What is the author's style in Life and Death in Shanghai by Nien Cheng?

The entire novel stays with her perspective and outside commentary from other key characters during this period of her life are never brought in. For this reason, we can only know what happened to Cheng from how she relates it. Considering the social and political environment at the time, it would be nearly impossible to find an honest depiction of this time period from anyone in her life during the Cultural Revolution.