A remarkably honest and open memoir about growing up in China and coming of age during the 1989 Tiananmen protests. Although the author did not take part in them she was aware of the brutality with which they were put down. What I found fascinating about this memoir was that it gave a portrait of a woman moving into the middle class. So many Chinese memoirs concentrate on the poverty in the countryside, the hardships of surviving in a rural environment, whereas this one is about someone who went to University, who gained employment with foreign companies, who witnessed the growth of international trade, and who later on lived, studied and worked abroad. Some of her behaviour and decision-making might seem alien to a western readership, but what I gained from the book was a deeper understanding of what life in China was like for ordinary, but not necessarily underprivileged, people during this turbulent time, and how their decision making was informed by the growth of China as an economic powerhouse. A very readable and compelling autobiography.

Inconvenient Memories
A Personal Account
 of the Tiananmen Square Incident
and the China Before and After
by Anna Wang


Purple Pegasus

Biographies & Memoirs ,
History
Pub Date 15 May 2019


I am reviewing a copy of  Inconvenient Memories:  A Personal Account of the Tianamen Square Incident through Purple Peagasus and Netgalley:


I was not quite twelve when the events of Tiananmen square took place, I'd watch them unfold on the news programs, probably not thinkinking much of it, because it seemed like a world away from my home in Northern California, but as I grew older I started to get a better idea that they were fighting for something important, something that we took for granted.


In 1989 Anna Wang  was coming of age amidst the Tianamen Square Protests.  She was one of the lucky ones because she was working for Cannon, at the time, everyday she would have to travel between her Grandmothers commune style apartment, that was falling apart, to an extravagant office just steps from Tianamen square.  Traveling Bejing's buses that were always overcrowded where the social and economic equalities were laid out before her eyes.


Anna Wang was sent to Tianamen square on a daily basis because her Japanese boss worried how these protests would effect his business, she would take pictures so her boss could analyze the situation in Tianamen square.


Told from the perspective of a woman from China'emerging middle class Inconvenient Memories is an eye opening story of the events that took place in Tianamen Square in 1989.


I give Inconvenient Memories five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

This is a must read book for any history lover told first hand from the beginning of the protests i read it in one day

3.5/5

A memoir focusing on a more recent (30th anniversary) event in Chinese history; the Tiananmen massacre. As far as America’s involvement was concerned with this occurrence, sanctions were imposed, but it was far more tragic. Hunger strikes, ruthless military personnel, and hostile business practices from close international partners affecting the marked are some of the overall consequences mentioned here.

Anna Wang, a former citizen of the People’s Republic of China, played many roles in Tiananmen-daughter, granddaughter, and Cannon employee to name a few, and this is her story. She meshes up the usual details included in many memoirs of this subject including national history, politics, and her personal family life. These details were enticing, and Anna provides an interesting narrative at times, using intimate Chinese literature and art references that parallels the overall tone of Tiananmen.

As I stated earlier, Anna has many roles in this, and at times they become puzzling. She is strong, courageous, and caring, but was she an observer, sympathizer, or supporter of the cause? She has all of the facts, but doesn’t reveal how impactful they were. Readers gather some sentimental value in the preface, when Anna reminisces about an event with Canadian customs, but it this emotional force doesn’t transition with her memories of China.

Still worth checking out. Thanks to NetGalley for the downloadable ebook. Here is my honest review.

A beautiful, heartbreaking memoir told with such grace and honesty. Passion and aching for finding her home, the author has given us an outstanding portrait into what it’s like to be an immigrant, to be Chinese, and to be a survivor of the memories of home. She also includes unflinching narratives of what it was like to grow up and live in China and the censorship, and her experience with the Tiananmen Square Massacre as well.

When we study those big moments of History — the revolutions, the wars, the bloodshed — sometimes it’s easy to only focus on the enormous impact they had in society as a whole.

This books does a brilliant job of reminding us that those events happened to people. Real people with dreams and hopes and sorrows who had to live through the consequences of those events. Regular people, who were just studying or going to work. Bystanders, in a way, but so completely immersed and affected by those grand moments of History.

The writing is very beautiful, very real. The picture the author paints us of her life — all the different stages of it — is so very rich! I was very much transported into her world and life and it was an amazing experience.

Definitely worth the read!

Thanks netgalley for the free copy!

Inconvenient Memories: A Personal Account of the Tiananmen Square Incident and the China Before and After is an intriguing read. I have heard very little about the Tiananmen Square Incident over the years, so it was fascinating to read about through first hand accounts of what really happened. I enjoyed learning about the author’s life before and after the events. She is one brave woman and I admire her courage.
I am giving Inconvenient Memories four and a half stars. I recommend it for readers who enjoy reading about recent historical events.
I received this book from the publisher. This review is 100% my own honest opinion.

Inconvenient Memories is a emotional memoir. It is a dry and interesting book. It gives the author's first hand look of a experience we don't get to read much about.

This is not a subject that I typically like to read but am I really glad I decided to read this book. I found this book to be excellent and very well written. It gave an inside perspective of events in China that led up to the Tiananmen Square protests incident in Beijing. In particular I enjoyed how the author presented the changing politics and how this influenced the culture and lives of the Chinese people. In particular, it was interesting to learn about the differences in perspectives between the younger and older generations and the changes the younger generation pushed for.

These memoirs of a young woman in the years leading up to Tiananmen Square are truly eye opening! It was interesting reading about her personal experiences and what she witnessed. I think I appreciated most that she provided a detailed account of what was happening politically at each point in her life. This helped me delve deeper into her story and what it meant to be alive in China during that specific time frame.

I am grateful to the publisher and #netgalley to have the opportunity to read and review this book.

We all remember the event that was the Tiananmen Square Massacre, the rhetoric, denials and stoic face of the Chinese government; but what do we really know about the events that led up to this watershed moment in Chinese history. The author provides an interesting, intimate and revealing insight behind China’s Iron Curtain into the student life at the time in and around the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Wang offers us the insider’s look from someone who was trying hard to navigate her way to the top of a country she recognized as flawed, but still deeply loved. Her struggles with impact of the breaking with tradition, how the people’s desire for freedom and democracy led to those protests, how her own political views developed, and how she and her family fit into the world at large.

This is a powerful and deeply personal story of China, human rights, and the progression of a people. It’s a fascinating and engaging memoir that you won’t be able to put down.

It was very interesting to read this book, because it was very unlike most books that I've read and a subject that I knew little about. I learned a lot about everyday life in China during that time period.

An excellent way of supplementing an understanding of a historical event gained from history and political books is to read memoirs and accounts of people who were actually present at such a time and place. This is certainly the case here as a large section of Anna Wang's fascinating account of her life in China and beyond is devoted to the Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989 commonly known in mainland China as the June Fourth Incident.

Living and working nearby Anna Wang presents an evocative and perceptive narration not only from a street level prospective but she also looks at the underlying political and social economic factors that caused the protests. China at that time was undergoing huge economic changes as it moved from a state controlled to a more hybrid market economy. There was a fear of this together with a demand for more political freedom which if granted would of course pose a direct threat to the all powerful Chinese Communist Party. By working at the time for Japanese company Canon who were concerned at the threat that the protests would have for their business expansion, Anna would be asked by her boss to go to Tiananmen Square on a daily basis to take photos so he could assess the situation and report back to head office in Tokyo.

As the protests increase in intensity there is a sense of foreboding, uncertainty but above all of confusion as we approach the dramatic inevitable violent crackdown by the authorities. There is much more here than just the Tiananmen Square story and you will learn what it is was like growing up and living in what was essentially (and still is) a police state.

One of the propositions that Anna Wang puts forward as to why the democracy movements has failed in China is simply due to the fact that so many writers, intellectuals and educators who would have been at the vanguard of such a movement have simply left China, some never to return. Indeed one of the central themes running through this honest account of her life is how Anna would constantly struggle with her own sense of identity and sense of belonging. If you want to look behind the headlines and gain a deeper appreciation of this increasingly important but complex country then I recommend a reading of this book.

This was a gem of a non-fiction piece, and one of the most fascinating, that I got to read in recent time. A breathtakingly wonderful narration of the events that built up to Tiananmen Square protests incident in Beijing, China, commonly referred to the June Fourth incident or simply the 6/4 incident. It's wonderful that Wang hasn't stopped with focusing just on the protests, but allows to have a glimpse into the aftermath of what occurred, and how it impacted everyone involved, with the effects lasting for decades and generations for some people. For those of us who are new to Chinese history, this is a beautiful eye-opener from Wang.

We get to read a lovely memoir that covers a whole platitude of other aspects as well. Starting from when she was born in 1966, moving into the care of her grandmother after having been abandoned by her parents (I particularly loved the fables narrated by the grandmother, which are so vivid that we can't help but visualize those), it's captivating to read through Wang's growth and development, as her ideals, beliefs, and values progress, as she discovers the socio-economic system, the regimes, and the policies. Peking University, where she pursues a major in Microelectronics, is where she discovers the nuances in politics, and gets thrown into the midst of the Tiananmen Square protests to cover the updates for her employer. As the reader, one is able to empathize with her heart-wrenching angst as she recalls the days of gore and gruesome fear. Wang then allows us to get to know the rest of her life till date, as she tends to her family, traverses continents, achieves milestones, earns success, and lives it all up.

I'd absolutely recommend this book to lovers of memoirs and politico-philosophy. Many thanks to Smith Publicity @Smith Publicity and Anna Wang for gifting me a copy of this book for an honest review.