Part of my quest to broaden my reading horizons...
⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Blurb:
In Canada in 1990, ten-year-old Marie and her mother invite a guest into their home: a young woman who has fled China in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square protests. Her name is Ai-ming.
As her relationship with Marie deepens. Ai-ming tells the story of her family in revolutionary China, from the crowded teahouses in the first days of Chairman Mao’s ascent to the Shangahi Conservatory in the 1960s and the events leading to the Beijing demonstrations of 1989. It is a history of revolutionary idealism, music and silence, in which three musicians, the shy and brilliant composer Sparrow, the violin prodigy Zhuli, and the enigmatic pianist Kai struggle during China’s relentless Cultural Revolution to remain loyal to one another and to the music they have devoted their lives to. Forced to re-imagine their artistic and private selves, their fates reverberate through the years, with deep and lasting consequences for Ai-ming – and for Marie
The Review
As well as always trying to read more (say hello to book 51 of this year), I've been on a bit of a quest to broaden my reading horizons. Particularly to read more female authors, more authors of colour, more prize winning/nominated fiction and more books that are out of my comfort zone. (i.e Anything that's not a psychological thriller then). I soon realised that this ticked all of the boxes and so despite this *really* not being my normal type of holiday read, I went for it.
I really do not read a lot of historical fiction. I've always struggled with books that relate to a real time in history, not knowing how much of it is based on truth and how much of it is embellished for artistic effect. I'm also not a history buff. So believe me when I say that my knowledge of modern Chinese history is somewhat limited. I was shamefully ignorant of the political and cultural struggles that went on, and what this really meant for the Chinese people. For basically teaching me more than I ever learnt at school, this book gets all the stars. BUT, I'm not rating it on it being a textbook for Chinese history. So lets talk about how this fares as a book to read for pure enjoyment. This book is the embodiment of what people mean when they say 'it's an epic tale'. It spans 3 generations of 2 Chinese families and slowly unveils how they are linked to each other. (I did sometimes find it slightly difficult to keep straight who was who). I felt that I really came away with an understanding of their political struggle and the political sentiment surrounding it, but ultimately I cared very little about any of the characters in this book. I just didn't feel invested in them and therefore some of the harrowing things they lived through didn't touch me like they should have. Having said that, I then sat by the pool, whilst on holiday, and spent a happy hour researching the Chinese cultural revolution - and that in a nutshell is the power of good fiction - to make you care for something you previously didn't give two hoots about. So on an educational level, I'm really pleased I read this book.