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kimreads14's review against another edition
informative
reflective
2.5
Argh I’m sad to only give this 2.5⭐️ but here’s why:
- The overall topic: FASCINATING!
- The execution: pretty poor actually 😬
So let’s break it down!
The book is messy, the structure, and the little something in non-fiction that link the chapters to one another is lacking here.
The best crafter chapter in my opinion was actually the one that drew a comparison between China and other East Asian countries.
But overall the main issue I had was the fact that this book is very “we do it better in the West”. If you’re a woman from the West and you tell me that past 25yo you’ve never heard someone ask “will you soon get married?” “Will you soon start popping babies?” You’re very lucky! The only difference I guess is that we don’t have a fully coded term for it (at least that I’m aware of in English, in my native language, French, we do). And I guess, that’s what led me to bump this book to 2.5⭐️. The author’s lack of willingness to even acknowledge that this occurs in the West too.
- The overall topic: FASCINATING!
- The execution: pretty poor actually 😬
So let’s break it down!
The book is messy, the structure, and the little something in non-fiction that link the chapters to one another is lacking here.
The best crafter chapter in my opinion was actually the one that drew a comparison between China and other East Asian countries.
But overall the main issue I had was the fact that this book is very “we do it better in the West”. If you’re a woman from the West and you tell me that past 25yo you’ve never heard someone ask “will you soon get married?” “Will you soon start popping babies?” You’re very lucky! The only difference I guess is that we don’t have a fully coded term for it (at least that I’m aware of in English, in my native language, French, we do). And I guess, that’s what led me to bump this book to 2.5⭐️. The author’s lack of willingness to even acknowledge that this occurs in the West too.
stevenyenzer's review against another edition
4.0
I always love deep dives like this into specific aspects of a culture I’m not familiar with. Lake’s reporting is great and the stories are fascinating.
skoot's review against another edition
4.0
The last couple of chapters were lame. Not a strong finish, but worth the read if you're not family with Chinese culture.
1001reads's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting, but a little heavy on the anecdotes where I'd rather read something more comprehensive and detailed. Still, it gave me a couple of recs for other books that more deeply explore the subject and it was easy enough to read.
iotareads's review against another edition
5.0
Delightfully easy to read, yet gracefully informative. We all know about the gender imbalance phenomenon in China (and few other countries tho by different causes) caused by the recently revoked one-child policy. This book discusses the reason behind it and the impacts it has caused to modern day society, especially socially and economically. Although written by a foreigner, I personally like how it doesn't point fingers or get biased, instead it goes through the culutral context of each action quite exhaustively. It is also pretty funny, whether intentional or not,
michbo's review against another edition
informative
reflective
slow-paced
2.0
Super interesting topic, but I wish each of the chapters had a clearer theme and that the book had a better overall structure since parts were repetitive and sometimes the narrative lost its way.
ariarne's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
A book that talks about China's prosperous women and their problems with marriage at a ground-level, speaking from the author's own experiences and that of her friends and colleges. Very accessible and easy entry into the topic.