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Summary: River Town Review
Review: I am not a political or historical expert in terms of China but I have ordered Chinese food many times and I can be considered an aficionado when it comes to wonton soup. Peter Hessler's River Town does an excellent job informing readers with various degrees of knowledge concerning China. Hessler relives his experience as a member of the peace core when he taught English to college students in the small town of Fuling. His book takes the form of a memoir, travelogue, but I found it to be quite anthropological. He does an excellent job taking modern day Fuling culture and characterizes the significant differences among languages, politics, and the educational system between Fuling and the US. There are several humorous differences such as many Fuling students favoring the phrase "But we should not give up eating for fear of choking" as a transition in their writing, and Hessler's frustration with the Fuling people for their different style of basketball.I highly recommend this book if you are interested in learning more about Chinese culture. Given China's popularity in current events in the last couple months, this book is a great way to get into the psyche of Chinese people. River Town is an excellent read that goes through the frustration of learning Chinese in China to the frustration of being viewed an outsider wherever you travel. This book is a raw yet revealing look at Chinese culture in a well described and thought out manner.
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Summary: River Town
Review: In "River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze" , author Peter Hessler composes a compelling story that takes place in the small city of Fuling, a town settled on the Yangtze River within the Sichuan province of China. As a Peace Corps volunteer, Peter works at the local college teaching English and American literature to Chinese students. In his narrative, Peter relates his experiences of living in a dramatically different society of communist China. As the first American to reside in the city in over fifty years, Peter describes his struggles with his limited grasp of the Chinese language and the people's stereotype of a typical "American". With the story's progression, Hessler depicts his ability to adapt to the Chinese dialect and culture, and the people's gradual acceptance of him and his fellow volunteer, Adam Meier. This acceptance illustrates a general understanding that grows between Peter and those he interacts with. Hessler's illustrations of social and cultural differences allow his readers to become acquainted with many of the customs and traditions found within contemporary China. Hessler addresses issues such as reform within the country, weaving together China's history with its present progression. Through his vivid depictions of the people he encounters and the experiences he undergoes, Hessler provides an insightful illustration of the culture found within China. I found this novel to be a wonderful story that reflects the Chinese society.
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Summary: I loved it! And learned a lot about China
Review: Hessler's upfront honesty about what he liked and didn't like about Chinese culture as he experienced it makes this is a much truer account of China (or any foreign land) than a lot of "travel" and memoir books. Hessler is not only a good writer, who writes compelling and lurid prose, but he is an honest story-teller, especially in telling his own story. What makes this book an especially good read for me is that he doesn't leave out the negative or the positive. This is a truly subjective account of HIS experiences in China as a teacher, as a Peace Corps volunteer, as a young man, and as an American. Hessler doesn't try to show a "real" China objectively - he knows well enough that it doesn't exist. All he can tell us is China as he experienced it, and that's exactly what he gives us, warts and all. I am especially grateful that he never shied away from commenting on the negative and the positive aspects of the communist China government and ideology as it affects the nation and the people, and also showing us how some of the Chinese embrace it totally, and others are not so keen on it and desire something more. And because of that honesty, I can feel that I am there riding along with him. Thankfully, he took copious notes and kept a journal while he was in China - the insertions of his English student's writings are a wonderful addition to the book, and through them, we all get some of the story of the students he taught, and also a better insight into Chinese thought processes than we could ever know purely through description. Hessler knows the importance of telling one's story, and letting other people tell their own story, and I enjoyed every moment of this book and was saddened when he left China, for I knew that was the end of the book. I will look for more of Hessler's work. This book hooked me.
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Summary: A Good Read
Review: River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze is a skillfully written 'fish out of water story.' For people that have never been to China, they will enjoy the anecdotal stories of Peter Hessler, a 26 - year - old Peace Corps teacher that has been thrown into the thorn bush of a new situation. In his book, Hessler recounts the times that he gets pricked by the Chinese culture. An important theme in the novel is Hessler's time as a teacher in China: "Teaching as a foreigner was a matter of trying to negotiate your way through this political landscape." (Hessler 41) Hessler relates such stories as his dealings with communist slanted textbooks and the quirky differences between the students of China and the western world. I would recommend this book to those people that know very little about China because if the reader knows a lot, the quirky stories that are told become very mundane. Another theme that the book grapples with is the political climate of China. At one point in the book, Hessler tells the story of when he encountered a propaganda sign: "The people build the people's city; if it is built well, the city will serve the people!" (Hessler 313) Such stories serve to show the pervasiveness of the communist ideal into everything that is in China. This political climate is also described in the context of the socio-economics of China. Hessler, in one account, describes how newly weds had to share a bed with a total stranger on a boat trip. He speaks about these terrible conditions, but refuses to give a counter argument. Maybe there shouldn't be any counter balances to such a story as this, but this may be the flaw of this book - that it only reports the stories of Hessler, but refuses to interpret any of that information on a grander and more global scale.
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Summary: A book that truly grasps a country's ideas and uncertainty
Review: It had been a long time since I picked up a non fiction book and actually found it intersting. Hessler's book is a fascinating description of a Princeton and Oxford graduate traveling with the Peace Corps to Fuling, a city in Southern China, to teach college students English. This well educated man comes into China and is an outkast, the first foreign man there in 50 years and an illiterate "foreign devil." Hessler uses his witty sense of humor as well as astute observation skills to help the reader experience and view various aspects of the Chinese culture that otherwise a foreigner would never see. As Hessler's students open up with him their papers and ideas show the Communist propaganda that they have been brought up with. One of the most powerful aspects of the book is how Hessler includes some of the essays in his book because it lets you dive into the mind of a Chinese student. You see how they react differently to various characters, such as having a dislike towards the hero Hamlet. I would highly recommend this book to anyone but more specifically to people who want to understand a little more about a country that for many years has not been explored and explained in the way in which Hessler is able to do. It is a truly powerful read that dives into a country's struggle to find its true identity.
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Summary: Very engrossing...the best book I've read in awhile
Review: As a young Chinese-American who has traveled in China, River Town has quickly become one of my favorite books. Peter Hessler is both thoughtful and descriptive of his experiences as a PCV in China. I especially loved the parts of the book in which he talked about his students...he really brings them to life. It's easy to see that they changed his life as much as he impacted theirs. I also found Hessler's acclimation to his environment particularly fascinating. His reactions to new and sometimes delicate cultural situations reflects his laidback attitude, but is also telling of how willing he was to be apart of Fuling culture and society. He is also brutally honest, even with his own shortcomings in the face of his new experiences. It's true, he does come to the book with a Westerner's perspective, but then again, what do you expect? His love for China, however, and his willingness to engage the people in Fuling...to take on a Chinese identity, speaks louder than any detached political analysis could. He simply writes about his reflections, and I appreciate the honesty. I plan to give this book to all my friends who have moved to and travelled in China. It's definitely one of the best books I have read in a loooong time.
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Summary: Vanishing beneath the Yangtze
Review: This is one of the most interesting books I have ever read. A vivid portrait of a time of flux in an ancient country, Peter Hessler's River Town is a moving account of his experiences as a foreigner -- or waiguoren. Hessler uses gentle humor and keen powers of observation to bring to life the vignettes of his students and the townspeople. His gently ironic temperament served him well in confronting not only an unfamiliar political regime but also the strangeness of China itself -- or, more to the point, his own strangeness in the eyes of the Chinese. He vividly recounts how, on arrival, he underwent an unsettling transformation and found himself practically illiterate, with an Oxford degree in English but the Chinese-language skills of a toddler. River Town is an important work of reportage, and not just because of the peculiar historical moment it describes -- a moment when Hessler's students can speak of their sincere admiration for the Communist ideals of Chairman Mao, then go off after graduation to seek their fortune in the tumultuous prosperity of China's southern cities. It's also a window into a part of China -- the province of Sichuan -- that has rarely been explored in depth, even though, as Hessler notes, it is home to one out of every 50 people on earth. And Hessler portrays a world that, thanks to the Three Gorges Dam, will soon vanish, to one degree or another. When, pulling away from the dock in Fuling at the end of his Peace Corps term, Hessler looks back at the city and wonders if he'll see it again, you realize with a shock that he's not just being sentimental. But if Fuling, with all its chaos and its poetry, does soon disappear beneath the Yangtze, there will be some small consolation in knowing that it survives in the pages of Hessler's book.
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Summary: An Amazing Experience!
Review: I was so sad to finish reading this book! It is definitely one of the best books that I have read in a long time! I felt like I was along for the entire journey and was sad when it came to an end! It is very interesting because it gives you a rare opportunity to get to know a small city in China very well. I loved how Peter intertwined local history into an interesting story. It is also a great book to read to better understand the Peace Corps experience. It presents a very honest portrayal of what volunteering with the Peace Corps is actually like. I really appreciated Peter's honesty of emotion as he experienced things in Fuling, they helped to make the experience all the more real. Peter has a wonderful writing ability. The book flows as smoothly as the Yangtze and encompasses rich detail. After reading this book you feel like you were able to accompany an interesting person on his voyage to better understand China. This book is excellent!
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Summary: Well-written and engaging
Review: A well written and engaging account of a young man's tenure as a Peace Corps English teacher in Fuling, a small riverside Chinese town. A nice blend of history, observation, and analysis, he demonstrates the difficulties and joys of integrating into local life from 1996-1998.
Rating:
Summary: I loved it! And learned a lot about China
Review: Hessler's upfront honesty about what he liked and didn't like about Chinese culture as he experienced it makes this is a much truer account of China (or any foreign land) than a lot of "travel" and memoir books. Hessler is not only a good writer, who writes compelling and lurid prose, but he is an honest story-teller, especially in telling his own story. What makes this book an especially good read for me is that he doesn't leave out the negative or the positive. This is a truly subjective account of HIS experiences in China as a teacher, as a Peace Corps volunteer, as a young man, and as an American. Hessler doesn't try to show a "real" China objectively - he knows well enough that it doesn't exist. All he can tell us is China as he experienced it, and that's exactly what he gives us, warts and all. I am especially grateful that he never shied away from commenting on the negative and the positive aspects of the communist China government and ideology as it affects the nation and the people, and also showing us how some of the Chinese embrace it totally, and others are not so keen on it and desire something more. And because of that honesty, I can feel that I am there riding along with him. Thankfully, he took copious notes and kept a journal while he was in China - the insertions of his English student's writings are a wonderful addition to the book, and through them, we all get some of the story of the students he taught, and also a better insight into Chinese thought processes than we could ever know purely through description. Hessler knows the importance of telling one's story, and letting other people tell their own story, and I enjoyed every moment of this book and was saddened when he left China, for I knew that was the end of the book. I will look for more of Hessler's work. This book hooked me.
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