Audiobook Review – Wild Swans by Jung Chang (5/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Non-fiction/Memoir
Length: 22 hours and 52 minutes (538 pages)
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Release Date: December 13, 2011
ASIN: B006LF2GDM
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Audiobook from Audible.com
Rating: 5/5 stars
“The story of three generations in twentieth-century China that blends the intimacy of memoir and the panoramic sweep of eyewitness history—a bestselling classic in thirty languages with more than ten million copies sold around the world, now with a new introduction from the author.
An engrossing record of Mao’s impact on China, an unusual window on the female experience in the modern world, and an inspiring tale of courage and love, Jung Chang describes the extraordinary lives and experiences of her family members: her grandmother, a warlord’s concubine; her mother’s struggles as a young idealistic Communist; and her parents’ experience as members of the Communist elite and their ordeal during the Cultural Revolution. Chang was a Red Guard briefly at the age of fourteen, then worked as a peasant, a “barefoot doctor,” a steelworker, and an electrician. As the story of each generation unfolds, Chang captures in gripping, moving—and ultimately uplifting—detail the cycles of violent drama visited on her own family and millions of others caught in the whirlwind of history.”
I have had this book on my TBR pile for quite awhile. I’ve always wanted to learn more about China and this was an amazing read about China from the 1920’s to the early 1980’s. It’s written in a way that is easy to engage in and deftly wraps history and the engrossing story of three women together. This is a memoir so it is non-fiction.
I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook was very well done. I would recommend if you love audiobooks, the narrator did a great job.
This book explains a lot about China and why it is the way it is today. To say that China has had a tumultuous history would be an understatement. This is a great book that I really think everyone should read.
I would recommend for older YA and older readers only; although this is non-fiction, a lot of the torture described gets very graphic (although it’s not overly embellished or gratuitous). This was a very eye-opening read for me and I found it incredibly intriguing and disturbing.
Overall this was a fantastic read that I could spend a lot of time talking about. The writing style is a bit rough around the edges at times. However, the fascinating topic and the engaging way it was presented made up for that. I learned a ton and really enjoyed the book a lot. I don’t read a ton of history but this book presents history in a very story-like fashion that is easy to engage with and stay engrossed in.
This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Goodreads Reading Challenge
– Mount TBR Reading Challenge
