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Fly, Wild Swans: My Mother, Myself and China
by
72/99
Critics
65/99
Readers
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Scholars
55/99
Rating
89/99
Volume
40/99
Rating
90/99
Volume
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About This Book
The magnificent follow-up to Wild Swans, the multimillion copy, internationally bestselling sensation that traces the history of modern China through the true stories of three generations of courageous women in one family. "AT THE AGE OF FIFTEEN MY GRANDMOTHER became the concubine of a warlord general . . ." So begins Jung Chang's epic family memoir, Wild Swans, which defines a generation. The book ends in 1978, when Deng Xiaoping opened the door of Communist China, and Jung—twenty-six years old and unstoppably curious, despite years of brainwashing— seized the propitious moment and became one of the first Chinese to leave the tightly sealed country and come to the West. Fly, Wild Swans chronicles her journey and that of her family, along with that of China, as it rose from a decrepit and isolated state to a world power challenging American dominance. During those decades, although she lives in the West, Jung's life intertwines with her native land in unexpected ways, a rare relationship made more complex because all her books are banned there. Her family story mirrors the ups and downs of China's transformation, right up to today, as it enters another watershed. Chairman Xi Jinping's attempt to return China to the anti-American Maoist past has a devastating impact on Jung's life: She is unable to go to her mother's deathbed. Fly, Wild Swans is Jung's love letter and emotional tribute to her extraordinary mother. Profoundly moving, it is filled with drama, love, curiosity and incredible history—both personal and global. Told in Jung's clear, honest and compelling voice, it is memoir writing at its best.
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Reviews
"In simple, straightforward prose, Chang describes in new detail the horrors her parents suffered through during China's Cultural Revolution ..."
"We see how events in China exert a push-pull effect on Ms."
"Nearly 35 years on from the book that made her name, this story of suffering and success has the air of a closing chapter, a reckoning with both her achievements and the cost of the path she chose."
"Wild Swans has a sequel at last – and it's a must-read."
"An essential, unexpectedly relevant account of a people divided and turned against themselves by politics."
"There is little revelation to be found here in Chang's reflections on modern China, but for those versed in her family history, this updated account is illuminating even as it retreads familiar ground."
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