Wild Swans by Jung Chang

Wild Swans:
Three Daughters of China
by Jung Chang

1992, 508 pp.

Rating: 4.5

1994 British Book of the Year




This is a long, fascinating book that I'm really glad I finished. I got this after reading Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, which I absolutely loved. I didn't know it was non-fiction until it came in the mail. I saw that it was a banned book, so I used it for the Banned Book Challenge as well as the Chunkster Challenge.

The book tells the life stories of Jung and her mother and grandmother. Along the way I learned quite a bit about China under Mao as well. I love history when it is presented this way. I've always felt that history was more about how people's lives were affected by their rulers than just names, dates, and events that occurred.

The book is told chronologically. The first story is about how Jung's grandmother had no choice in being a concubine to a Chinese general. The "marriage" was arranged so that her grandmother's father would have more privileges of his own. Jung's mother was born from this union.

Next, we learn of her mother's life growing up under Japanese occupation in Manchuria, and then after the Japanese surrender, the fight between the Kuomintang and the Communists for power in China. Jung's parents become Communist officials who very much believe in the Communist ideals. Their "faith" is eventually shattered by Mao's thirst for power and his "Cultural Revolution."

Although her parents were still receiving their salaries from the government, they were also being detained or being made to go to denunciation meetings where they were yelled at and/or beaten. The Red Guard and the Rebels were encouraged to rise up against the old Communist officials and take control. Even young children were encouraged to beat up their teachers. School days consisted of reading Mao's works, punishing anyone who was a "class enemy", and tearing up the grass and flowers in the courtyards as they were too "decadent."

As Jung grows up, she is at first enamored with Mao, but is eventually disillusioned with what has happened to her family and to herself. She is a bright young woman who is required several times to be "reeducated" by the peasants or factory workers. After Mao dies, eventually China changes for the better. She is able to go to the West and study, but she never permanently returns to China.

I highly recommend this book if you are interested in history in general or Chinese culture. It is also a "wake-up" call to us softies in the West. Books like these really make me appreciate American freedom!

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

Inkheart
by
Cornelia Funke

2003, 544 pp

Rating: 4



Meggie is a 12 year old girl whose father never reads aloud to her. He gives her books, he tells her stories, but he never actually reads from a book to her. One night a mysterious man comes to visit them--his name is Dustfinger. Dustfinger warns Mo (Meggie's father) that a man named Capricorn is after a book in Mo's possession called Inkheart.

It is then that Meggie find out why her father never reads to her. He has the ability to bring characters "alive" out of the book he is reading. The catch is, though, that someone else from the real world disappears into the book at the same time.

The adventure that follows includes Meggie's missing mother, her great-aunt Elinor, Inkheart's author Fenoglio, and several characters that have come out of their books.

I enjoyed this story very much and listened to it on CD with my entire family on a road trip this past week. The movie is being filmed now and will star Brendan Fraser, Eliza Bennett, Paul Bettany, Helen Mirren, Jim Broadbent, Andy Serkis, among others. I can't wait to see it!

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

I normally do not like reading "war" novels--especially those about World War II. My heart breaks when I think of the evil that mankind can do. I did, however, love The Diary of Anne Frank, and I also loved The Book Thief.

The Book Thief tells the story of a German orphan girl named Liesel. Her brother has just died, and her mother gave her up because she couldn't care for her after "something happened" to her father, a suspected Communist. She goes to live with Hans and Rosa Hubermann, who also have two grown children. Their son is a solid Hitler supporter. Hans is a gentle man who tenderly takes care of Liesel. Rosa is a gruff German woman, yet we also see gentleness and compassion from her throughout the story.

At her new home on Himmel Street she meets Rudy Steiner, a boy with hair the color of lemons. He is a good student and an excellent athlete. In one incident he paints himself black because he is obsessed with Jesse Owens. Liesel and Rudy become best friends. They play soccer together and steal together--whether it be apples or the books that Liesel takes from a prominent town figure.

Another person close to Liesel is the German Jew they are hiding in the basement--Max Vandenburg. The relationship they have is one that transcends simple friendship or a romantic attachment. Their hearts are truly knitted together due to the horrible circumstances of the war. Their bond is unbreakable.

Each character in the book is so perfectly portrayed and so lovingly depicted. I fell in love with each one and cared deeply about what happened to them. I won't spoil any more of the storyline, because this book is a treasure to read and to ponder over long after the final page is turned. It is a story that will stay with me for many, many years to come.

2006, 550 pp.

Rating: 5

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

This book took me a loooong time to read, but I'm really glad I read it. It is so well-written and a really good mystery. I did guess some of the plot elements, but I still was very engrossed and wanted to keep reading to make sure my guesses were correct.

The "woman in white" is Anne Catherick, who has escaped from an asylum and knows, or think she knows, a Secret about a nobleman. This nobleman wants to marry Laura Fairlie, but she is in love with her art instructor, Walter Hartwright. Marian Holcomb is Laura's half-sister and is always looking out for Laura's interests. The two are inseparable. Will Laura marry the nobleman--Percival Glyde--the man her father wanted her to marry? Or will she marry Walter Hartwright, the love of her life? Who is really after her money? Is Count Fosco just a charming foreigner or a "foreign spy"? Whose interests is he looking after? These questions and more will be answered when you embark on this wonderfully written gothic tale--a classic mystery that should be read by all.

1860, 569pp.

Rating: 4.5

Angle of Repose - Wallace Stegner

Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner won the Pulitzer Prize in 1972. It is a story about family, marriage, and even American history. Susan Burling Ward, an artist from the East, goes West with her Western mining engineer husband to "begin a new civilization". Their struggles with each other, with outsiders, and the land itself are chronicled by Lyman Ward, their grandson who is a retired history professor. As Lyman ends their story, he realizes certain parallel struggles in his own story and wonders how he will overcome them.

I enjoyed Stegner's writing very much. I thought his portrayal of Susan was very convincing. I enjoyed his grandparents' story a little more than his own just because there was some s*xual dialogue used that I don't care for. These were few and far between though, and I do plan on reading more from this author.
1971, 569 pp.
Pulitzer - 1972

Rating: 4/5

The Time Traveler's Wife - Niffenegger

I really, really loved this story. Had it not contained quite a bit of graphic s** and lang*age, it would have received at least a 4.5 rating. As self-evident from the title, time travel is involved. Henry cannot control when and "when" his time travel occurs. This makes for some very interesting situations! It is a great love story, and it did make me cry. That hadn't happened in a long time. I highly recommend it, but I sure wish some of the graphic content would not have been there.

Completed September 2006
2003, 518 pp.

Rating: 4/5