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almartin's review against another edition
3.0
Structurally interesting but frustratingly inconsistent. Hessler is an excellent craftsman and the structure of the book (narratives of present-day migrants divided by interstitial meditations on the politics surrounding interpretation of ancient written artifacts, the eponymous oracle bones) gives the book a measure of coherence, even though Hessler pointedly avoids developing any particular thesis about the Experience and Character of Modern China.
Hessler's skills as a writer can't make up for the inconsistent nature of the stories he follows. The pages that track the career of oracle bone scholar Chen Mengjia are a bit of a puzzle -- they often turn on errata about sources and documents that never resolve into anything meaningful. other stories seem like excerpts from the cutting room floor of his freelance career. The story about the Bronze Horse of Wuwei is particularly frustrating - it ends with a fact checker from the New Yorker apologetically disputing the relevant particulars of the previous material. If it wasn't ready for the pages of the New Yorker (amusingly translated as New York Person magazine by some bureaucratic apparatus of the Chinese government), why does it make the cut for Oracle Bones.
All in all, there's a lot to love about Oracle Bones. The stories that track the progress of his students from [b:River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze|94053|River Town Two Years on the Yangtze (P.S.)|Peter Hessler|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171271609s/94053.jpg|1441686], now teaching English around the country, are spectacular, capturing a spectrum of experiences from young people caught up in the China's enormous structural transformation. Confidential to William Jefferson Foster: come to New York and crash at my place. We'll brief you on all of the slang insults that we've got.
Hessler's skills as a writer can't make up for the inconsistent nature of the stories he follows. The pages that track the career of oracle bone scholar Chen Mengjia are a bit of a puzzle -- they often turn on errata about sources and documents that never resolve into anything meaningful. other stories seem like excerpts from the cutting room floor of his freelance career. The story about the Bronze Horse of Wuwei is particularly frustrating - it ends with a fact checker from the New Yorker apologetically disputing the relevant particulars of the previous material. If it wasn't ready for the pages of the New Yorker (amusingly translated as New York Person magazine by some bureaucratic apparatus of the Chinese government), why does it make the cut for Oracle Bones.
All in all, there's a lot to love about Oracle Bones. The stories that track the progress of his students from [b:River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze|94053|River Town Two Years on the Yangtze (P.S.)|Peter Hessler|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171271609s/94053.jpg|1441686], now teaching English around the country, are spectacular, capturing a spectrum of experiences from young people caught up in the China's enormous structural transformation. Confidential to William Jefferson Foster: come to New York and crash at my place. We'll brief you on all of the slang insults that we've got.
annas_books_135's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
abrswf's review against another edition
4.0
Nicely done. I'm looking forward to reading some more of his well written books.
ben_sch's review against another edition
3.0
Journalistic writing that I can appreciate. Personal stories of Hessler discussing his own experiences in China.
Wasn't quite sure if he was trying to make a point or not, but I'm not that great at picking up on these things, as I usually read for the story.
Wasn't quite sure if he was trying to make a point or not, but I'm not that great at picking up on these things, as I usually read for the story.
eric_conrad's review against another edition
5.0
I have tremendous respect and admiration for Peter Hessler. He weaves personal information with modern history and makes it resonate emotionally.
mariocomputer's review against another edition
5.0
Totally one of the best writers about China I've read.
book_nut's review against another edition
3.0
I thought it was a travel book. It's not. It's more a memoir of a foreign correspondent in China, as well as a portrait of modern China -- vignettes about people Hessler knows -- interspersed with histories of select artifacts (which I ended up skipping because I found them boring). It's an uneven book -- some parts are really fascinating, others sleep-inducing.