A remarkable tour de force
4 stars
The author has managed something rare. Using simple everyday words all along he succeeds very well in giving us a poignant story of simple people during difficult times. I've spoken Mandarin for a long time but was, up to 3 months ago, illiterate (Chinese has 86 000 characters, the average person knowing around 4000). My reading level is now upper mid-level and I could read the whole book and understand it all.