Rating: 
Summary: Vanishing beneath the Yangtze
Review: This is one of the most interesting books I have ever read. A vivid portrait of a time of flux in an ancient country, Peter Hessler's River Town is a moving account of his experiences as a foreigner -- or waiguoren. Hessler uses gentle humor and keen powers of observation to bring to life the vignettes of his students and the townspeople. His gently ironic temperament served him well in confronting not only an unfamiliar political regime but also the strangeness of China itself -- or, more to the point, his own strangeness in the eyes of the Chinese. He vividly recounts how, on arrival, he underwent an unsettling transformation and found himself practically illiterate, with an Oxford degree in English but the Chinese-language skills of a toddler. River Town is an important work of reportage, and not just because of the peculiar historical moment it describes -- a moment when Hessler's students can speak of their sincere admiration for the Communist ideals of Chairman Mao, then go off after graduation to seek their fortune in the tumultuous prosperity of China's southern cities. It's also a window into a part of China -- the province of Sichuan -- that has rarely been explored in depth, even though, as Hessler notes, it is home to one out of every 50 people on earth. And Hessler portrays a world that, thanks to the Three Gorges Dam, will soon vanish, to one degree or another. When, pulling away from the dock in Fuling at the end of his Peace Corps term, Hessler looks back at the city and wonders if he'll see it again, you realize with a shock that he's not just being sentimental. But if Fuling, with all its chaos and its poetry, does soon disappear beneath the Yangtze, there will be some small consolation in knowing that it survives in the pages of Hessler's book.
Rating:
Summary: Very good read
Review: This spring I found myself totally engrossed in a New Yorker article by Peter Hessler. I didn't look up throughout the commute - eyes glued to the page as I navigated myself from the train onto a bus and then up the stairs to the couch of my apartment.I immediately checked out his book. What a pleasure. Hessler writes fluidly and his observations are clean and palpable. He offers up a rich book filled with the appropriate amount of selfishness and gives us a wonderful insight into modern China. I look forward to reading more books and articles by him.
Rating: 
Summary: Needlessly repetitive
Review: This was a good book which could have been better given the compelling subject matter and the author's front-row seat. He could have used a better editor. The unabridged audio book was read by Scott Brick who helped me get through the author's meanderings.
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