Finding good books is tough. Yes, I belong to a book club and that helps but the best way, for me, is when someone who knows me well says, "Here, read this book. You'll like it."
A while back my friend, Charlotte handed me the book "Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress" and said, "Here, read this book. You'll like it."
It takes place during the Chinese re-education program that started in 1966 and lasted for ten years. The revolution was intended to stamp out educated people, and go back to old ideas.
More specifically, the idea was to wipe out books.
Two teen aged boys are sent into the mountains to be re-educated through hard labor. But they are smart and mischievous and along the way they manage to steal some great books, including books by Balzac and "The Count of Monte Cristo." The boys are great at story-telling so, for the most part, the people in the villages love them. Especially the Little Chinese Seamstress. And both of them fell in love with her.
Each chapter in this little book is a sweet, funny, sometimes terrifying story about their adventures. To me, it's almost totally a story about the power of books to change our lives.
And, as for the boys, they were right about the Little Chinese Seamstress never being the same again. In the end she is empowered by the stories and leaves everything behind, including the boys, to find a better life for herself.
And I can personally relate to the Little Chinese Seamstress.
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