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4.27 AVERAGE
4.27 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
challenging
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
I found the stories informative, interesting and moving and painted a picture of how Chinese women lived in late 20th century
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
DNF. 57%. Non-Fiction? The opening story was absolutely brilliant but from there it's all downhill... Xinran paints herself at the centre of everything, there are just too many coincidences for much of it to be true plus she also needs to be seen as the hero of each story. Then you've got how often she mentions about people coming up to her in the street and telling her how her radio show is the greatest thing on earth and how she's changed their lives for the better. It was all just too much for me.
emotional
informative
Essentially a move which could be a collection of short stories about the lives, dreams and sometimes despair or women in China. The time period mirrors that of my childhood and yet the difference in life styles cannot be greater. There were some fabulous lines
"when you walk into your memories you are opening door to the past. The road within has many branches and the route is different every time"
"when you walk into your memories you are opening door to the past. The road within has many branches and the route is different every time"
My long-held belief that the roots of extreme sexual repression can be traced to Judea-Christian influences has unraveled completely in the first 10 pages of this book. In George Orwell's 1984 it was obvious that his dsytopia was taken directly from Soviet Russia, but I never understood where Orwell was getting his images of sexual repression and taboos against romantic love. Wherever it came from it was also present in China.
The stories of Chinese women collected in this book will break your heart and make you grateful for any freedom you have, even if it's just the freedom to eat an egg (without first having to bear a son) or to use feminine hygiene products that don't shred your skin. This book has stirred in me the desire to read more about China, especially the period preceding and during the Cultural Revolution. It's hard to believe that I have walked on this earth during a time when women in China were imprisoned for being lesbian or even co-habitating with a man outside of marriage.
With the last three books I've read I have come to appreciate some of the redeeming qualities of my own country. America is wrong in a lot of ways but at least we can fly a kite here, at least we can live a life independent of a man, own property, get a divorce if we need to and take a lesbian lover without having to worry about going to prison for it....I wonder how long it will last?
The stories of Chinese women collected in this book will break your heart and make you grateful for any freedom you have, even if it's just the freedom to eat an egg (without first having to bear a son) or to use feminine hygiene products that don't shred your skin. This book has stirred in me the desire to read more about China, especially the period preceding and during the Cultural Revolution. It's hard to believe that I have walked on this earth during a time when women in China were imprisoned for being lesbian or even co-habitating with a man outside of marriage.
With the last three books I've read I have come to appreciate some of the redeeming qualities of my own country. America is wrong in a lot of ways but at least we can fly a kite here, at least we can live a life independent of a man, own property, get a divorce if we need to and take a lesbian lover without having to worry about going to prison for it....I wonder how long it will last?
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
slow-paced