A Vivid Understanding

Sijie's novel, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, allows it's readers to truly engage themselves into the history when learning about the re-education system. Learning about the time of Mao's Cultural Revolution in the form on a fictional book provides a more personal feel making the history behind it more alluring to the reader. What appeals to me most about learning the history within this novel, is the idea that we our following the journey of the two boys who are going through this process themselves. These everyday encounters that the two boys go through, helped me understand what it was like living within the re-education system in a more vivid way. It entices me how we get to witness the true atmosphere what it was truly like living in this time period on a more personal account rather than reading a textbook with strait facts. I am excited to learn more and continue to follow the journey of these two village boys to see what happens next!