper-conservative, history-negating, and overly-critical and paranoid members of the Chinese Communist Party in the 1950s and 60s is nothing like today’s open-armed, capitalist embracing, Western-admiring CCP of today. On the back sleeve of the book, Li is proudly listed as a CCP member. That certainly explains why he chose merely to display events just as they happened with little commentary of his own. Clearly, this is not a textbook (despite its girth) and shouldn’t be judged as one. While it could have been a masterpiece had it gone deeper and more critically into governmental policies, the fact that Li doesn’t shows the strong-arm the government still has over its people (especially for newspaper writers). While Li does his best to paint as well of a picture of Chinese life that he can, we’ll unfortunately always be left wondering how many other panels of the graphic novel have conveniently been “forgotten” by the author. (continue to full review on Frontier Psychiatrist)
juxtaphant's review against another edition
4.0
I have never noticed my own bias, cultural lens, or worldview more than while I was reading this book. I knew very little about Chinese history before this book—not much more than Mao and the cultural revolution. To understand beliefs like “Development of our first priority” and the extremes the Chinese people would go to drive their country forward was remarkable. Kunwu helps you understand the motivations and drive for the revolution and the tragedies of famine, destruction, and ignorance that surfaced throughout the years.
jaylatarche's review against another edition
5.0
A book that I recommend to anybody intrigued by memoirs, graphic novels or China related topic.
Absolute gem of a book.
Absolute gem of a book.