"REVOLUTION Is Not a Dinner Party"

     I really enjoyed this book! I didn’t have a lot of knowledge about the Chinese revolution before I read this book. I loved how I got to learn about the Chinese revolution through the mind of a child. When you are a child going through something as huge as a revolution, adults tend to keep you in the dark. My guess is trying to save the innocents, making sure that she isn’t exposed to the bad things but that is inevitable in this book. You can see this probably all around the world where parents keep their children out of the loop because of their age. They want the kids to be kids and let the grown-ups worry.

     I liked how at first the story was happy and cheerful. Ling and her father were very close and I thought it was awesome how close of a bond they had. One of my favorite parts was when he would let her put rubber bands in his hair while he read a magazine. That’s love right there. Even Ling could tell in the beginning that things were starting to change. Her mother was on edge most of the time and would always be scolding Ling. Ling didn’t fully understand why; she just thought something was wrong with her which made me sad.

     In the beginning I knew that Comrade Li was going to be a bad man. It was interesting again to see this through a child view. He would ask for groceries from them and in return he would do some magic tricks of fold “magical” origami birds. I could see how this would be enticing for a little girl. Being his neighbor she was one of the only people that were able to look inside Comrade Li’s apartment. She would see everyone’s mail stacked up and how perfectly neat his bead was made. This gave you a look into what type of person he was before all the bad things started to happen. As the story went on, I started to hate Comrade Li just like the little girl.

     This story was very powerful emotionally. The things that happened in this book to “build a better China” blew my mind. I could never imagine what I would do in their families’ situation.  It broke my heart when after Mr. and Mrs. Wong were taken to working camps they barged into Ling’s home and practically destroyed everything. I was on edge the whole time I was reading this part. The fact that they were trying to make they were trying to make the whole country into a bunch of robots. No one could have any choices. The fact that they ripped up Ling’s flower bed comforter just because it wasn’t the Chairman Mao revolutionary blue, made me sick. When they ripped apart Lings childhood, most prized possession right in front of her I felt her anger when she said “I hate you!!” At that moment I really did hate him just like Ling.