Wild Swans by Jung Chang

I've finally finished it! Wild Swans was recently on a list of books that are started but not finished ... well, after about three months, I've finally finished it!

I think it's a case of "history being written by the victors", or at least history being retold by the literate. As she came towards the end of the book, with the descriptions of illiteracy being praised or prized, it seemed surprising that she was getting all the breaks, being able to go to school, to university, to get a job at the uni, to win the scholarship to the UK. But, of course, the reason she is able to write this book is precisely because it is her story.

I knew very little about Mao and Communist China before I read this book. I know a little more now ... it sounds a very harsh political climate, full of torture, thought police and lack of individuality. Chang is very descriptive, and many passages are very interesting.

But above all, it is a long book, that feels long.