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bretticon's review against another edition
3.0
I like knowing a bit about what goes into the products I use but what I liked most about this book was seeing a world that was only somewhat familiar but at the same time extremely alien.
sparklethenpop's review against another edition
3.0
This book was really interesting and I will never look at anything that's made in China the same again. It was a little long though. I think it's because it was two stories in one, the author's family history and the story of the girls working in factories. While the author tied the two together, it would have been okay if it was just one or the other.
therat8's review against another edition
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
The only reason it's not a 5 is because it didn't have anything extra extra special about it. But it was a very very good book that I would definitely recommend
stevenyenzer's review against another edition
3.0
Great look at Chinese migrant culture and the source of so many of our consumer goods. Maybe a little long, but I didn't mind — it felt like a full immersion in this world.
rutt's review against another edition
2.0
i read this book for a bookclub and would not have otherwise chosen to read this text. (consequences of missing the meeting where they voted on the next book to read.)
factory girls starts by centering the stories of rural chinese teens and young women who leave their families' farms for cities, especially dongguan, searching out factory work. it also ventures deeply into the author's own family history and an overview of chinese communist takeover. that's as far as i made it -- 42% of the way through the audiobook.
im learning again and again that i truly abhorre the writing styles of mainstream news reporters. and factory girls was no the exception despite my best efforts. i tried!
i dont yet know enough of chinese history to understand the depth of what was summarized and compiled in this text. nor do i know enough to assess what was left out in this telling or why. however, i could tell that this story was certainly biased against the chinese communist regime, it's violences, and the ways it impacted the author and author's family members as well as many many others of the chinese people.
there's much for me to learn and explore, aaand this isnt the author or the text to do that for me.
aoosterwyk's review against another edition
4.0
Expose of Chinese labor system and how their industrial revolution is working.
susanbrooks's review against another edition
3.0
I was pleasantly surprised by this book, as I thought it would be about the brutality of life in Chinese factories. It's a more complex story about girls who leave villages to work at factories in the city, which brings freedom, money, risk, disappointment, change and brings them a whole new way of life and a different relationship with their families. With its many characters and a quality of being a list (ie -Chungmin did this and that and then this...) it was a bit exhausting.
ewg109's review against another edition
3.0
This was an interesting book, but I can't say I really got "into" it. Chang's research, observations, and writing are all impeccable, but I think on some level the book gets overwhelming. I wish I could have read the chapters as articles instead.