Tag Archives: China
** Moby-Duck by Donovan Hohn
One cold day in 1992, a container of bath toys went overboard in a freak storm over the Pacific. The toys (ducks and other creatures) floated all the way to Alaska, and perhaps beyond, and the author of Moby-Duck goes … Continue reading
Filed under Non fiction
** Oracle Bones by Peter Hessler
Having Loved Country Driving and River Town by the same author, I tried the middle book in the series, Oracle Bones, and I was disappointed. Not that some of the stories are not just as interesting as in the other … Continue reading
Filed under True story
*** River Town by Peter Hessler
Having read Peter Hessler’s more recent stories about China, I thought it would be interesting to read about his first stay in China, when he was a Peace Corps volunteer in 1996 and 1997. River Town has the same authentic, … Continue reading
Filed under True story
Larry’s Kidney by Daniel Asa Rose
Larry’s Kidney is the barely-believable and, if true, rather shocking story of how the author helped his cousin procure a black-market kidney in China. Larry is obese, diabetic, a dialysis patient, and he has never met a vegetable he would … Continue reading
Filed under True story
The Vagrants by Yiyun Li
Perhaps I should pick less dark novels? The Vagrants tells the story of a Chinese town after the Cultural Revolution where a supposed “counter-revolutionary” is savagely executed (and her kidneys given to a high-ranking officials) and the ensuing popular protest … Continue reading
Filed under New fiction
Factory Girls by Leslie Chang
What an interesting book, despite its flaws! Factory Girls tells the story of the young women who work in Dongguan, a city close to Hong-Kong where, it seems, all the luxury bags of the world (think Coach and Gucci) and many … Continue reading
Filed under Non fiction
The Song of Everlasting Sorrow by Wang Anyi
The Song of Everlasting Sorrow is the story of a Shanghai woman whose adult life starts by starring in a beauty pageant and ends in poverty. It’s always difficult to appreciate translated work. This novel mixes lyrical descriptions (not my … Continue reading
Filed under New fiction
