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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
Absolutely loved this book! It was great to delve into the culture. Lisa See really grabs you with her story line.
Definitely my least favorite of See’s. For newbies to China culture and history, this probably will suffice into the horrors of the Cultural Revolution, but I cannot really recommend it. The smaltzy melodrama of mother-daughter angst had me eye rolling through most of it. I read this many years after reading Shanghai Girls and that’s a mistake. This story is built on an understanding of what happened in the first story and since I didn’t remember the story much, most of the references went over my head. But my main complaint was that this story seemed to pander to the Western reader’s expectation of the horrors of the Cultural Revolution, something I have never thought See did. There is no “balanced” take needed, but not giving the readers more background on the how and why these peasants allowed this situation to occur means many readers will walk away with even more disparaging images of China and its people.
I’d rather you read [b:The Garlic Ballads|251392|The Garlic Ballads|Mo Yan|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348734465s/251392.jpg|1770054] by [a:Mo Yan|121407|Mo Yan|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1349980514p2/121407.jpg] or [b:Dream of Ding Village|9248289|Dream of Ding Village|Yan Lianke|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328823990s/9248289.jpg|14128756] by [a:Yan Lianke|723205|Yan Lianke|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1397367121p2/723205.jpg]. Both give critical looks at the sufferings endured but paint a broader context. Many Chinese stayed because it was their home. ZG gives a hint of this attitude but it crumbles in the end. As terrible as things are, walking away isn’t always the best choice. It’s the same reason Germans stayed in Nazi Germany and then again in East Germany. Why Floridians stay despite the hurricanes. I think See could have told this side much better.
It’s not a terrible book. It’s not my kind of book so I may not be the best judge. But I think her other books are much stronger and better written.
I do not like the narrators they have hired to do her books. They do the story a disservice as I think a lot of my dislike stems from me not liking the narrator and her reading choices.
I’d rather you read [b:The Garlic Ballads|251392|The Garlic Ballads|Mo Yan|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348734465s/251392.jpg|1770054] by [a:Mo Yan|121407|Mo Yan|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1349980514p2/121407.jpg] or [b:Dream of Ding Village|9248289|Dream of Ding Village|Yan Lianke|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328823990s/9248289.jpg|14128756] by [a:Yan Lianke|723205|Yan Lianke|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1397367121p2/723205.jpg]. Both give critical looks at the sufferings endured but paint a broader context. Many Chinese stayed because it was their home. ZG gives a hint of this attitude but it crumbles in the end. As terrible as things are, walking away isn’t always the best choice. It’s the same reason Germans stayed in Nazi Germany and then again in East Germany. Why Floridians stay despite the hurricanes. I think See could have told this side much better.
It’s not a terrible book. It’s not my kind of book so I may not be the best judge. But I think her other books are much stronger and better written.
I do not like the narrators they have hired to do her books. They do the story a disservice as I think a lot of my dislike stems from me not liking the narrator and her reading choices.
FANTASTIC sequel to Shanghai Girls. I felt that it was a bit slower at first but the last 1/2-3/4 was very interesting, heart-breaking, scary (that things of this nature actually happened)exciting and oddly lovely. I hope there will be a third.
See seems to have hit her stride in this one. If only I was not now singing Billy Bragg's "Waiting for the Great Leap Forward" constantly...
Seriously, one of the better reads I've experienced in awhile.
Seriously, one of the better reads I've experienced in awhile.
See has written an interesting sequel to Shanghai Girls. The characters are well-developed, and the story lines plausible. Life under Mao in the 1950s, its idealism, ideology, imperfections and corruption was described through the lives and dialogue of the characters who peopled the story.
I did not like the ending with its over-the-top happiness and optimism. I just don't believe that Pearl would be so ebullient once the family was in Hong Kong, that her excitement of reunion would not be counterweighted by the fears and horrors that her family had lived through.
I did not like the ending with its over-the-top happiness and optimism. I just don't believe that Pearl would be so ebullient once the family was in Hong Kong, that her excitement of reunion would not be counterweighted by the fears and horrors that her family had lived through.
Well written story with solid historical background, but the situations the characters found themselves in were too simply contrived and the ending was much too easily arrived at.
As is mentioned in the book, Dreams of Joy brings the story of Pearl, May and Joy in a full circle from where it began in its predecessor, Shanghai Girls. See brings the reader into the world of Red China in the late 1950s, as the story picks up directly where it left off in the first book, with Joy's trip into China. Joy undergoes quite the transformation from naive young college freshman consumed with idealism to a woman of the world, very much mirroring the evolution of Red China during the period. Pearl and May's relationship continues to develop, and many people from the past reappear. A fitting sequel.
Excellent
Horrifying. So sad. So happy. Kindle says I need at least fifteen words to post but I am done. And done.
Horrifying. So sad. So happy. Kindle says I need at least fifteen words to post but I am done. And done.
Love how she ties up all the loose threads from the first book.
What an amazing story! With complete and real characters (though I wanted to strangle Joy and punch Tao at times lol). Shows how family and strong bonds come full cirlce over time and how love (be it love of family, friends or lover) can give one strength to do what they otherwise would never dream of. I wish it continued on to their lives in the US.
Amazing too, becaue it was unnervingly informative of a time in a great country where drastic change, hunger, oppression takes over the lives op its people under the guise of patriotism and moving forward. Z.G. said it best when he asked who is to protect China from stupid ideas and we saw just how those ideas manifest to turn once prosperous people in starving and desperate ghosts of themselves. I cannot say enough about this book and the realities in present (even past realities).
Amazing too, becaue it was unnervingly informative of a time in a great country where drastic change, hunger, oppression takes over the lives op its people under the guise of patriotism and moving forward. Z.G. said it best when he asked who is to protect China from stupid ideas and we saw just how those ideas manifest to turn once prosperous people in starving and desperate ghosts of themselves. I cannot say enough about this book and the realities in present (even past realities).