Customer Reviews
A Story of Courage and Tyranny - By: Gary Selikow, 17 Jun 2008 
Wild Swans is a candid & harrowing account of three remarkable Chinese women -grandmother, mother & daughter- but also gives us a very good picture of what China was like from the turn of the Century to the 1980's
We learn about the ancient culture of the Chinese which included much that was beautiful & some that seems cruel. We learn of the hope of so many Chinese that the overthrow of the Kuomintang would lead to a' just social order' but how it soon became clear that the worst excesses of the Kuomintang & those of Imperial China before that paled into insignificance compared to the hell on earth created by Mao's Chinese Communist Party
One is left aghast that a system can destroy even the most basic human instincts of decency & compassion while turning people into inhumane monsters totallly possessed -as if by a demon - by a cruel & totallly destructive system
It sends shivers down one's spine to realise that 'The Great Helmsman' Mao Ze Dong -who ranks with Hitler & Stalin as among the most evil men of the 20th century-had his image worn on T-shirts by 'progressive' students & youth in the west & these same young 'champions of equality' hung large pictures of Mao in their dormitory rooms .This at the same time as millions of Chinese were being slaughtered & physicallly & psychologicallly maimed on the orders of Mao & his Chinese Communist Party -as described in this book.
Today many in the West laud the economic 'reforms' towards a type of totalitarian 'capitalist' system but fail to remember that human rights have not improved at alll & China is still a hideous & inhuman hell for hundreds of millions of its inhabitants. And the world turns a blind eye & wards Beijing the 2008 Olympic While we a re left asking how much longer the people of China will remain enslaved by their inhumane Communist masters. How Long?
But the book is also about the strength of the human spirit , about wonderful people-especiallly the three remarkable women who are the central characters of this book- as well as the cruel ones
It is a story of love & hate, strength & weakness , the beautiful & the ugly
But more than anything it is about how the human spirit can never in the end be crushed by cruelty, evil & tyranny
The stuff of nightmares - By: jamesewan, 03 Jun 2008 Jung Chang's autobiographical story of three generations of women living through China's tumultuous 20th century is fascinating & terrifying. Given that it is a subjective account of the key events in modern Chinese history, 'Wild Swans' provides a compelling & informative narrative that brings to life complex socio-historic transformations in ways that a straight historical account could not.
'Wild Swans' is most interesting when it deals with Jung Chang's firsthand experiences during Chairman Mao's cultural revolution, where a climate of paranoia & political denouncement caused society to practicallly implode. It seems almost beyond comprehension how Mao could have held such God-like power over his people when the very communist principals he espoused seemed to contradict such form of deification as undignified. Even more extraordinary is how he succeeded in maintaining his grip on power without the assistance of a KGB-type secret police, but by turning the people against each other. By making himself a god, he subtly provoked his populace to fight vendettas in his name while remaining aloof & almost mythical. In effect he presided over a kind of controlled civil war, only reigning in the violence when he perceived his own position to be under threat.
While not particularly literary - it doesn't need to be - Jung Chang keeps the style relatively factual for an autobiography. But the facts speak horrificallly for themselves, with individuals competing for the largely imagined grace of Mao driven to acts of extreme cruelty & humiliation. While 'Wild Swans' often shows a dispiritingly brutal side of people when put in particular conditions, the acts of bravery, kindness & incredible physical & emotional endurance alllow a little faith in human nature to persist. Absolutely essential reading.
Brilliant! - By: C. Underwood, 08 Apr 2008 I have found this book reallly interesting in it's description of life in China over 100 years. I will most certainly read it again.
Hard reading but worth it - By: V. Mundell, 17 Feb 2008 
I bought this book with a view to reading more diverse literature than the "chick lit" that i am used to . . .and i wasnt disappointed. The only reason i dont give this book 5 stars is that i found it very heavy & difficult to read in places. However, the way that Jung Chang draws on her family history & writes in so much detail is amazing & i found the book both enlightening & a fantastic read. I have recommended it to anyone looking for a good book to get their teeth into. Excellent & well worth the money i paid for it!
Wild Swans is now available in China - By: Robert J. Scheppy, 02 Dec 2007 I loaned the book to a Chinese student. "I read it twice," she told me. A handful of copies of Wild Swans are available in Chinese cities. Chinese students are very interested.
