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royaz92's review against another edition
3.0
The depiction of poverty, and characterization of Sunflower, or basically all female characters are extremely and annoyingly unrealistic. The plot, however, comes together beautifully, and the pacing is one of the best I've ever seen.
sharonskinner's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed this story, but found the narrative distance made it difficult for me to connect on a deeper level.
kwbat12's review against another edition
3.0
I'm not sure how I feel about this book - It feels like historical fiction or a classic, and it is written in small vignettes that don't move the plot much. It is emotional, heartfelt, and quite lovely, though the young girl cries so often. It's set in the countryside, with all the problems that could be happening. I'm really not sure who this book could be given to - perhaps a classics reader.
art_anthology's review against another edition
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This novel explores the challenges of living on an unreliable income stream. The beautiful backdrop of sunflower field's and marshes all have a key aspect to the story. They are all motifs nothing is only mentioned once they come back later.
The pull that sunflower has on the entire community forces the audience to also fall in love with her
Family and community ties are shown to be strong and lasting from the experiences they faced together thos motif was used at the end and beginning when the aunties from the cadre village who petitioned for sunflower to be adopted by the community then right at the end to take her back to the city for school
This is a middle grade book so the language is simpler and the sentences are more fractured ie. the topics switch each sentence so it is harder to read quickly and why I took so long to get into it
But if this book is given to lower than middlegrade level reader understand that sunflower is the MCs name snd there are lots of sunflower field's around the community so they may get confused
The pull that sunflower has on the entire community forces the audience to also fall in love with her
Family and community ties are shown to be strong and lasting from the experiences they faced together thos motif was used at the end and beginning
This is a middle grade book so the language is simpler and the sentences are more fractured ie. the topics switch each sentence so it is harder to read quickly and why I took so long to get into it
But if this book is given to lower than middlegrade level reader understand that sunflower is the MCs name snd there are lots of sunflower field's around the community so they may get confused
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death
Content warnings that aren't in the drop downtoloveisdestroy's review against another edition
4.0
A cute and enjoyable tale, filled with new words to learn and a wholesomeness to fill the heart.
hotkoolaidpotato's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
5.0
amengels's review against another edition
2.0
I'm the unpopular opinion, but I just didn't care about anything in this book. The plot moves so slowly. You could probably read the first and last 100 pages and get the same thing out of the story in half the time. I skimmed at least 150 pages and I feel like I didn't miss much.
clarereadstheworld's review against another edition
4.0
The next book I read was Bronze and Sunflower, and I absolutely loved this book ❤️🌻
.
While I was reading it I did wonder if was aimed at children rather than adults, and I looked it up later, it is classed at teen fiction, but don't let that put you off!
.
The story is simply written, but absolutely beautiful. It explores the friendship between a mute boy, and a little girl, but being set in rural China it also explores the challenges and hardships faced by poor farmers trying to survive in rural China.
.
This was the first time I'd really read about plagues, and famine, and I really felt for the difficulties faced by characters. After reading a passage about how the family had to survive on about 20 grains is rice, I went to my kitchen and felt very greedy for having so much of the stuff!
.
100% recommend this book if you're looking for an enjoyable opening into Chinese novels
.
.
While I was reading it I did wonder if was aimed at children rather than adults, and I looked it up later, it is classed at teen fiction, but don't let that put you off!
.
The story is simply written, but absolutely beautiful. It explores the friendship between a mute boy, and a little girl, but being set in rural China it also explores the challenges and hardships faced by poor farmers trying to survive in rural China.
.
This was the first time I'd really read about plagues, and famine, and I really felt for the difficulties faced by characters. After reading a passage about how the family had to survive on about 20 grains is rice, I went to my kitchen and felt very greedy for having so much of the stuff!
.
100% recommend this book if you're looking for an enjoyable opening into Chinese novels
.
backonthealex's review against another edition
5.0
Bronze and Sunflower is set in communist China during Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). The goal of the cultural Revolution was to eliminate traditional Chinese life and thought, to replace it with communist ideology and get rid of any opponents. Artists and other intellectual were sent to remote Cadre Schools, where they did heavy manual labor during the day, and attended political re-education meetings at night.
Sunflower, 7, and her father have been living in the country, in a Cadre School for a while. Her father is an artist, a sculptor, well-known for his beautiful sunflowers cast in bronze. Sunflower is the only child at the school and very lonely. Since she doesn’t go to school, she often watches the children across the river playing and laughing. When her father dies unexpectedly, women from the Cadre School take Sunflower across the river, to the small village of Damadai, to see if anyone there would take her in.
Only Bronze’s family, the poorest in the village, are willing to accept Sunflower and make her their own. Bronze, a few years older than Sunflower and just as lonely, hasn’t spoken since he was 5 and witnessed what was to him a traumatic event.
Bronze and Sunflower are soon inseparable, seeming to understand each other without the need to speak. Over time, the now-siblings and their loving, but poor family, endure and survive many hardships such as famine, locusts, bitter cold winters, and a fire that destroys their home. The children share not just friendship, but many adventures and good times, as well, like punting little boats on the river, riding to school together on Bronze’s water buffalo, even though only Sunflower is a student, Bronze letting Sunflower sit on his shoulders so that she is high enough see the circus over everyone else's head, even working together as a family making reed shoes to sell in the January market to pay for Sunflowers schooling or grandmother Nainai's medical needs.
Bronze and Sunflower is a beautifully written story about the many sacrifices that were made by Bronze's family when they decided to take in Sunflower, how they lived poor, but with great dignity and love, and how they continued to do that even when forced to make the greatest sacrifice of all.
Chinese life during the cultural revolution is not a usual subject for a children’s book, but Cao has managed to present a picture of rural life that neither sugarcoats nor romanticizes it. In fact, he has produced such a heartwarming story that it has a feeling of timelessness about it despite the time it is actually set in, mainly because Mao’s China takes a backseat to the traditional values of family that the book really demonstrates.
Cao grew up during the 1960s and 1970s and experienced China at that time first hand, which gives his novel a real feeling of authenticity. His descriptions, though beautifully rendered, are often heartbreaking at the same time.
Bronze and Sunflower is a large book, 400 pages long. It is a story of day to day survival, so there is not really a big central conflict. I have to wonder if it will appeal to young readers as much as it appeals to adults. My 12 year old self would have loved getting immersed in the lives of Bronze and Sunflower, but I didn’t grow up with as many distractions as kids have today (video games, screens, instant gratification, etc. I’m not putting these things down, just pointing out how life have become faster). Though I highly recommend it for its thematic portrayals community, family, loyalty, and poverty.
One a personal note: my Kiddo has been home visiting this and when I asked her if her husband’s parents, who both grew up in the midst of the cultural revolution, ever talk about it, she said no, never. They refuse to say anything, but her husband’s grandparents did tell her how hard life was in those days. I’m guessing, they would have really appreciated Bronze and Sunflower.
Bronze and Sunflower won the 2016 Hans Christian Anderson award and was translated from Mandarin by Helen Wang, who won the 2017 Marsh Award for Children’s Literature in Translation for it.
This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was an EARC received from NetGalley
Complete review posted at Randomly Reading
Sunflower, 7, and her father have been living in the country, in a Cadre School for a while. Her father is an artist, a sculptor, well-known for his beautiful sunflowers cast in bronze. Sunflower is the only child at the school and very lonely. Since she doesn’t go to school, she often watches the children across the river playing and laughing. When her father dies unexpectedly, women from the Cadre School take Sunflower across the river, to the small village of Damadai, to see if anyone there would take her in.
Only Bronze’s family, the poorest in the village, are willing to accept Sunflower and make her their own. Bronze, a few years older than Sunflower and just as lonely, hasn’t spoken since he was 5 and witnessed what was to him a traumatic event.
Bronze and Sunflower are soon inseparable, seeming to understand each other without the need to speak. Over time, the now-siblings and their loving, but poor family, endure and survive many hardships such as famine, locusts, bitter cold winters, and a fire that destroys their home. The children share not just friendship, but many adventures and good times, as well, like punting little boats on the river, riding to school together on Bronze’s water buffalo, even though only Sunflower is a student, Bronze letting Sunflower sit on his shoulders so that she is high enough see the circus over everyone else's head, even working together as a family making reed shoes to sell in the January market to pay for Sunflowers schooling or grandmother Nainai's medical needs.
Bronze and Sunflower is a beautifully written story about the many sacrifices that were made by Bronze's family when they decided to take in Sunflower, how they lived poor, but with great dignity and love, and how they continued to do that even when forced to make the greatest sacrifice of all.
Chinese life during the cultural revolution is not a usual subject for a children’s book, but Cao has managed to present a picture of rural life that neither sugarcoats nor romanticizes it. In fact, he has produced such a heartwarming story that it has a feeling of timelessness about it despite the time it is actually set in, mainly because Mao’s China takes a backseat to the traditional values of family that the book really demonstrates.
Cao grew up during the 1960s and 1970s and experienced China at that time first hand, which gives his novel a real feeling of authenticity. His descriptions, though beautifully rendered, are often heartbreaking at the same time.
Bronze and Sunflower is a large book, 400 pages long. It is a story of day to day survival, so there is not really a big central conflict. I have to wonder if it will appeal to young readers as much as it appeals to adults. My 12 year old self would have loved getting immersed in the lives of Bronze and Sunflower, but I didn’t grow up with as many distractions as kids have today (video games, screens, instant gratification, etc. I’m not putting these things down, just pointing out how life have become faster). Though I highly recommend it for its thematic portrayals community, family, loyalty, and poverty.
One a personal note: my Kiddo has been home visiting this and when I asked her if her husband’s parents, who both grew up in the midst of the cultural revolution, ever talk about it, she said no, never. They refuse to say anything, but her husband’s grandparents did tell her how hard life was in those days. I’m guessing, they would have really appreciated Bronze and Sunflower.
Bronze and Sunflower won the 2016 Hans Christian Anderson award and was translated from Mandarin by Helen Wang, who won the 2017 Marsh Award for Children’s Literature in Translation for it.
This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was an EARC received from NetGalley
Complete review posted at Randomly Reading