Part 27 (2/2)
Credits Map Design by Annie Lee
Praise for for RIVER TOWN.
by PETER H HESSLER ”A perceptive and engrossing account of an outsider in fast-changing China.... Elegant.”
-Business Week ”Fascinating.... Vivid.... Penetrating.... A valuable book for anyone interested in a.s.sessing the progress and future of China.”
-Was.h.i.+ngton Post Book World ”A work of grace and profundity.”
-Esquire ”Tender, intelligent, and insightful, [this] is the work of a writer of rare talent; it deserves to become a cla.s.sic.”
-Simon Winchester, author of The Professor and the Madman The Professor and the Madman ”Charming and insightful.... Poignant [and] hilarious.... Lively, intelligent.... You will learn a great deal about real life in contemporary China in River Town River Town, and about how that vast country appears in the eyes of a sensitive, aware, rugged young American who keeps both his eyes and his mind open.”
-New York Times ”A vivid and touching tribute to a place and its people.”
-Kirkus Reviews ”If you should read only one book about China, let it be this.... Hessler is a marvellous writer.... I am not the only China-watcher who will wish he had written this book.”
-Jonathan Mirsky, The Literary Review The Literary Review (London) (London) ”An intimate, humorous, true-to-life portrait of modern China.”
-Vanity Fair ”River Town is at once profoundly insightful, sharply critical, deeply admiring, thoroughly unsentimental, precisely written, and often very, very funny.” is at once profoundly insightful, sharply critical, deeply admiring, thoroughly unsentimental, precisely written, and often very, very funny.”
-Tim Cahill, author of Pa.s.s the b.u.t.terworms Pa.s.s the b.u.t.terworms and and Road Fever Road Fever ”A lyrical account...larded with the tender tales and sweet insights of a personal journey.... A triumph of grace over artifice.”
-San Francisco Chronicle ”Richly nuanced.... Hessler tells his story in a prose that is both forceful and precise.”
-Los Angeles Times ”With patience and trust, Hessler sees that it is possible to partic.i.p.ate in and understand local life.... River Town River Town is a poignant and beautifully written account of a backwater about to face the onslaught of socialist modernity.” is a poignant and beautifully written account of a backwater about to face the onslaught of socialist modernity.”
-The Times Literary Supplement (London) (London) ”Exquisitely reported.... Hessler describes the politics and the history of China in ways that I've never seen matched.... [He] writes beautifully and with balance.”
-Gay Talese, Brill's Content Brill's Content ”Never is Hessler's complex China, or his book, anything less than magnificent.”
-Outside magazine magazine ”Moving, mesmerizing.... Transcends the boundaries of the travel genre and will appeal to anyone wanting to learn more about the heart and soul of the Chinese people.”
-Booklist ”One of the most enchanting books I've read in a very long time.... The quality of the view is exhilarating.”
-Anne Stephenson, USA Today USA Today ”Hessler writes beautifully. River Town River Town is memoir, travelogue, and astute anthropological writing woven into a book that is difficult to put down.” is memoir, travelogue, and astute anthropological writing woven into a book that is difficult to put down.”
-Abraham Verghese, author of The Tennis Partner The Tennis Partner and and My Own Country My Own Country ”Powerful.... Hessler makes poignant observations about the Chinese and the ways Communism and increasing openness affects them.”
-Salon.com ”Suffused with candor, compa.s.sion, insights, and intimate knowledge, River Town River Town is a wonderful read.” is a wonderful read.”
-Ha Jin, author of Waiting Waiting, winner of the National Book Award
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