Rating: 
Summary: Badly written and racist
Review: As an adoptive parent of two children born in China, I personally find it absurb that this book was ever published. I picked it up in our local library, couldn't believe it could possibly be about what it seemed to be, and had to skim it to be certain I wasn't having a bad dream. It's racist, just depolorable. But, worse, it paints an inaccurate of the adoption process in China, possibly dissuading parents from looking into China as an adoption alternative.
Rating: 
Summary: I didn't want to like it ... but it is a great read
Review: As mom to two wonderful children adopted from China, I admit I approached the book with a juandiced eye, however, keeping focused on the fact that it IS indeed a work of fiction, I got easily caught up in the action. Mr. Ball writes believably about the countryside and daily life of China. The actual storyline is scary - and even though I know it is fiction, it was easy to get caught up in the fears and worries of the protagonist, an adopting Mom who has been told she has been given the wrong child and must give her back. It definitely keeps your attention and you will surely find yourself in a position where you don't want to put it down. I am fearful that because Mr. Ball is himself an adoptive father of a child from China people may think he has written a novel based more in truth than he has. That being said, it is a well-written, suspenseful, and emotionally charged novel, and will be a book you will want to discuss with friends. Much to my surprise, I find myself highly recommending this book.
Rating:
Summary: This is a great page turner
Review: Bought this book because I was such a fan of Mr. Ball's Empires of Sand. I assumed his next work would be historical fiction as well, so was mildly curious about this departure from my favorite genre. Surprisingly, I was not disappointed. From the first paragraph, I was hooked. The anguish of a mother burying her child...a child doomed because she was not born a boy, in a culture which places more value on sons than daughters. An impossible situation. Wonderful characters here, from good to evil. A great plot, with all the holes filled in. A pretty amazing look into the countryside and people of China. And a story that kept me eagerly turning each page. I like David Ball's style of writing.
Rating: 
Summary: Adoption took a wrong turn; thrilling but not satisfying
Review: China Run sets in Suzhou, China (some 250 kilometers west of Shanghai) where the government told 6 American families the babies whom they just adopted was the wrong babies. The Chinese law requires adoptive parents have to be at least 35 and have no other children at the time of the adoption application in order to qualify for healthy babies. Otherwise they will only qualify for children with special needs. Allison Turk has come all the way to China with her 9-year-old stepson Tyler to adopt Wen Li. On the morning the Americans supposed to return the babies to orphanage, Allison decided to keep Wen Li and ran away with Nash and Claire Cameron and Ruth Pollard who were determined to keep their babies as well. The Americans set off to seek help from the American embassy in Shanghai with the help of Yi Ling, their Chinese guide. The disappearance of the Americans quickly alerted the government which immediately dispatched the "gong an" (security) officers to hunt them down. They set up roadblocks and checkpoints on major highways while PSB interrogated Yi Ling's family and whoever might have helped the Americans escape. No sooner than they boarded a ship that belonged to Yi Ling's uncle Yang Boda on the Yangtze than some smuggler boat hit them... A fisherman Ren Kai and his wife Mei Ling sheltered the fugitives, namely now just Ruth and Allison, and tendered Tyler and the babies. Knowing that the whole world is collapsing about her ears, Allison was determined to keep Wen Li and by all means dodged the police. The rest of the book was about her hiding in the truck, walking in the bushes, and dodging those who were after her in her venture down south to Guangzhou (180 kilometers northwest of Hong Kong). The book is a thriller (it doesn't seem to be the case when I read the first chapter) where almost two thirds of it is about the cat-and-mouse chase for the fugitives. It's a page-turner until the last few chapters where the author rambles on and on and makes an effort to drag and twist the story somehow. While the author does excellent and thorough research on places and the reality issues of China, he does expose some of the most repugnant problems in China: the black market of healthy human organs and the extraction of such organs from deceased children in orphanage. Corrupted government officials (such as orphanage director and public security officers) collaborated with gangster rings in smuggling the organs that promised a lucrative business. No less striking was how Xinhua agency (the official government newsagent) often by all means covers up the truth of such vile trades. I realized the book was based on a true story shortly after I finished it. David Ball had managed to fictionize the real-life incident and its characters. At that point I felt somewhat relieved and beamed at the fact that despite the relentless Chinese government there were good-hearted Chinese people who possessed a good conscience. In a country where one's furies stayed tucked neatly beneath the skin, Yi Ling had stood by the truth of her feelings and risked her life to save the babies, to help the Americans escape. She was confronted face-to-face by her own conscience as she encountered Allison escaping on the hotel hallway. It was that split of a second when Yi Ling made the fateful decision out of her heart and not duty. Allison had touched and changed the lives of Ren Kai and his wife Mei Ling. Ren insisted on helping the Americans since he had come this far with them (picked them up in Hokou after the ship collision and took them home) against all odds. An interesting vignette was how well 9-year-old Tyler got along with the Chinese with whom he shared nothing in common. In the midst of touching moments and outrageous adventures, I question the validity of all the events in this book. David Ball might have forged some of the extra thrilling details here and there to touch up the actual incidence. Whatever the case is, this is a different kind of novel about China. It's a quick-read good for an afternoon in the weekend. It also contains sporadic prose on Chinese scenery. 3.6 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding!
Review: David Ball takes the reader on a thrilling adventure through China with several American families desperately trying to keep their adoptive babies. Considering international adoption myself, I was delighted to share in the strong bond that develops between each family and their new child. So many plot twists I couldn't put it down!
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding Action/Literary fiction
Review: David Ball's "China Run" is everything a good novel should be: Engaging, focused story, sympathetic characters, and intense action with people we care for. His literary style is of the highest quality-direct, succinct, artful, and fresh. What a great story! I highly recommend this book and his previous one, "Empires of Sand." The big-name authors who recently took hits in their book sales for their endlessly repetitive themes and dreary, monotonous styles, should read David Ball and learn.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful and touching story, well written.
Review: I devour mysteries and thrillers, and it is always sheer pleasure to find someone who can tell a good story. I know there are probably lots of very literate ways to know whether a book is any good. My method is simple: if I can't put it down, and if I get to the last page wanting more, then the book gets five stars. This book qualifies on both counts. The author's China is exotic, his plot unusual and well-executed, and his storytelling grand. Write more, quickly!
Rating:
Summary: UNBELIEVABLE TEAR JERKER
Review: I downgrade this novel because it is based on an impossible theme. In reality the Chinese government is very careful about adoption and has worked to improve the process in its own interests and in the interests of the thousands of persons directly involved. Books such as this suggest a veresimilitude that some gullible readers might take for fact. That would be very unfair. Otherwise this exciting and tragic story--with some excellent descriptions of China's varied peoples, amazing settings, and horrendous smells (what is usually missing in books)--deserves some praise. In summary, a group of Americans are in China to pick up their adopted orphan babies. There has been a "mistake" so they must return their babies to the Chinese authorities. Three decide to run instead--by heading to the US consulate in Shanghai about 100 miles away from the historic garden city they are staying in. Things go madly wrong. The book chronicles the heroic exploits of the runners and the complicity of hapless Chinese along the way, who are punished for aiding and abetting by a ruthless government. Meanwhile it begins to emerge that the mistake was due to a glitch in the production line of a fantastic underground industry that, and the story seems to imply this, "even" the Chinese would find repugnant. One wonders if the story could have ended as melodramatically if set after 1997 when Hong Kong reverted to China or would it have lost its poignancy if the final setting were not in British, but Chinese territory. The ending is less contrived, but almost approaches the WW2 movie musical when a US Navy battleship would have been recruited for the grand finale song and dance on the main deck. Sorry, but this is too much an Oliver Stone recollection of history.
Rating:
Summary: Why did the author have to mention the Mideast?
Review: I got this book as a gift and was skeptical about it. My daughter was born in China and I adopted her a few years ago. The author did an excellent job capturing the day to day life of China. The story itself was fast paced and heartwrenching. How much "truth" spurred this story on is suspect and that bothers me that some people will think this "really" happened. If people are reading this as a guide to international adoption it would scare everyone away. That being said, this FICTIONAL story was grand. Had powerful emotions and drama, it was a quick read and one I did not want to put down; but I did several times as it got too close for me. I kept thinking what would I have done if that had been me, after having my baby girl for 5 days what would I have done if a Chinese official had requested her back? The thought of running in a country such as China is mind boggling. But the thrill of the chase was great and exciting. But at the end of the story, I went into my sleeping childs room and gave her a big hug!
Rating:
Summary: Remove the aspect of "True Story" and it is a great read..
Review: I got this book as a gift and was skeptical about it. My daughter was born in China and I adopted her a few years ago. The author did an excellent job capturing the day to day life of China. The story itself was fast paced and heartwrenching. How much "truth" spurred this story on is suspect and that bothers me that some people will think this "really" happened. If people are reading this as a guide to international adoption it would scare everyone away. That being said, this FICTIONAL story was grand. Had powerful emotions and drama, it was a quick read and one I did not want to put down; but I did several times as it got too close for me. I kept thinking what would I have done if that had been me, after having my baby girl for 5 days what would I have done if a Chinese official had requested her back? The thought of running in a country such as China is mind boggling. But the thrill of the chase was great and exciting. But at the end of the story, I went into my sleeping childs room and gave her a big hug!
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