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Summary: One of the best that I've ever read
Review: Peter Hessler had an extraordinary experience and he translated it into an extraordinary book. It is at time informative, poignant, thought provoking, and funny. His passages are peppered with just the right amount of background information concerning China's politics and history, but it never feels like you're reading a textbook. The book is enlightening and I'm certainly the better for having read it.
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Summary: IS THE CHINESE GOV'T. STILL EXCESSIVELY CONTROLLING?
Review: Because the Chinese society is so different from the western world I have read many books about the Orient and have enjoyed most of them. This would rate right at the top as regards what's happening in China as of today...2001.Great insight is relayed by the author as to the character and mores of the Chinese individual and points out that each individual is unique...and different...even in China. The government "line" is strictly adhered to as regards politics, but other areas of life are also different than ours. Peter Hessler gives us an excellent picture of every day life in a most interesting and loving way and I could not put the book down. This is about life in a tiny spot on the map which is part of a billion souls nation and the interests of all concerned. Peter makes a name for himself by winning a foot race which sets the reader up to get the "inside story" of many things. A grand read.
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Summary: Totally Fascinating
Review: As research for a fall trip to China, I chose River Town for an American's perspective on the Chinese. What started out as simply interesting reading turned into totally fascinating insights on the land, its people, and their thoughts. Hessler seems to be at his best when attempting to decipher the Chinese mind. This is the most stimulating book I have read in many years. I will be giving it as gifts to many people.
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Summary: The rewards and frustrations of trying to understand China
Review: Peter Hessler's "River Town" ranks among my favorite three books about China, the other two being Mark Salzman's "Iron and Silk" and Simon Winchester's "The River at the Center of the World". More than the other two books, "River Town" is the story of a love-hate relationship with China. In my experience, this is the mode of existence that is predominant among expatriates in this country. What is quite unusual about Peter Hessler is the determination with which he tries to see China through Chinese eyes (quite unlike W. Somerset Maugham in "On a Chinese Screen"). He learns the language, he travels hard-seater, takes the slow-boats on the Yangtze, goes hiking among the rice fields, talks with the locals. He takes note of what he sees, and he takes notes. Lots of notes. They become the basis for the abundance of details about everyday life in the city and the college where he teaches. The book is an impressive document of Hessler's love for the country, and at the same time, beneath the armor of his love, there is the anger and frustration he feels about not being accepted as the well-meaning, open-minded individual that he is (almost like a missionary whose good intentions are not valued). He works admirably hard at understanding the people, the culture, and the land, but the majority of Chinese do not change their idea of who he is, and very few change their behavior towards him. His frustration at being treated as a wai guo ren (the summary term for a person from a foreign country), as opposed to being treated as an individual, is palpable. I am confident that this book will find readers years from now. For the time being it provides the most comprehensive picture of city life in the rural hinterland of a country in transition. Hessler has witnessed a very traditional China that is about to disappear in the process of the economic modernization, just like parts of the river town are about to be submerged in the lake created by the Three Gorges Dam. He is not sentimental about the old customs and traditions, but there is a whiff of nostalgia and a sense of loss in his book. River Town is a memoir with an ambition to be more. It is not as original, crisp and witty as Salzman's memoir, and not as erudite as Winchester's travel book. Its ambition is to be poetic and realistic at the same time. Poetic in its depiction of the land, realistic when describing life in Fuling. This makes for a somewhat uneven mixture, and I think the book would have gained if Hessler had kept his talent for poetic evocation apart from his talent for reporting. He is very good at both, no doubt. My feeling was simply that the book would have been even better, albeit shorter, if he had concentrated on just one of his strengths. River Town has the potential to become a classic China memoir. Peter Hessler is a gifted observer, and a person who has great empathy with the Chinese people. He is someone who tries to understand the country from the bottom up. Very admirable.
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Summary: Great writing, interesting story
Review: I found this to be a very interesting peek into the modern-day culture of the other "super-power." Hessler packs magnificent descriptions, funny stories, and astute observations into this book. It makes me want to visit China, and also to learn more and understand more about other cultures. I think Hessler is a wonderful writer.
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Summary: China Revalued
Review: Having traveled recently to China to visit the terracotta soldiers in Xi'an and after riding the river cruise down the Yangtze to see the Gorges, new dam, etc. I really appreciate the eye-opening account of this teacher's experience. I would not have been able to take in this Asian philosophy had I read it before my trip. It's too different from my own. River Town should be a must-read selection for anyone trying to understand what is read in the news media about happenings in China. A western point of view cannot be applied to actions taken out there. Values are very different! Although I was impressed favorably with the Chinese people in general, the sensation remained that there was a lot that we couldn't understand. Not enmity, just extreme difference. Peter Hessler examines these differences closely. Thank you, Peter.
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Summary: This book is a great resource for anyone planning to teach/l
Review: River Town is a lovely and heartfelt tale of a foreign teacher's remarkable experiences in China. As a former teacher in China, 1985 and 1986, in a similarly remote part of the nation, I found Hessler's book entirely absorbing and accurate. I was amazed to discover that while China has changed immensely since 1986, so many of his experiences, 10 years later, were identical to mine. Later this summer I am using River Town to orient new teachers who themselves are on their way to join the growing ranks of "waiguoren" teaching in China.
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Summary: An extraordinary experience in an extraordinary book.
Review: If you are considering on going into the Peace Corps (or are an ex- Peace Corps volunteer) get this book. If you are planning on learning Chinese get this book. If you are going to visit China and/or journey up the Yangtze River take this book with you. I just spent three languid days steaming up the Yangtze and read 'River Town' while reminiscing on the unique insights that Peter Hessler has on contemporary China. His candor and compassion for the common Chinese come out of his two years (1997 - 1998) as a Peace Corps English teacher in the Yangtze river town, Fuling. River Town is more than a travelogue or anecdotal book that memoirs a Peace Corps workers 'two years in China'. It is an anthropological comprehension of a nation that is often an enigma to many who encounter it. Hessler comprehends, as best as anyone can in a scant few years, a culture that is as complex as its language. A world where the people have learned to live and balance the contradictions (Communist capitalism) and irony (tai chi to the beat of rock music) that pervades their world. Provocative and very informative is his chapter 'The Dam'. What Jan Wong does for revealing a comprehensive and balanced account of Tiananmen Square massacre in her book "Red China Blues" (see my review) Peter Hessler does for understanding the Three Gorge Damn project now underway on the Yangtze. A must read for those interested in this controversial and provocative project. An extraordinary experience in an extraordinary book. Highly recommended. 4 1/2 stars
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Summary: river town
Review: Good easy entertaining reading that gives insight into China today. Recommended for anyone visiting or working in China.
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Summary: It's True, It's True
Review: Over the past four years I've had the opportunity to visit China four times on business trips. In the course of these visits I've been to both large and small cities in the northern, southern, eastern and western regions of the country. Currently I'm residing in Shanghai for a three-month sojourn (and, by the way, it's a fascinating city, like NYC but the people are friendly). Reading Hessler reaffirmed many of my own impressions about China. Living in one place for two years, however, he had the opportunity to really become familiar with modern Chinese culture in a way only few westerners will ever have. Fortunately, he took the effort record his findings for all of us to share. His work both made me laugh aloud and helped me to understand the complexity of today's China ... I loved reading this book; and, now I'm going to loan it to my Chinese friends to see how they react to it.
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