Message from an unknown chinese mother Xinran

This was next to read on my bookshelf having been passed to me a while ago from my auntie. It was a thin book which greatly appealed to me following on from SPQR.

As a mother to three girls I found the stories of Chinese women killing their new born baby girls because they were not male absolutely heart breaking. This was a non fiction book and it honestly had me in tears at the thought of all those tiny babies being dumped in slop buckets or smothered by their own mother's.

I did find the structure of the book and the narration slightly weak. The arc of the book just didn't seem to fit right and the random letters at the end made me think it would have benefited from further editing.

There were some horrifically sad, sad stories in this book, certainly do not read if you are feeling slightly emotional. I can't say I enjoyed the book (I challenge anyone who does) but don't think it was in depth enough to really provide the platform against the importance of a male heir, the terrible conditions in chinese orphanages and the harrowing fates of the baby girls that it should/could have been.

For that reason I don't recommend it, it left hideous images without the knowledge or impetus to do anything further. I'm left feeling uncomfortable, disturbed yet slightly helpless which is no good to anyone least of all to those poor children.

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Lock down book club - books from a different country

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Cramlington Book Club

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