Oracle Bones: A Journey Through Time in China, (Paperback)

from comixminx

Interesting and unusual; an area I know nothing about. Lots of fascinating stuff - on the oracle bones themselves (amazingly-preserved early writing from the Shang dynasty - 14th and 13th centuries BC!), on the reaction amongst ordinary Chinese people to 9/11 (bootleg videos of the twin towers ne...

from bostonian71

Enlightening despite being not as cohesive as it could've been. The separate stories Hessler tells are keenly observed and intelligently told, but he's not entirely successful at fitting them into one overarching narrative. (Some of the sections, most notably the one about the factory employees, ...

from mojomomma

A young free-lance journalist and English teacher in China shows the great differences and similarities between China and the U.S. Hessler is especially good at capturing the experience of everyday people, often his former students, as they deal with the complexities of modern China.

from RedMaple

Oracle Bones is an excellent look at life in daily China. Written by a former English teacher, the book tells the story of the author's students living through their twenties: William Jefferson, an English teacher, and Emily, a secretary, are particularly memorable. He accents the story with a lo...

from jeterat

This was an excellent narrative of Peter Hessler's time in China as a correspondent for various American newspapers and magazines. I thought overall it was a worthwhile read and a great audiobook for work. There wasn't anything groundbreaking in the format, but the personal stories (there a three...