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A review by cherrie_bluhd
Peach Blossom Paradise by Ge Fei
4.0
I enjoyed this book and think I got something genuinely valuable from reading it, but the portrayal of sexual violence against women and children tainted some of its value for me. This was especially frustrating because the women in the book are complex and interesting. They have often experienced sexual violence (as is realistic, especially in times of power transitions) and are impacted by this experience, but not necessarily defined by it. I felt somewhat recognized and empathetically seen in some of these portions of the book. But the book wavers too much between portraying the lives of women and the experience of sexual violence as being an all too commonplace atrocity and deeming scenes of sexual assault and pedophilia as some simply inevitable, unavoidable "deviancy" that can be laughed off as the actions of the misguided, lost people that populate the book.
These parts were difficult to read because I think something of value actually *was* being said through the presence of sexual violence in the book. The hypocrisy of many so-called leftist revolutionaries who turn around and violate women and children, and the way in which various people take up the mantle of revolutionary politics only to use it to exert power over others is worth exploring, and I think was explored well. I also didn't hate the somewhat bemused, light-heartedly bitter tone of the book. I, too, think people often ridiculously, stoically, carry out the exact mistakes of those that came before them. Still, I was disappointed with the neutrality of the book, seeming to condemn everyone in the book equally, in searching for something unattainable, while missing the uniquely horrific hurt caused by perpetrators of sexual violence. The book sank back a little too far in comfortable neutrality and missed the mark on what could have been a bit more nuanced portrayal of human mistakes and the difficult attempt to cultivate 'progress' which is not always clear.
These parts were difficult to read because I think something of value actually *was* being said through the presence of sexual violence in the book. The hypocrisy of many so-called leftist revolutionaries who turn around and violate women and children, and the way in which various people take up the mantle of revolutionary politics only to use it to exert power over others is worth exploring, and I think was explored well. I also didn't hate the somewhat bemused, light-heartedly bitter tone of the book. I, too, think people often ridiculously, stoically, carry out the exact mistakes of those that came before them. Still, I was disappointed with the neutrality of the book, seeming to condemn everyone in the book equally, in searching for something unattainable, while missing the uniquely horrific hurt caused by perpetrators of sexual violence. The book sank back a little too far in comfortable neutrality and missed the mark on what could have been a bit more nuanced portrayal of human mistakes and the difficult attempt to cultivate 'progress' which is not always clear.