A review by xiekaili
The Good Women of China : Hidden Voice by Xinran

4.0

what I liked:

Through the stories of the women you learn how Chinese think (thought) and what defines (defined) them.

Superficial I also liked that Xinran gave a voice to all the silent chinese women and gave me a Knowledge about a history I never heared about.
(Why only superficial comes later)

what I missed:

...were characters and tones over the Pinyin (at least the tones).
Maybe not so important for others but I missed it.

what I couldn't handle:

Rape.
And not just one... so many I didn't even Count it.
And not just telling that the women got raped, abused and so on, she wrote about the "during" and the "after", what happened, how it happened, and about the Feelings and thoughts of the woman the rape is about.
At some I started to skip these Scenes - they still haunts me.

summed up:
This book is important and teach so much.
It brings awareness to a culture, many only have prejudices about.
I just can't recommend it to everybody, because the stories really get graphic.
You have to know, if you can handle it.