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almartin's review against another edition
4.0
chased down hessler's china books after reading the ridiculously good new yorker piece about the druggist in colorado: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/09/26/110926fa_fact_hessler
more than anything what i appreciated about this book is that it reads as fundamentally honest. sometimes hessler is his better self; at others he's irritated and judgmental as he adjusts to the country. he doesn't sugarcoat his perceptions or cast his behavior as particularly heroic. over time, he revisits opinions.
reading a mid-90s narrative in 2011 adds another layer to the book, as well. hessler is in sichuan/szechuan, upstream from the three gorges, and ends up documenting a slice of chinese life that was uprooted after the reservoir filled, and he's teaching students who are only a year or two away from leaving central china to coastal areas. the notion that any single travel narrative could capture anything essential about a country as large as china is silly, but hessler's book ends up catching a slice of an enormously important story.
more than anything what i appreciated about this book is that it reads as fundamentally honest. sometimes hessler is his better self; at others he's irritated and judgmental as he adjusts to the country. he doesn't sugarcoat his perceptions or cast his behavior as particularly heroic. over time, he revisits opinions.
reading a mid-90s narrative in 2011 adds another layer to the book, as well. hessler is in sichuan/szechuan, upstream from the three gorges, and ends up documenting a slice of chinese life that was uprooted after the reservoir filled, and he's teaching students who are only a year or two away from leaving central china to coastal areas. the notion that any single travel narrative could capture anything essential about a country as large as china is silly, but hessler's book ends up catching a slice of an enormously important story.
vmdb's review against another edition
5.0
A truly interesting story of an english teacher and his experience in China. A pageturner, perfect for anybody eager to find out more about China.
chengruisi's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
abrswf's review against another edition
4.0
Really fascinating and well written book. My husband and I were in China last year and on the Yangtze for several days. We must have floated right by Fujing, the town on which this book centers. It was intriguing to learn what was there before the Three Gorges Dam was done, and rewarding to get the much deeper sense of China that Hessler obtained over two years as a Peace Corps volunteer.
changeablelandscape's review against another edition
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
A memoir of teaching in China during the early 1990s -- very well written and (except in a few places) respectful of the people and place and culture.
devashis's review against another edition
4.0
A nice book about life in Asia, particularly regimented/communist China when it was beginning to open it's smaller city doors to outsiders. I believe the author was part of the first Peace Corps group to China and definitely one of the first foreigners in Fuling, where most of the book takes place. I spent some time working and living in South Korea, and I could see some of the similarities of the cultures.
I felt there were times the book moved a little slowly or included unnecessary details, but overall is was interesting and enjoyable. Mr. Hessler does a nice job of painting the river, the people, the town, and the countryside. I particularly enjoyed the additional section at the end titled "Return to Fuling," which really contrasts the author's time in Fuling and does give some needed closure--from China's rapid evolvement.
I felt there were times the book moved a little slowly or included unnecessary details, but overall is was interesting and enjoyable. Mr. Hessler does a nice job of painting the river, the people, the town, and the countryside. I particularly enjoyed the additional section at the end titled "Return to Fuling," which really contrasts the author's time in Fuling and does give some needed closure--from China's rapid evolvement.