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I had high hopes for this, but they were dashed, and I gave up halfway through the third word. I got through "people" and "leader" and didn't finish "reading." A more accurate title would be Memories of my young childhood years during the Cultural Revolution with occasional mention of later years. I didn't get much of the promised insight into China; he was very young on the time he focuses on, and due to the time period, the Mao cult is central, so there wasn't much about the contemporary situation. Plus the writing is clunky. That could be due to translation, but I didn't see mention of a translator. Or it could just be that the book is really great but didn't grab me.
It was a clever organizational scheme though. Maybe DM could do something like that with ten weapons (for his martial memoir) or ten concerts (for his RM memoir).
the hands that guide me are invisible
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I was thinking of reading this. Well, I think about reading a lot of stuff but I read so much crap for work that I seldom read for pleasure anymore as y'all can see by my book list here (like tQ doesn't review her romance novels, I don't post all the martial arts books I read because y'all get enough of my ranting here already).
Back when I worked on newsstand mag covers, having numbers in the cover blurbs was critical. Having numbers in the headlines is also a play, something I'm tempted to do for Den occasionally. It's a nice frame and that's a great idea for my great American novels that I'll never get around to writing...
Shadow boxing the apocalypse
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It could be that it hit me at the wrong time and didn't resonate. For a quicker read about a child's experiences in the Cultural Revolution, I'd recommend Red Scarf Girl by Ji-Li Jang. She's 12 when it starts, so she knows more of what's going on.
the hands that guide me are invisible
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I interviewed several survivors of the CR in person. It had a profound affect on the wulin.
One of my favorite masters told me of how she was incarcerated early on. She was confined to solitary, only let out once a day for some exercise but she couldn't do martial arts. Then she noticed that the guards were getting more and more lax. Then they were no longer guarding her, just leaving food and supplies for basic needs. She started to venture out on her own ad eventually just walked away. It reminded me of V for Vendetta.
She wouldn't let me retell that story in print. I respect that. A lot of the best CR stories I was not permitted to share publicly. And those stories are so insane.
She was a classmate of Jet Li. Greg & the cfs do not know her.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse
