The Little Red Guard: A Family Memoir

In his memoir of growing up during the waning years of the Cultural Revolution, Wenguang Huang frames his experiences around one all-pervasive family event -- his grandmother's funeral.  Though traditional burials were officially banned by the state, Huang Ma asserts her authority and over the course of the author's childhood, manages to persuade the family to build a coffin and secure a grave site in her ancestral village.  Huang's narrative is a mix of bittersweet coming-of-age story and a portrait of a society that is changing at a rapid pace.  HM

A Few Words For A Big Idea

How do you accurately describe a country of so many contradictions?  In his first non-fiction work to be translated into English, writer Yu Hua attempts to do just that.  China in Ten Words is part personal memoir, part social and political commentary.  The book is divided into ten chapters centered around ten Chinese phrases that Yu expounds upon with vignettes from his childhood and early adult life.  This was a surprisingly quick read, providing a glimpse into the cultural fabric of a country where opposites not only exist, but flourish.  HM

Go Get 'Em Tiger

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua stereotypes the Chinese and Western ways of parenting. While Ms. Chua acknowledges that you don't have to be Chinese to be a "Chinese Mother" she still boasts throughout the book that the drive for excellence in children is more Chinese than Western. If you can get past this then the book is actually an enjoyable memoir and a quick and interesting read. If you would like insight into a mother who is truly a tiger, pushing her children to the extremes with an iron-will, but not without humor and mishaps along the way, then this book is for you. SG