This book was incredible! It really helped doing research on the revolution before opening this book up. Although the book refers back to the revolution constantly, it doesn't really explain all of the events that took place or who Mao was and what his goal was.
The author of this book wrote this book regarding her own experience during the revolution which makes this book all the more powerful because as a reader, I know that the emotions I feel and am reading about were real. Parts of the book were fictionalized, but I truly believe Ying tried to keep the story as close to hers as she could.
This book was a fairly quick read, the chapters were long, but overall it was easy to get attached to Ling, her family, and her childhood experience. Within the book the reader experiences happiness, sadness, anger, love, hope, and despair!
While reading this book, I found myself getting extremely frustrated for Ling. She so badly wanted her questions answered and everyone close to her was being taken away or was hushing her. That would just kill me! I can't imagine having to experience the loss and the depression she did before turning 10! That just baffles me! What's really sad is that this actually happened, there were probably a lot of kids that had to deal with the pain of loss and hopelessness at a young age.
I was very impressed with how even though Ling had just about everything ripped away from her she stayed strong for her and her mother. Ling stepped up and took on roles that no child should have to, and she excelled in them. While being bullied at school, she still went, and she still tried to stay positive, that is just incredible to me!
What I will take away from this book is that even in the midst of darkness, people can find the hope and courage to carry them and their loved ones. Ling was probably one of many "heroes" who had to endure Mao's craziness, but her story is published and can be appreciated by people everywhere. Hope can always be found.
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