PositiveThe Christian Science MonitorThe 350-page memoir, half in prose and half in color drawings, is a vivid, at times intimate, portrait of a changing China ... The perspective of a KMT soldier—something China\'s censors still limit today—will be an eye-opener for many readers, especially young people of Chinese descent around the world ... Pingru’s drawings recall illustrations in classic Chinese novels. These are \'wide-angle shots\' that situate characters and action in a larger environment ... \'Close-ups\' are rarer but striking ... Despite these powerful snapshots, much of Pingru’s life from the 1960s and 70s—a censored topic in China—is left unexplored. Mao’s name is never mentioned, nor the abuse of prisoners in labor camps, nor the decade-long Cultural Revolution ... As we read Our Story, we should keep in mind that it offers only a glimpse of some of the past century’s worst atrocities.
Timothy Snyder
PositiveThe Christian Science MonitorThough slim enough to fit in your pocket, this bestseller repeatedly drives home a sobering thesis: 'Americans today are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism or communism in the twentieth century' ... should oppression one day arrive, Snyder advises us to stay calm and 'stand out.' Snyder’s rich text, which deserves multiple readings, could anchor us in such moments.
