Involving History

The history of 3 generations of Chinese women who lived through the changes from ancient empire, through civil war and the Cultural Revolution, into the Bureaucrat Nation that it has become today. The history of the grandmother is fairly short, from concubine to respected wife of a physician. The mother's is longer, from revolutionary to persecuted bureaucrat. And the author's story is the longest, from child or the Cultural Revolution to expatriate. The story stays involving and brings the Chinese culture into a real perspective. The story usually contains all the sides of gray and confusion that real life does, the end seems a little too black and white. Still, hugely interesting and a good read.

8/10