An engrossing new book that meticulously reports on a country in the throes of change.

It is the tale of a unique time and an intimate picture of what it was like to live through, and learn to navigate, the storm..

Yang, whose narratives are culled from interviews and diaries, represents these women honestly, but as a result, the writing can be flat.

The riveting book that results from Yang’s persistence is a powerful snapshot of four young Chinese women attempting to assert control over the direction of their lives, escape the narrow confines of their patriarchal rural roots and make it in the big city.

Yuan Yang weaves together the stories of these four women with aplomb, mostly withholding explicit commentary, so that connections and insights emerge from the storylines organically, without the author telling you what to think. Some of the writing is striking.

Through these interlocking biographical sketches, Yang offers a fresh interpretation of the ongoing nature of China’s many upheavals, the actual effects of its oft-discussed policies, the cost of its meteoric economic growth, and the role a new generation of women is poised to play..