A review by aweekinthelife
Last Boat Out of Shanghai: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Fled Mao's Revolution by Helen Zia

challenging emotional informative tense medium-paced

4.75

this book follows the lives of four young people from childhood/teenage years into adulthood as they navigate life in and around Shanghai amidst the second sino-japanese war, world war ii, the kmt vs communists, and beyond. 

i personally knew very little about shanghai specifically and appreciated the various perspectives from the four people that the book follows. highly recommend to learn more about this period of chinese history and understanding some of the various ways chinese diaspora has formed and why there are so many different perspectives and histories in chinese diasporas. 

engaging on audio, probably would've been much slower for me to read in print. 
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