#25 in Biography & memoir
Wild Swans
- 562
- Pages
- about 10 h
- Reading time
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Our view
“Wild Swans” tells a century of Chinese history through three women of one family: the author’s grandmother, her mother and herself. Private lives and public upheaval are joined into a single story, from a warlord’s concubine to the Cultural Revolution. Some readers call it beautifully written and unforgettable. More than five hundred and fifty pages, with dark chapters among them, it is moving and informative in equal measure.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China is a family history that spans a century, recounting the lives of three female generations in China, by Chinese writer Jung Chang. First published in 1991, Wild Swans contains the biographies of her mother and her grandmother, then finally her own autobiography. Her grandmother had bound feet and was married off at a young age as the concubine of a high-status warlord. Chang's mother rose in status as a member of the Chinese Communist Party. Chang took part in the Cultural Revolution as a member of the Red Guards, but eventually her father was tortured and she was sent to the countryside for thought reform. Later, she earned a scholarship to study in England, where she still lives.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.6 across 134 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 48% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Biography & memoir average of 8.1. That is how 8.4 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 9.0 | 10 | 8% |
| Hardcover | 8.6 | 124 | 93% |
Frequently asked
How long is Wild Swans?
It has 562 pages — longer than 94% of the ranked books in Biography & memoir.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Biography & memoir — with scores between 8.2 and 8.5, closest to this book.
