River Town, by Peter Hessler

Really great read. It only took me a long time to read it because of all the bottles I had to feed and diapers I had to change, otherwise it would have been one of those not to put down until the end. It was quite a departure from Lois Fisher's book since Peter Hessler experience was almost diametrically opposite to hers. He was a Peace Corps volunteer in Fuling, a medium-sized town in Sichuan, who spent two years teaching in a teacher's college.

His writing seems to flow from the heart and sounds much more personal. Perhaps because I lived with this book for over a month, it left a stronger impression in me. At times, I felt that I was living Hessler's experience and I could participate in his wonder, in his frustration, in his happiness, and in his dismay. It is also a far more modern account of China and the references to Tian-anmen correspond to the incidents of 1989, which are what I was aware of before reading the book. Lois Fisher's Tian-anmen uprising dates back to the time when the Gang of Four was about to be brought down for its crimes, which happened when I was still too young to acknowledge more than my toys.

It seems to me that Hessler does a good job explaining the current state of the people's mind in China. In the account of his daily life in Fuling, you can get a sense of what the local culture is like: what they eat, what they do, what is important to them, how they view the West, how they relate to religion, to technology, etc. Some bookstores file this in a section called "Armchair Travel", a section I'll probably visit more often after reading "River Town". I believe that books like this can help us expand our frameworks to encompass and understand different peoples and help us be more appreciative of foreign cultures. Reading this type of book is, in my opinion, the next best thing to traveling.