Interesting and well written, but some sections could have been tightened. The author spent two years (1996-1998) as a Peace Corp volunteer in Fuling, China. It is a remote town located in the Yangtze River Valley, in the heartland of the Sichuan province. He taught English, he learned Chinese and t...
3 1/2 stars. Hessler's writing is engaging and informative; he has interesting stories and made me laugh more than a few times. I definitely learned a lot about China and it was enjoyable to read. Then why only 3 1/2 stars? It's really hard to put my finger on (and also I think I've been getting pic...
From the tiny photo on the back cover of "Oracle Bones", Peter Hassler looks like a friend of mine, A., when I was at the university.One day, around 10 years ago, I met this fellow out of our "Media and communication" department and I told him that he should have tried doing some internship in order...
Part travelogue, part reportage. In addition to the pleasures of reading about Chinese culture and development, it's enjoyable to see Hessler's own growth across his three China books.
I haven't finished (listening), but I *can* write a comment now. This is a wonderful book. Hessler is a wonderful and brilliant writer. He has a deep and serious understanding of culture (as such), as well as of Chinese culture in particular; he is intelligent, observant, has emotional range, a sen...
In some ways I enjoyed this more than Hessler's first China book, River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze. Oracle Bones alternates between personal, historical, and political narratives that usefully reflect each other. It is often funny and frequently poignant. Read [i]River Town[/i] first.
Hessler, already a published travel writer in his late 20's, set out for a two-year stint in Sichuan as a college English literature instructor for the Peace Corps. Here he describes his two years and gradual acculturation. Hessler neither vilifies nor romanticizes the people with whom he interacts,...
One of the very good books about China which is based at a time just before the phase of rapid progress. Simply written, humorous at times and very insightful.
Funny, informative, and easy to read. I loved the stories about the Chinese driver's license exam and the overall feel for the sometimes harrowing experience of driving in a country relatively new to car ownership. The three distinct sections come together to show the changing cultural landscape ...
(I suddenly realized, on reaching page 454, what it was about this book..., this author.... Though the writing is non-fiction, it was like reading Borges...)This is a beautiful, surprising, and stunningly good book -- much richer than one could imagine. For anyone interested in the context and tex...
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