Journal Entry 1 by taniazed on Sunday, June 27, 2004

Trade paperback size.
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(from the back cover...)
BASED ON LULU WANG'S OWN EXPERIENCES, A BREATHTAKING NOVEL OF INTELLECTUAL AND EMOTIONAL AWAKENING IN CHINA DURING THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION.

In Mao's China, Lian's family has lost its prominence and is considered beneath contempt. Just as Lian forms a friendship with Kim, a reviled outcast of the third caste - though ironically now decreed the highest class - Lian's father is transferred to a remote province, and her mother, a historian, is forced into a re-education camp. When Lian becomes ill, her headstrong mother secures permission for Lian to join her in the prison camp where, despite the gruelling conditions, she has the educational opportunity of a lifetime: several of the nation's leading imprisoned scholars teach her what she would never have learned at school. In a corner of the camp she finds a place to recite her politically condemned lessons and thus discovers her own voice, a place she calls 'the Lily Theatre'.

Returning from the camp to Kim, Lian struggles to reconnect wth her friend. But their fierce closeness cannot alter the rigid caste system still reigning in Communist China, and their lives turn as chaotic as their turbulent country.

With unflinching honesty, Lulu Wang captures the coarse reality of Maoist China, startlingly offset by the deeply moving story of two girls who fight the odds to preserve their friendship.
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Offered up as a book ring
 

Journal Entry 2 by taniazed on Thursday, August 26, 2004

Members...

*Lpree (Maryland, USA) Intl
*Amanida (UK) Intl
*tantan (Queensland, AUSTRALIA) Australia (Intl. if needed Asia/Europe, UK
preferred) *BOOK IS HERE*
 

Journal Entry 3 by taniazed at by mail in To the next participant, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases on Tuesday, October 19, 2004

Released 7 yrs ago (10/19/2004 UTC) at by mail in To the next participant, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

RELEASE NOTES:

released to Lpree to start the ring! 

Journal Entry 4 by Lpree from Omaha, Nebraska USA on Monday, October 25, 2004

This arrived in today's mail. I have some other bookrings ahead of it but will read as quickly as I can. Please check my profile to see where I am in my reading list as well as an expected finish date for this book.

UPDATE 11/02 - I started this book last night and was immediately drawn into the story. I hope to finish this in a few days. 

Journal Entry 5 by Lpree from Omaha, Nebraska USA on Monday, November 08, 2004

I finished this book last night and enjoyed it quite a lot. I had recently read another book (via bookring) about this time period - "Red Scarf Girl" so it was interesting to read another perspective. I didn't really know much about Chinese history at all, so I found this book to be very interesting. The one horrible story she tells about the monkeys in the marketplace will be forever etched in my brain, unfortunately. But I'm really glad I read this book.

Thanks very much to taniazed for the opportunity to read this. I will PM the next person in line and hope to mail the book out this week.

UPDATE 11/10 - This was sent surface mail to Amanida today. 

Journal Entry 6 by Amanida from Chertsey, Surrey United Kingdom on Friday, December 17, 2004

Just received - thanks! 2 other rings arrived just before, but I hope to read it over the holidays. 

Journal Entry 7 by Amanida from Chertsey, Surrey United Kingdom on Saturday, January 08, 2005

Read mainly on the beach at Koh Samui, whilst the tsunami hit the other side of Thailand, and thanking buddha that we didn't go to Phuket.
Enjoyed the book mucho - the writing & language is great and the insight into Mao's China stunning. The shocking story is told in such a matter of fact way.
Off to tantan when I get the address. 

Journal Entry 8 by tantan from Gympie, Queensland Australia on Tuesday, January 18, 2005

I'm looking forward to this one! It's a couple down on the TBR pile, but I'll get to it as soon as I can. 

Journal Entry 9 by tantan from Gympie, Queensland Australia on Tuesday, February 01, 2005

I finished this last night, and I enjoyed it a lot. It took me awhile to get into at first. The story just felt a little bit 'same-ish' compared to some of the other books that I've read set in China around this time, but as I got into Wang's story I began to see the differences and really appreciate what she (and all the other people who lived in China during that time, too) went through. Definitely an eye-opening read.

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Edit February 3rd, 2005
Posted to taniazed today in a prepaid postage bag.