Date: December 30th, 2025 1:48 PM Author: Unholy Fragrant Indian Lodge
I read swans for about 150 pages and just gave up on it. I might download it on Kindle to have something to read on the subway but otherwise it's entirely descriptive of daily events.
It is more of a story than most history books are, so I think that might have been a relief to me back then but today is hard to read "she ate rice. She cooked the rice in a claypot and ate it. She didn't have other things to eat but she had rice'
Date: December 30th, 2025 1:54 PM Author: alcoholic bearded halford
tbh I remember it as being MUCH more interesting than that. I read it around when it first came out so late 1990s I guess. It was the first time I (and really much of the world) had been exposed to that hidden part of history and I recall being fascinated and just absorbing the whole thing. Same with her later book about Mao. It all seemed like this incredible revelation. I'll look at it again some time, maybe on re-reading it will seem much more humdrum.
Date: December 30th, 2025 2:00 PM Author: Unholy Fragrant Indian Lodge
It's pretty flat. I might end up rereading the whole thing bc I didn't get past the grandmother's story but basically she couldn't walk much because her feet were bound and she ate rice and didn't like her husband. Daughter becomes a communist.
There's so little character development that it's kind of hard to read. Just like a really long wiki article
Date: December 30th, 2025 2:03 PM Author: alcoholic bearded halford
I most remember the bits that come next from where you are now, with the mother being a red guard and the Great Leap Forward and the cultural revolution and all that stuff
Date: December 30th, 2025 2:11 PM Author: Unholy Fragrant Indian Lodge
K I think I'll put it on my phone and just read it occasionally.
I also remember it being much better than this but like I said, it might just be that I was so accustomed to reading straight history books that this might have felt like a relief. It isn't now though