Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang

20 reviews

carmentxx's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

on my cover Mary Wesley writes that ‘it is impossible to exaggerate the important of this book’. in my ignorance i said to my friend, how important can it be? yeah, pretty fucking important. one of the only truthful, harrowing, beyond emotional memoirs to come out of the apocalyptic, cultish nightmare that was 20th century china. how can you give this book anything other than 5 stars? this book took me through every inch of human emotion and poured every detail of the horror- and small amounts of relentless hope- that maoist china enforced. mao was a psychopathic sadist who thrived on horror, destruction, and genocide of his own people. we can never forget. we will not forget. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, War, Xenophobia, Violence, Confinement, Death, Police brutality, Body horror, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Torture, Murder, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Bullying, Child abuse, and Medical content

dch7's review

challenging emotional informative tense slow-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Blood, Chronic illness, Classism, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and War

beckyyreadss's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad slow-paced

4.0

I decided to read this book because I bought a poster with 100 books to read in your lifetime. This is the nineteenth book I've read on this list. I thought I was going to struggle with this book being a non-fiction book, but my heart was hurting for this family throughout this book. 

This book is the story of the three daughters of China and it’s their family history that spans a century. Jung Chang recounts of three generations of women in her own family, the grandmother given to the warlord as a concubine, the Communist mother and the daughter herself. She reveals the epic history of China’s twentieth century. It is breathtaking in its scope, unforgettable in its descriptions. This story is heartbreaking and empowering.  

Usually I struggle with non-fictions book, I find them slow, boring and can never pay attention to what is going on that it feels like a drag. This book is heartbreaking and discusses heavy topics and is brutal with some of the descriptions, it was a book I managed to get through and I think this was due to the writing and how Jung had a way of getting her grandmothers and mother’s story across. It was heartbreaking and throughout the book I just wanted to hug these ladies. Even though I hate this generation, it made me thankful on where I was born.  

I wouldn’t say this book had any weaknesses, but I think that the length of the chapters sometimes made it a struggle to finish them and obviously some of the dark subjects, I was cringing a bit. I was glad that we got an ending, even though Jung Chang is still alive and well, so I don’t know if there is another book hopefully with the next generation with her children. But I'm hoping that they have all had a healthy and happy life.   

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: War, Misogyny, and Suicide

Minor: Miscarriage, Abortion, and Excrement

rdorrington's review

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Miscarriage, Torture, Violence, Suicide attempt, Child death, Police brutality, and Suicide

emka918's review against another edition

emotional informative slow-paced

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, and Death

sophie_tsiotinos's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, War, Drug abuse, and Physical abuse

philosopher_kj's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, Torture, Violence, War, Classism, Colonisation, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Death, Physical abuse, Blood, and Body horror

Moderate: Sexual content, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexism, Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Miscarriage, and Xenophobia

Minor: Excrement, Abortion, and Drug use

a789's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Torture, Suicide, Violence, Cannibalism, Rape, Murder, Vomit, Slavery, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, War, Terminal illness, Grief, and Emotional abuse

alexhaydon's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Gore, Torture, War, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Death, Death of parent, Confinement, and Adult/minor relationship

josiee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Classism, Miscarriage, Confinement, Cannibalism, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Grief, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Medical content, Suicide attempt, War, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Murder, Pregnancy, Torture, Rape, Police brutality, and Violence