I’ve been slow to finish books recently, in part because I’m reading too many of them at once (as usual) and in part because one of the aforementioned too many is David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest. It’s my all-time favorite book, but it’s also over a thousand pages, and is best enjoyed through quickly-consumed, slowly-digested chunks.
I did finish one book recently, though, my first non-fiction title for the year. I always like the idea of reading more non-fiction, wanting to be a more knowledgeable person, better conversationalist and successful Jeopardy contestant, but I don’t often succeed at this goal. Probably because I think in stories, not facts. But I picked up this book at work and found myself engrossed in the first chapter, so I brought it home.
The book is structured into three parts, one focusing on the Great Wall of China, one on a small village an hour from Beijing and one on a pair of cities and the changes they experience through a mini industrial revolution. While the book is anecdotal at times, Hessler did a good job of telling the story of the families he met in a way that is compelling in its own right while connecting to his central themes. He supports his reports on contemporary life in chine with historical detail, making the dull dates and political figures more relevant and memorable to non-non-fiction readers such as this girl.
The idiosyncracies of Chinese citizens and culture are related with humor but no snark. I came away with a rough understanding of the forces that shape Chinese life, an even rougher grasp on the overall course of Chinese history, a sense of the great changes happening now and the tensions they create, what Communism, family planning, etc. look like to the human beings who live with them, and an interest in reading Hessler’s other books about China.
