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Summary: First rate book
Review: This is a real travelers' tale. I give this an enthusiastic two thumbs up. Great read. [...]
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Summary: Fascinating
Review: A fun and enlightening cultural journey.When I spent a summer abroad in Central Asia, I was nearly the only Westerner, and liked to feel the town was "my" town. I'm embarrassed to remember this sentiment, but Hessler mentioned his own instance of it, and I chuckled to think we'd had the same experience. That's just one of a million little "moments" this book had for me. Ironically, the other foreigner in town who tossed out my illusion was a Peace Corps volunteer like Mr. Hessler. I found this book an engaging narrative and a pleasant read.
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Summary: A Great Read
Review: This book is wonderful. Couldn't put it down. Funny and insightful. A wonderful book to read if you are planning a trip to China in the near future!
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Summary: A must read if you are traveling or moving to China
Review: Peter Hessler does a fantastic job describing the day to day life of living in China. I moved to China from the US two months ago and I find myself laughing hysterically at his stories of the people, sounds, smells, events, and everything else. Everything he has written is true and the words really make the experience come alive. Simply a well written book.
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Summary: Intriguing insight into "midwestern" China
Review: I say midwestern China because the story is based in a "typical" central Chinese town. Hessler writes so smoothly, it is hard to put the book down. His abilities to help us understand how mainstream Chinese people think can help us greatly in our quest for moving out of the isolationism so easily adopted here in the USA. A great read, whether or not you are interested in China, the Peace Corps, or rivers. Get it!
Rating: 
Summary: Good solid, admirable work--but a bit superficial
Review: I read Peter Hessler's book within one week, and I wholeheartedly agree with its many admirers. The writing is excellent, the anecdotes priceless (witness his student's Marxist take on Beowulf from the perspective of the monster Grendel!), and his commitment and respect for understanding China genuine. Indeed, this is one of the few books I've read which is not a holier-than-thou rant from a spoiled and generally clueless Westerner, detailing (yet again) skewed takes on China's problems and what not. Like his excellent Atlantic Monthly pieces, River Town is a balanced account of life in China, where people are pretty much just like you and me, albeit poorer (assuming you're a Westerner). However, despite Hessler's formidable Chinese skills, I can't help but feel he provides only a superficial understanding of Chinese society. He never truly penetrates it like many other writers have done with other non-Western societies. Thus, while Hessler writes about his trip to Xi'an or his friendship with the people who run the local noodle stall, I feel often that I'm just reading a prose version of a tourist's snapshots. Snap, snap, snap--little anecdotes that give me a smile but never made me think. Hessler's relationship with Chinese women is a classic example of his remove from the country: in his entire time there (2 years), he never went out with a single Chinese woman!--and this is despite countless references within his book to their beauty and grace. Indeed, his one "date" is near the end of his 2 years when he and his Peace Corps sitemate took a couple of the local bank's tellers out for dinner to show their appreciation for all their kindness--later, we find out, these two women were married at the time. Likewise, when a local tramp who works in a beauty salon pursues him, he is horrified by the thought of people seeing her with him. But why the fear? Surely, even if he rebuffed her, it would be interesting to see where she lived and how she operated. Instead, Hessler becomes afraid and runs away, destroying a friendship that would provide balance to his often dull episodes about his relationship with a Catholic priest. So . . . overall, this is a very impressive book, but it's one that's curiously vapid. Maybe I'm comparing Peter Hessler's experiences in China with Paul Theroux's in Africa, and this is not a fair comparison. However, Theroux in his countless stories about Africa seem to have lived and understood the place to an extent Hessler doesn't. In his descriptions about Africa, it seems Theroux as a Peace Corps volunteer had gone native in every sense of the word. Hessler doesn't go as far native as a Peace Corps volunteer, and that remains the only (though not insubstantial) flaw of the book. The final verdict: Read River Town if you're interested in China. But if you're interested in Peace Corps stories, read Paul Theroux's novel "My Secret History" which is more impressive.
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Summary: a book that teaches
Review: Simply...enthralling. A book that not only captures the lifestyle of the Chinese but also teaches us various life lessons.
The chapter on Shakesphere, and the student's interpertation of his (Shakesphere's) work, sheds light on how we all should interpert ALL things that we see and do in life.
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Summary: A glimpse into the opaque mindset of the Mainland Chinese
Review: Do not let the fact that this book is an easy read fool you into believing it is trite. To the average Westerner, China is opaque which gives it a kind of mysticism. The language barrier and script exagerates this. The author of this book spent two years submerged in non-tourist China. Armed with the ability to speak Mandarin the author allows the Westerner to glimpse and understand some of the mindset of the Chinese. This is not the mindset described in Wild Swans - authored by someone escaped Mainland China and can now loathe it as an outsider - or the China described in Simon Winchester's diverting River at the Centre of the World - which is more preoccupied by colonial tales. Instead it is a book in which the author ends up questioning his own cultural assumptions and political indoctrinations through the thoughts and experiences - occasionally absurd - of the people to whom he is teaching. Compulsive and unique.
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Summary: Insightful and objective
Review: Hessler is a talented author and scholar; he likes to use the semicolon. His book entails Hessler and his colleague, who were the first foreigners to live in the Sichuan province of China since the 1940s. He provided historical, political, cultural, environmental, regional, and linguistic backgrounds of Fuling, the Sichuan province, and other parts of China. He appeared to be honest and many times, consciously objective, in explaining his thoughts and observations while experiencing life during the period he lived there. He would note a cultural norm, then make the comparisons to how he in particular, and we as Americans in general, perceive things and behave. He also included his students' writing verbatim to give examples of their perceptions. This is not just a "memoir" but a look into modern China and a note of the changes that are currently taking place. He experienced the xenophobic communistic norms that still are present in modern China. His mail was intercepted, censored, and tampered with. Certain students were planted to report any discussion regarding China to Communist Party officials. There was an Orwellian atmosphere present at the University, and strict rules covering students' private lives. His trip to Yulin in the western part of China was very interesting. During his time spent in Fuling it became "home." This is a very insightful book and is worth reading for anyone interested in China and/or the Peace Corps.
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Summary: Wonderful orientation to people and place
Review: I read this book while preparing for a trip to China. I was especially interested in gaining insight into the Yangtze River and the Three Gorges Dam project. Peter Hessler (who served for two years as Peace Corps volunteer teacher in Fuling on the Yangtze) really made the people of this town and the area come alive. His efforts to understand the lives of the local people as well as his students and colleagues brought forth an entertaining and informative book. Even if you are not going to China this is a book worth reading. It opens up a perspective on China that is much more personal than the current events and news stories give us. It gave me certainty that visting China before the Three Gorges start to flood (2003) was a necessity. A way of life will disappear and yet thanks to Mr. Hessler - a bit of it has been saved.
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