The Secondhand Experience

My mom grew up in the period following Mao's death, when the re-education and cultural revolution was winding down so all of her childhood stories weren't during this period, and she had a fairly peaceful childhood.  Reading this much more exciting and dynamic account of the time period is very interesting to me, because I've never really learned much about China's recent history beforehand.  Its definitely a much more personal experience reading a book, even if its fictional, than learning about it from a wikipedia or a lecture.