return to home
 
 
          Bookmark and Share        Email
 
  This Week's Recommendations    |     Hardcovers Coming Soon    |     Paperbacks Coming Soon    |     Recent Hardcovers    |     Recent Paperbacks
   Genres   |    Settings   |    Time Periods   |    Themes   |    Favorites   |    Award Winners   |    Book Finder   |    Surprise Me!   |    Tag cloud
   Recent Interviews    |     All Interviews    |     Author Bios    |     Author Websites    |     Pronunciation Guide
   Free Newsletters   |    Wordplay   |    Book Giveaway   |    BookBrowse Polls   |    Literary Quotes   |    Personality Quiz   |    Gift Membership
   Recent Membership Magazines    |     Magazine Archives     |     Invite the Author    |     My Reading List    |     First Impressions    |     My Account
   Editor's Blog    |     Best Reader Reviews    |     Book News    |     Meet the Reviewers    |     Stay In Touch
   About Us   |    Tour   |    Member Benefits   |    Join   |    Gift Memberships   |    Library Subscriptions   |    FAQ   |    People Say   |    Contact Us
Search BookBrowse
Suggested Links
This Book's Themes:
Free Twice-Monthly Newsletters
Olive Kitteridge

Win This Book!




Sarah's Key
by Tatiana de Rosnay


'Masterly and compelling, highly recommended.'
- Library Journal


Enter To Win Now!

Serena by Ron Rash

wordplay
Solve this clue:
"N I T Mother O I"

and be entered to win....
New Author
Interviews
Paul Auster
A video interview with Paul Auster about his 2009 book Invisible
Malla Nunn
A brief but revealing Q&A with Malla Nunn, author of A Beautiful Place to Die, the first in a new series set in 1950s South Africa starring Detective Emmanuel Cooper.
Kate DiCamillo
Kate DiCamillo and Yoko Tanaka, the illustrator of The Magician's Elephant, discuss the writing and illustrating of the book. In a separate Q&A, Kate discusses The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.
Brigid Pasulka
Brigid Pasulka explains why she wrote her first novel, A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True, which is set in Poland during World War II, and in Kraków 50 years later.
   Summary and Book Reviews

River Town: Summary and book reviews of River Town by Peter Hessler, plus links to an excerpt from River Town and a biography of Peter Hessler.

River Town River Town
by Peter Hessler
Hardcover: Jan 2001,
416 pages.
Paperback: Dec 2001,
416 pages.

Publication information
Read an Excerpt
Reader Reviews

Author Biography
Books by this Author
Critics' Opinion:  
Readers' Rating: 
About BookBrowse Rankings
Buy This Book
Themes Members Only Read-Alikes Members Only Add to Reading List  Members Only
Book Summary

In the heart of China's Sichuan province lies the small city of Fuling. Surrounded by the terraced hills of the Yangtze River valley, Fuling has long been a place of continuity, far from the bustling political centers of Beijing and Shanghai. But now Fuling is heading down a new path, and gradually, along with scores of other towns in this vast and ever-evolving country, it is becoming a place of change and vitality, tension and reform, disruption and growth. As the people of Fuling hold on to the China they know, they are also opening up and struggling to adapt to a world in which their fate is uncertain.

Fuling's position at the crossroads came into remarkably sharp focus when Peter Hessler arrived as a Peace Corps volunteer in 1996, marking the first time in more than half a century that the city had an American resident. He found himself teaching English and American literature at the local college, discovering how Shakespeare and other classics look when seen through the eyes of students who have been raised in the Sichuan countryside and educated in Communist Party doctrine. His students, though, are the ones who taught him about the ways of Fuling -- and about the complex process of understanding that takes place when one is immersed in a radically different society.

As he learns the language and comes to know the people, Hessler begins to see that it is indeed a unique moment for Fuling. In its past is Communist China's troubled history -- the struggles of land reform, the decades of misguided economic policies, and the unthinkable damage of the Cultural Revolution -- and in the future is the Three Gorges Dam, which upon completion will partly flood the city and force the resettlement of more than a million people. Making his way in the city and traveling by boat and train throughout Sichuan province and beyond, Hessler offers vivid descriptions of the people he meets, from priests to prostitutes and peasants to professors, and gives voice to their views. This is both an intimate personal story of his life in Fuling and a colorful, beautifully written account of the surrounding landscape and its history. Imaginative, poignant, funny, and utterly compelling, River Town is an unforgettable portrait of a city that, much like China itself, is seeking to understand both what it was and what it someday will be.

Book Reviews


 Kirkus Reviews
Starred Review. A vivid and touching tribute to a place and its people.

 Booklist
Starred Review. 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.

 Vanity Fair
Never is Hessler's complex China, or his book, anything less than magnificent...An intimate, humorous, true-to-life portrait of modern China.

 The New York Times Book Review
An important work of reportage.... A book that is like the river itself, both lovely and rebellious, and strong beneath the stillness of its surface.

 Gay Talese
I think River Town is one of the most important books that will be published this coming year.... Amazing.

 Abraham Verghese, author of The Tennis Partner and My Own Country
Hessler writes beautifully. River Town is memoir, travelogue, and astute anthropological writing woven into a book that is difficult to put down.

 Simon Winchester, author of The Professor and the Madman
Tender, intelligent, and insightful, [this] is the work of a writer of rare talent; it deserves to become a classic.

 Ha Jin, author of Waiting
Suffused with candor, compassion, insights, and intimate knowledge, River Town is a wonderful read.

 Tim Cahill, author of Pass the Butterworms and Road Fever
River Town is at once profoundly insightful, sharply critical, deeply admiring, thoroughly unsentimental, precisely written, and often very, very funny.


This Book's Themes:
Read-Alikes:
Other books by this author
Buy This Book:

Become a Member
Editor's Choice
  •  Nov 07 
  •  Nov 05 
  •  Nov 03 
The Children's Book
A.S. Byatt
A spellbinding novel that spans the Victorian era through the World War I years, and centers around a famous children's book author and the passions, betrayals, and secrets that tear apart the people she loves.
A Gate at the Stairs
Lorrie Moore
A novel on the anxiety and disconnection of post-9/11 America, on the insidiousness of racism, the blind-sidedness of war, and the recklessness thrust on others in the name of love.
Half Broke Horses
Jeannette Walls
Jeannette Walls's memoir The Glass Castle was "nothing short of spectacular" (Entertainment Weekly). Now, in Half Broke Horses, she brings us the story of her grandmother, told in a first-person voice that is authentic, irresistible, and triumphant.
Al Capone Shines My Shoes
Gennifer Choldenko
Moose and the cons are about to get a lot closer in this much-anticipated sequel to Al Capone Does My Shirts. Recommended for ages 10+.
This Is Where I Leave You
Jonathan Tropper
A riotously funny, emotionally raw novel about love, marriage, divorce, family, and the ties that bind—whether we like it or not.
One Month Free
Recent Reader Reviews
When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson
I absolutely loved the books "Case Histories" and "One Good Turn" by Kate Atkinson and could not wait for the 3rd book in the ... read more
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
A gripping and fascinating adventure of one young girl's obsession with knowing who her parents really were/are. The delving into the idea of ... read more
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
I borrowed Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norrell from the library, hoping it would be a lively story of two feuding wizards. Instead, the author spends ... read more
RSS feed More...  
Most Viewed This Week
1. Brooklyn Bridge
Karen Hesse
2. The Glass Castle
Jeannette Walls
3. Three Cups of Tea
David O. Relin, Greg Mortenson
4. A Child Called It
Dave Pelzer
5. The Notebook
Nicholas Sparks
More...
Book Club Recommendations
Stalin's Children
by Owen Matthews
Paperback (Sep/09)
Home
by Marilynne Robinson
Paperback (Sep/09)
The Blue Star
by Tony Earley
Paperback (Aug/09)
Say You're One of Them
by Uwem Akpan
Paperback (Jul/09)
More...
First Impressions
Members read and review books often months before they're published. See what they think in First Impressions!
Cleopatra's Daughter
by Michelle Moran
           (Sep/09)
The Book of Illumination
by Mary Ann Winkowski
           (Oct/09)
Serena
by Ron Rash
           (Oct/09)
State by State
by Matt Weiland & Sean Wilsey (editors)
           (Oct/09)
The Possibility of Everything
by Hope Edelman
           (Sep/09)
More...
   Most Recent Blog Entries
Autumn Reading by Elizabeth Strout
It Takes All Kinds of Readers
Steampunk for Beginners by Cherie Priest
Pride Falls by Elizabeth Berg
rss  RSS   rss  subscribe
  Latest BookBrowse News
Borders to close 200 Waldenbooks outlets (Nov 06 2009)
As Barnes & Noble prepares to close all but two of their B. Dalton mall stores by January 2010, Borders announced that they will close about 200 of the... Full Story
NPR & ABA Partner to Share Book Coverage (Nov 05 2009)
In a joining of like minds, NPR and ABA have partnered to provide thoughtful bestsellers and unique book coverage to readers, both on NPR.org and... Full Story
rss RSS feed More...
BookBrowse Poll
Q: When do you listen to audio books?
I don't listen to audio books
While walking
While doing household chores
While exercising
While working
In the car
At other times
Select Any That Apply
HOME Submissions | Advertising | Showcase | Library Subscriptions | Media Inquiries | Reviewers | Contact Us |   Email this page to a friend
addall.com - external link
Visit AddAll.com to compare and save at 41 bookstores!
Searching for used books? Search 20,000+ dealers!
 
Compare music prices  |  Compare movie prices
One Percent