Red Scarf Girl : A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution

Rating:
Summary: Two thumbs down
Review: This is one of the worst books I have ever read. We read it in one of my classes and most of my classmates hated it. Don't waste your money buying it. Don't waste your time reading it.

Rating:
Summary: High Recommendation
Review: The book Red Scarf Girl, A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution, was before I opened this book I was not sure of what it was about. I did not know much about the Cultural Revolution and I did not know if I was going to like it. From the second I opened the book I was hooked. For some reason it made me very interested in it and I found myself actually looking forward to reading it. I usually don't like to read anything other than car magazines and sports books but I actually enjoyed reading it. It showed me how things were during the Cultural Revolution, and what people went through. Even though this book was written by a Childs point of view the author really got her point across. Since this book was based on the early 1960's I think it gives a good perspective on how people were back then. In this book there is a lot of poverty that is shown. Throughout the book the girl, "Ji-Li Jiang has to over come the "fourold's," a group of vigilantes that are sent from the state to make sure that everyone is in fashionable wear. She explains that she does not even want to go to school because of this. This is one of the things that I learned from this book. I never thought that there would ever be fashion police. As I said before, this is just one of the hardships that Ji-Li Jiang over comes in this book. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to know more about the Cultural Revolution. However due to the depressing amounts of events that come in this book, I would not recommend it to someone as a fun read.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: When I was in China for school, our teacher gave us an assignment to read this book. I thought: Wow! A new book to read! I of course loved to read. At that time, we were studying China History. So, he gave me the book and I read in 2 days! Even my friend who hated to read and write loved the book. My fellow classmates also loved it. If you are thinking of buying this book, don't hesitate! BUY IT!

Rating:
Summary: A book that will make you evaluate your own life and freedom
Review: I have learned more about the cultural revolution and the history of China from this book than I ever did in a history class. Although this book was written for children/youths, I am in my mid-twenties and was hooked once I opened the book. The symbolism in this book is very powerful (a sign called prosperity is taken down and axed to promote revolutionist ideas). This book helped me gain compassion for those in China who were humiliated, abused, and victimized as a result of the revolution. What a powerful book! As a future English teacher, I hope to teach this book in my class and also highly recommend it for a history teacher to use. Ji-li Jiang is an exceptional writer that lets us see the cultural revolution from the eyes of a child. A must read.

Rating:
Summary: Red Scarf Girl
Review: When Ji-young was a little boy his grandmother had told him about a distant uncle who was living in China during the Cultral Revolution. He promised to send a picture of himself to his relatives in America. He was happy he stood and when sad he would be sitting. When he grew older he went West to China, he learnd more.
The community worked for the benifet of the poor.
I would recomend this story to any Middle School student. I would recomend it to any Middle School student because it is a really good book I liked it because it was easy to read and understand.

Rating:
Summary: My Opinion of Red Scarf Girl
Review: Red Scarf Girl was thought provoking and compelling book. The book is a memoir of one girl's experiences during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, a movement launched by the Communist government and its leader Chairman Mao, to purge China of people who did not follow the Communist ideals. At the start of the book the protagonist, a young girl named Ji-Li, is a Communist Party poster child. She believes in Chairman Mao and dreams of a career in the Chinese government. When she learns that her grandfather was a landlord (a group scorned by the government) she considers renouncing her family to follow the Communist party.
While reading Red Scarf Girl I often felt annoyed at Ji-Li because of her blind faith in the Communist party despite the horror going on around her, and I was impatient for her to come to her senses. Even so, it must have taken great strength for Ji-Li to write what she felt at the time because she seriously contemplated leaving her family, almost changing her name so she wouldn't be associated with them. Events of the Cultural Revolution are not always pleasant to read, but the book was hard to put down. By the end of the story I had gained a greater understanding and appreciation for the people such as Ji-Li who had to make those impossible choices. I thought that Red Scarf Girl was engrossing and memorable and I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Well Worth the Time
Review: Red Scarf Girl by Ji-Li Jiang is like a cross between The Dear America Series and The Diary of Anne Frank. It is a personal memoir, is relatively grim, but has a much better ending than the one of Anne Frank, as we all know it. Red Scarf Girl has some points that can't be found in either of these books. For example, young Ji-li is naive about the fact that she is the victim in her story. She is being brainwashed by others who have blindly sided with Chairman Mao, the communist leader of the Cultural Revolution. He was an idol for many people. In fact, as Ji-Li says, he was an idol of her own.
Jiang's story is a one of a kind memoir; people may even say it has a genre of its own. She tells her experiences in great detail both happy and sad. You can equally picture the joy she feels when she is offered a revolutionary position as her sadness when her father refuses to let her accept. Your emotions change with hers. When she is sad because her father is being reeducated, you're sad because her father is being reeducated. When she is happy because she is going to the best junior high school, you're happy because she is going to the best junior high school.
Any questions readers have during their reading they will find answered by the end of the main story or at least in the epilogue. The story is what I can call a F.E.F. Fascinating, Exiting, and Fantastic! How Ji-Li Jiang managed to tell her story so eloquently I may never know, but she did.

Rating:
Summary: A Sad, But Great Story That Will Have You Crying
Review: Jiang Ji-Li has it all. She's popular, is in the top of her class, and has a great future in China's Communist Party. But, in 1966, all of that changes. In 1966, Chairman Mao started the Cultural Revolution, which changed Ji-li's life. Because of her grandfather and her father, Ji-li is considered "black" (one with bad family backgrounds or not on Mao's side) and scorned apon. Th entire book is about her and her struggle to become "red" (opposite of black).

Rating:
Summary: Gripping Story and a must read
Review: I happened on this book in the children's section of a bookstore while on vacation and decided to read it. All I can is that everyone young and old should read it. Ji-Li tells a story that is both heartbreaking and tense with drama, but also one of courage and determination. If you take your present polictical freedoms for granted you need to read this. If you think that similiar situations could not take place in the USA, you need to read this book and think again. Great reading is not just for esacpe, this book will make you think.

Rating:
Summary: The Good Ending
Review: I think this book was good, an had a lot of good details to help the story go on.My faverit persn was Jang Ji Li she was brave though out the story. The funniest part in the story was when Ji-Li put the letter in the litter box,an the cat peed on it. I would recomend this book to someone who thinks they have a bad life