This is truly one of the best books I have ever read. By turns informative, heartbreaking, funny, and fascinating, this book follows the story of the author's family as they try to live and survive in communist China.
The story focuses on the lives of Chang's grandmother, a concubine to a warlord general, Chang's mother, an official in the communist party, and Chang herself, a curious girl growing up during the Cultural Revolution. The story also takes asides into other family member's lives, as well as the local and national history of the time.
Chang does something truly amazing with this book: she makes China's recent history come alive through the eyes of her family. From the terrible (her father's imprisonment in a "Thought Reform" Camp) to the beautiful (her grandmother's second marriage), Chang writes simply, truthfully, and with such honesty that you can't help but get caught up in her past.
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