Dreams of Joy

Dreams of Joy by Lisa See
CD Book Shelves - Main Level - SEE

Dreams of Joy by Lisa See
Adult New Book Display - Main Level - SEE

I listened to the audio version of this book, which was fantastic! The reader, Janet Song, was amazing. She captured the emotions of the characters perfectly.

This is the sequel to Shanghai Girls. It picks up with Pearl's daughter Joy, who grew up in Los Angeles, but fled to communist China to help them with the "Great Leap Forward" under Mao Zedong. She had idealist visions of communism, and was a quite disillusioned by what was actually happening when she got there. The book does not sugar-coat the famine, the violence toward village workers, or the scandalous government dealings. Joy made a few life-changing decisions that she had to find a way out of, risking death.

I loved Shanghai Girls and this book was great too. It is not for the faint of heart because it tells it as it really happened, fictionalized in a way that tears at our heart strings. We get to know the characters - some we despise and some we love - and it makes for an emotional reading experience. Highly recommended, but read Shanghai Girls first!