Bonnie A. (Mizzou) - reviewed on 7/29/2013 + 27 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 2

This was an amusing tale of "unintended consequences", in which a pair of 'urban' youths are sent to rural China for "reeducation" in the days of Mao-Tse Tung's Cultural Revolution". The youths' lives there as haulers of dung are made more bearable by their acquaintance with the local tailor's beautiful daughter, and their serendipitous discovery of a trove of literary classics, translated into Chinese. They use their talent at story-telling to gain the good will of the local villagers and particularly the 'little Chinese seamstress'. As the series of adventures and misadventures plays out, a remarkable switch of outlooks of the three young people takes place, that is nothing like what Chairman Mao had in mind!

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