Snow Falling in Spring Review (Moying Li)

Moying Li is twelve years old when the Cultural Revolution sweeps across China. Studying at a prestigious language school in Beijing, she seems destined for a promising future. But everything changes when student Red Guards orchestrate brutal assaults, public humiliations, and forced confessions throughout the country. After watching her headmasters beaten in public, Moying flees school for the safety of home, only to find her beloved grandmother denounced, her house ransacked, and her baba taken away - along with his precious books. Struggling to make sense of her crumbling world, she finds sanctuary in literature. But with many schools shut down and most books forbidden, how can she keep her passion for learning alive? 


This book really makes you appreciate living in a country where you still have freedom. Again, this isn't a made-up story; it's a biography written by Moying Li. Her precise writing and insight into China - along with the blend of various Chinese words (and there is an index in the back for easy lookup) - make it a very interesting and easy read.

But it is also a hard read - especially for those who love books. Since it is during the Cultural Revolution, plenty of books are destroyed in the story, and those are very hard passages for any book-lover to read. The crimes committed by the Red Guard are horrendous; it left me staring in shock that they could get by with such monstrosities. It's not surprising, but every time I read a true account about such things, it always has the shocking effect on me. It left me feeling a little scared. My worst nightmare is to have my freedom taken away.

I don't really have anything negative to say about Snow Falling in Spring. It is very well-written, very engaging, very informative, and a strong recommendation from myself. I certainly intend to buy it.
 

Star Rating: 5/5 (this book was amazing)