Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4132 in Books
• Published on: 2004-04-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 720 pages

Customer Reviews

An emotionally gripping, roller-coaster ride through the lives of three fascinating women
This is without doubt one of the best books I've ever read. It is a powerful, gripping story that takes you through act after act of what human beings are capable of doing on this Earth, sometimes in the most brutal fashion.

Based on the lives of three generations of women, it starts in turn of the 20th century China, when the Qing dynasty was starting to crumble and that way of life was coming to an end, taking you through the civil war, Mao coming to power, the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution before ending in the 70s when the author leaves for Britain.

This is a "no holding back" story of survival with frequent scenarios detailing the worst and most brutal of human suffering. Reading through makes you realise the many things in this world we take for granted: democracy, security, civil liberties and freedom. It is an epic life story seen through the eyes of three ordinary women. They weren't world leaders or iconic historical figures, but ordinary citizens living their lives in a regime that is regarded with controversy even to this day.

All in all, although it's a book detailing suffering, fear and brutality it is an uplifting story of survival. You can't help but shed a tear for the person who survives, against all the odds, to make a better life for themselves. Like Pandora's box, once opened you'll see all the sins of the world come to fruition but one thing will remain at the end: hope.

Grossly overrated
This is probably the most boring and unenlightening book I have ever read. My wife was asked to read it as part of a literature appreciation group and said it was shocking in its revelations. I bought another copy of it from Waterstones for one of her friends and the assistant was gushing in her enthusiasm for it. I decided to read it and thus wasted an unnecessary amount of valuable time.
If you can believe 10% of what Jung Chang asks you to believe you will be stretching credulity. She is obsessed with her own family's righteousness in the face of unmitigated evil and her attention to trivialities shows a great sense of imagination.
Instead of a simple family tree we have a long boring tirade of the minutiae of everyday life affecting 900 million people - perhaps! I have no connection with China but the only other reviewer who claims to be Chinese is sceptical - and so am I.
This may be the only sort of material available on this era in Chinese history but we should not accept it at face value.
Don't waste your time on this. I wish I hadn't.

A Captivating Read
This book tells 150 years history of China through the personal lives of 3 generations of women from one family.

Wild Swans is a beautifully written book, that is desperately sad, desperately hopeful and shocking. The plight of these 3 women captures the reader and transports them to different periods in China's history. The 3 women and the people around them come to life through Changs beautiful way with words.

I have come away from this book with a greater understanding of China and Mao's absolute rule. The power, control and violence Mao inflicted on the Chinese people is horrific. 10's of millions of innocent people died under his rule and this book heroically describes the terror and fear the Chinese faced every day.

If you only read one book this year, make it Wild Swans.