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Loading... River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze (P.S.)af Peter Hessler
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ja! Bliv medlem af LibraryThing for at finde ud af om du vil kunne lide denne bog.  kezumi | Oct 6, 2009 |  River Town is a wonderful book for anyone who wants to learn more about China, or are planning on living abroad for an extended period of time. I thought that the book was very interesting and was fascinated with the way the Chinese of Fuling treated Peter Hessler during his stay. It would be very helpful to know a little about China's past, as Peter Hessler mentions many different movements and leaders without going into detail, which can lead to many readers feeling lost. The reader also has to remember that this book is the opinion of just one person who lived in a remote part of China and should not consider his experiences to be the norm for a forgeiner living in China. (  ) JessicaMarie | Apr 12, 2009 | Terrific book! In 1996, 26 year old Peter Hessler spent 2 years teaching English for the Peace Corp. The book gives a fascinating picture of life in small towns in China. nlezak | Dec 18, 2008 | A book about a teacher for the peace corps who spends 2 years in China teaching. I like reading these because you always stumble onto cultural taboo's and such from the mistakes others have made. This was a good story that I recommend. ( ) autumnesf | May 20, 2008 | River Town by Peter Hessler is a good story and being able to relate to it as a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer makes it even better. Hessler tells his story of two years of Peace Corps service living in a small city on the Yangtze River. Hessler tells his story well and is able to weave in the thoughts and emotions of the storyline without distracting the reader. Its often difficult to relate living in a different country to people who may not ever have been to that country but Hessler does it with skill by slowly adding thoughts and insights as the story progressed. He also does an excellent job of describing certain aspects of living abroad such as perception of one's home country as well as learning the local language and customs. Although the average reader may never visit Fuling, China, they can be taken there with this book. (  ) pbirch01 | Apr 17, 2008 |  no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com (ISBN 0060855029, Paperback)In 1996, 26-year-old Peter Hessler arrived in Fuling, a town on China's Yangtze River, to begin a two-year Peace Corps stint as a teacher at the local college. Along with fellow teacher Adam Meier, the two are the first foreigners to be in this part of the Sichuan province for 50 years. Expecting a calm couple of years, Hessler at first does not realize the social, cultural, and personal implications of being thrust into a such radically different society. In River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze, Hessler tells of his experience with the citizens of Fuling, the political and historical climate, and the feel of the city itself."Few passengers disembark at Fuling ... and so Fuling appears like a break in a dream--the quiet river, the cabins full of travelers drifting off to sleep, the lights of the city rising from the blackness of the Yangtze," says Hessler. A poor city by Chinese standards, the students at the college are mainly from small villages and are considered very lucky to be continuing their education. As an English teacher, Hessler is delighted with his students' fresh reactions to classic literature. One student says of Hamlet, "I don't admire him and I dislike him. I think he is too sensitive and conservative and selfish." Hessler marvels, You couldn't have said something like that at Oxford. You couldn't simply say: I don't like Hamlet because I think he's a lousy person. Everything had to be more clever than that ... you had to dismantle it ... not just the play itself but everything that had ever been written about it.Over the course of two years, Hessler and Meier learn more they ever guessed about the lives, dreams, and expectations of the Fuling people. Hessler's writing is lovely. His observations are evocative, insightful, and often poignant--and just as often, funny. It's a pleasure to read of his (mis)adventures. Hessler returned to the U.S. with a new perspective on modern China and its people. After reading River Town, you'll have one, too. --Dana Van Nest (hentet fra Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:16 -0400) Den første test runde er færdig. Besøg Open Shelves Classification gruppen for flere detaljer. |
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Having lived in this region myself for a year, I surprised at how much of the book I could relate to, and consequently passed this onto relatives back home, to give them an idea of what life had been like for me. Whilst being informative with regards the cultural and traditional differences that mark a remarkably un-western way of life, Hessler also offers some interesting ideas about the directions that China's future may take, by providing historical background.
A thoroughly interesting and informative book, still relevant to parts of China today untouched by the tourist industry, I found myself agreeing with the blurb, that if there is any book you should read about China, that this should be it. (