Forbidden City
| Modern Age |
|---|
 Forbidden City
|
| Content Warning |
|---|
| adult/minor relationship, rape, death, war, violence, suicide, misogyny, death of a parent, child death |
World History > Modern Age > China
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, PopSugar • Longlisted for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize
On the eve of China’s Cultural Revolution and her sixteenth birthday, Mei dreams of becoming a model revolutionary. When the Communist Party recruits girls for a mysterious duty in the capital, she seizes the opportunity to escape her impoverished village. It is only when Mei arrives at the Chairman’s opulent residence—a forbidden city unto itself—that she learns that the girls’ job is to dance with the Party elites. Ambitious and whip-smart, Mei beelines toward the Chairman.
Mei gradually separates herself from the other recruits to become the Chairman’s confidante—and paramour. While he fends off political rivals, Mei faces down schemers from the dance troupe who will stop at nothing to take her place and the Chairman’s imperious wife, who has secret plans of her own.
When the Chairman finally gives Mei a political mission, she seizes it with fervor, but the brutality of this latest stage of the revolution makes her begin to doubt all the certainties she has held so dear.
Forbidden City is an epic yet intimate portrayal of one of the world’s most powerful and least understood leaders during this extraordinarily turbulent period in modern Chinese history. Mei’s harrowing journey toward truth and disillusionment raises questions about power, manipulation, and belief, as seen through the eyes of a passionate teenage girl.
Emily's Review
This book was gorgeous, sad, and so very heavy. We follow Mei, a young peasant girl, through her formative years as she comes to terms with the fact that the Chairman is just a man who uses her to start a revolution. The writing is beautiful and a great insight into the early days of the Cultural Revolution in China and the devastation it caused across the country.
My only caveat is that this book is very uncomfortable and depressing. We are reading about a girl who is chosen to be part of a troupe of teenage girls who travel around with the Chairman for entertainment. They dance with him and sleep with him. It takes Mei a while to let go of her starry-eyed visions of being a revolutionary hero and accept that she is just a tool for the Chairman and that her life holds no more meaning for him than any other. There are also several uncomfortable sex scenes, quite a lot of violence and deaths. It is an uncomfortable read with many content warnings, but I think it is worth reading.
The story is very well-researched and has a fantastic sense of time and place. I highly recommend this book if you are interested in this time period and want an authentic read.
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