A Tiger's Heart: The Story of a Modern Chinese Woman

by Aisling Juanjuan Shen

Book Overview

"A Tiger's Heart" chronicles Shen's rise from poverty in the rice fields of rural China to a successful career in business in the early days of the country's economic boom, illustrating the massive... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1569475865
• ISBN13: 9781569475867
• Release Date: July 2009
• Publisher: Soho Press
• Length: 309 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.8" x 8.3"
• Age Range: 15 to 18 years
• Grade Range: Grade 10 to Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

Understand China in a personal way

Despite constant reports of the rise of China, it is rare that one really understands what the rapid growth of China means for the average citizen. The author describes her journey from incredible poverty to the city life of modern China to the U.S. in a way that makes you understand every step on the path but still amazed at how such stories are possible. Every time you think the story cannot take another turn, it does. If you've ever been in a tall building and seen a piece of paper floating stories above the ground and wondered how an item can get so far from the ground this book will describe it. It makes the updraft that is China real but yet no less incredible. I read it in three days.

A testament to the human spirit.

I met Aisling as a colleague in the US a few years ago and I recently read her book. It is her biography - a story of a girl born in rural China making her way in the world and finally, to the US and Wellesley. If you think you have had a difficult life, Aisling's narration of how she overcame the odds to achieve success in life will make you think twice. This book takes a honest look at the social forces in China as it transitions into a developed country and how its population is being impacted. A disturbing peek at the vehement desperation of the swarming masses in China. Machiavelli on crack. There is no garden of roses here - Aisling keeps it real and tells it as it really happened, with both the good and the bad thrown in. She makes it clear throughout the book that she is only human - her path was strewn with countless failures and temptations. In the end, however, it is her getting up from her many falls, wiping off the tears and blood and ploughing on ahead that shows the strength of the human spirit. Perhaps more specifically, the spirit of the modern Chinese woman seeking her place in a new world.

An amazing story!

A wonderful memoir told in such a way that it captivated me from page one to the end. The story flows so well and the struggles the author faced are so unbelievably difficult that I had to remind myself often that the book was about a real person with a real life -not a fiction book. It took real courage for the author to write this book and bare her soul for all to read. I came away with a bit more insight into China, the difficulties faced by her ordinary people, and the realization that we can all overcome our obstacles with enough stregnth and determination.

Engrossing story

A fantastic memoir. It took guts for Ms. Shen to write this book. Shen writes a highly personal, not always pretty (but very often funny), account of her escape from rural Chinese poverty. I am impressed with Shen's ability to see and relate the humor in her journey. When, after attending teaching college in her quest to escape abject poverty, she is placed in a rural Chinese school located in an even more destitute town than her own, she writes "It was such a poor place that the birds were said to be unwilling to [poop] on it." While Shen's story is unique, an enjoyable feature of the book is that her experiences are universal and relatable, even when taking place in an impoverished rural Chinese hamlet. There's sibling rivalry, in-law squabbling, puppy love, awkward teenage sexual discovery, sleazy bosses, infidelity, Amway pyramid marketing, and mother-daughter reconciliation. Truly a wonderful read.

The most riveting and revealing memoir I have ever read

How many people can be honest enough with themselves to admit to mistakes and bring up painful memories? How many of that group would be able to put these intimate details out there for the whole world to see? Aisling Shen does this, with an amazing style of writing that makes a personal memoir into a page-turner. This is a book that will be read cover-to-cover by every person who gets their hands on it, it is that good. I could write all the normal praises of it being "inspirational" and a "rags to riches" story, but it would not be doing the book justice. This is a story written holding nothing back, it is powerful and compelling, and it will make you rethink your own life after reading it. Buy it, borrow it, just read it, you won't regret it.