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Wild Swans : Three Daughters Of China By Jung Chang

Decent Essays

Michael Accurso

The book, Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang, is a intimate memoir and a piece of history that shows life through generations. This book shows us the change and evolution of China through the lives of three women. Allow me to give a brief synopsis of who these women are so that it is easier to understand the story.
The first woman that we live through is Yu Fang. Yu Fang’s father is looking for a way out of their miserable life so he arranges for her to be a concubine for the general. The general leaves her for many years and in his absence, she is lonely and constantly worried. Once the general returns, she gets pregnant with her daughter whom the general’s wife tries to take as her own until Yu Fang …show more content…

As the book went on, I slowly began to lose a lot of interest, and I really was just hoping the book would end. My interest mostly began to dwindle at chapter 15. This chapter talks about the Cultural Revolution and Mao. They begin to talk about how Mao felt threatened, so he banned 39 artists, writers, and scholars for denunciation. (page 277). I don’t see really how this plays an important part in the main characters’ lives. It then goes more into detail about how Mao organized his own personal chain of command, and how people, like Mr. Chi, were arrested for denunciation. (page 282). I really couldn’t find the will to continue reading this book after this chapter. I want to hear more about the personal family struggle that the main characters had to endure. The reader probably doesn’t care much about Chairman Mao’s fears of unloyalty or strict laws that he had created. At this point in the book, it starts to feel more like a factual history book, not an account of family history and struggle. I personally have never been a fan of politics, and I have never been interested in politics, so, in chapters 16 and 17, when I started to read about the reds, blacks, and grays, I was very uninterested and confused. In order to keep the reader going, especially in a book this long, you need to make sure that you are engaging your audience with things that they want to read. Chang does a poor job of doing this, in my opinion, when she switches over

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