Book Thoughts: Bend Not Break and Its Impact

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  Recently, I read the book Bend Not Break by Ping Fu as an extra credit project for my AP Language Arts class (I was not very excited at first, as one of my weird quirks as an avid reader is a dislike of reading for school).However, I found myself actually enjoying Ping Fu's story.

  The narrative chronicles her younger years growing up under Mao's dictatorship in communist China, arriving in America as a young adult after the Chinese government ejected her from China, and succeeding as the entrepreneurial creator of Geomagic.
Ping Fu chooses to tell her story by switching back and forth between two narratives: one taking place in China and the other in the United States. The former begins with her early childhood living in Shanghai, and the latter opens with her arrival in the United States as a young adult. Throughout all the hardships she endures in both China and the States, Ping Fu is able to produce a story that is threaded with hope and an astonishing lack of bitterness.
This book had quite a profound effect on me, especially regarding the parts of the book detailing her life in China. She is forced to live under conditions that no adult, let alone a child, should endure: while simultaneously being forced into premature adulthood. For instance, over the period of two days, she is torn away from her mother and life in Shanghai, told that her aunt is actually her mother, and is removed to her birth family's hometown. She arrives just in time to see her birth parents hauled away in a truck headed to a labor camp, and is left with the responsibility of caring for her younger cousin (who is her younger sister).
  Taken as a whole, I strongly recommend this book, as 1) it is quite an easy read 2) it offers a taste of growing up under Mao and 3) it ends with hope, not bitterness (which is great as I'm the type who likes most of my reads to end happily). So, if you are interested in an easy read full of information about China, or you just don't have anything on your reading list, I strongly encourage you to give Ping Fu a shot.  

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