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xoxcharm 's review for:
Dreams of Joy
by Lisa See
I struggled through the first 40 pages or so of this book and was so annoyed by the naivete and Joy's complete lack of any sense of self-preservation, that I basically couldn't bring myself to pick the book back up for almost a month. When I finally did decide to try again, I was pleased that it got so much better so quickly.
The book takes place during China's Great Leap Forward, and as such it's like being trapped on a slow motion train wreck. Lisa See goes through all the most commonly known misguided policies if that regime (the obsession with steel, the directive to kill sparrows, the complete ignorance of how agriculture works), and rushes us along to the expected result.
There are a few bright spots sprinkled in, a few touches of humanity.
But when I finished the book I felt like I didn't get much from it. I had already gone through the mental turmoil of learning about the Great Leap Forward when reading about it in a more historical context, and I didn't feel like Lisa See added much to that.
I'd rather just read [b:The Good Earth|1078|The Good Earth (House of Earth, #1)|Pearl S. Buck|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1312497600l/1078._SY75_.jpg|2346070] again if I want to immerse myself in the world of historical Chinese peasantry.
The book takes place during China's Great Leap Forward, and as such it's like being trapped on a slow motion train wreck. Lisa See goes through all the most commonly known misguided policies if that regime (the obsession with steel, the directive to kill sparrows, the complete ignorance of how agriculture works), and rushes us along to the expected result.
There are a few bright spots sprinkled in, a few touches of humanity.
But when I finished the book I felt like I didn't get much from it. I had already gone through the mental turmoil of learning about the Great Leap Forward when reading about it in a more historical context, and I didn't feel like Lisa See added much to that.
I'd rather just read [b:The Good Earth|1078|The Good Earth (House of Earth, #1)|Pearl S. Buck|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1312497600l/1078._SY75_.jpg|2346070] again if I want to immerse myself in the world of historical Chinese peasantry.