Day #12: A book so emotionally draining you couldn’t complete it or had to set aside for a bit
Believe it or not I’ve never had this happen to me. For some reason I’ve always been drawn to books that are shocking, draining and disturbing. Nonfiction books in particular.
I don’t know what that says about me. I probably don’t want to know.
One of my favorite emotionally draining reads:
“A direct, hard-hitting study of China’s Great Leap Forward in light of newly opened archival material … A horrifically eye-opening work of a dark period of Chinese history that desperately cries out for further examination.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“An intensively researched litany of suffering, packed with statistics, grim anecdotes, and self-serving explanations by leaders responsible for the devastation.”—Publishers Weekly
“Dikotter has done a service to history and, when they are allowed to read it, to the Chinese themselves.”—Bloomberg
“This is an important work illustrating the dangers of one individual holding power to force millions to fulfill his personal fantasies.”—Booklist
“Uses newly opened archives and original interviews to detail the calamity in calm, if unavoidably grisly, detail.”—NewYorker.com
“A riveting and heartbreaking and illuminating read by an expert in the field…Mao’s madness comes through on every page. A MUST READ.”—Travel Watch
If you haven’t read this one, you should. Seriously.
The Relentless Reader 