Bridgman reviewed River Town by Peter Hessler
Review of 'River Town' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Have you ever read a book about something you've done that was by someone who did the same or close to it but better and it bugs you? That's a little how I felt about Peter Hessler's River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze. I'd taught in China for a year a decade before Hessler taught there for two years.
I liked River Town despite this. Hessler is smart, educated and hard working enough to learn Chinese and study China thoroughly to make much of what he wrote illuminate things that took place during my stay there. Much hadn't changed in the decade between my year there, 1986, and his two years, when he was employed by the Peace Corps. The town he was in, Fuling, was similar to the one I was in, Guiyang. That made some things he didn't mention puzzling to me. For example, he doesn't …
Have you ever read a book about something you've done that was by someone who did the same or close to it but better and it bugs you? That's a little how I felt about Peter Hessler's River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze. I'd taught in China for a year a decade before Hessler taught there for two years.
I liked River Town despite this. Hessler is smart, educated and hard working enough to learn Chinese and study China thoroughly to make much of what he wrote illuminate things that took place during my stay there. Much hadn't changed in the decade between my year there, 1986, and his two years, when he was employed by the Peace Corps. The town he was in, Fuling, was similar to the one I was in, Guiyang. That made some things he didn't mention puzzling to me. For example, he doesn't mention that among the first Chinese words visitors to China learned at the time was meiyou, "not have," and that the predominate sound of the Chinese people then was the hawking of preparing to spit a big glob of mucus on the street, sidewalk, or restaurant floor.
Small omissions, though. Hessler threw himself into Chinese life more than most and because of that River Town is a must-read for anyone interested in the Middle Kingdom. As much as I envied his diligence in immersing himself in Chinese life, when he talked about the ailments he suffered from doing so—a ruptured ear drum from constant and severe sinus infections, tuberculous—I was a little glad I'd been so timid. After all, unlike Hessler, who now lives and works full time in Beijing, I did not make China my life.
