River Town

By Peter Hessler

River Town is Peter Hessler's candid account of life as a "waiguoren" or foreigner living and working in China. Hessler spent two years in the late 1990's along the Yangtze River in the remote town of Fuling. Prior to his arrival, the town had not had seen "waiguoren" for fifty years. He was sent as a Peace Corps volunteer to teach English and American literature at the local teacher's college. During his time in China, Hessler not only learned Mandarin, but also learned a great deal about the Chinese people and their customs.

Hessler is willing to tell it like it is - including both the good and the bad aspects of his experience. One of my favorite aspects of the book was the passages he included from his students' writings. He did not filter their writings, leaving in their misspellings and grammar mistakes. This gives the reader real insight into the minds of his Chinese students.

I also enjoyed following Hessler in his changes over the two year period. When he first arrived, he knew little of the ways of the Chinese and almost no Mandarin beyond a few simple phrases. It was interesting to see how not only he changed, but the way he looked at the world changed with his ability to speak Mandarin and his better understanding of Chinese culture. By the end of the book he is no longer a "waiguoren," but a resident of Fuling and he very much considers himself so.

One of the problems I encountered with this book was Hessler's use of Chinese words. I liked that he included some Mandarin, but after a while, he dropped his English translations. This would not have been a problem had I read the book in one sitting, but after a few days without reading, I found myself flipping through the pages for translations. I did learn a few Mandarin words because of this - "waiguoren" anyone? - but still found myself struggling with some of the other less used words. This was only a slight hiccup in my reading as I found myself quickly engrossed in his stories. My suggestion to anyone reading this book is to really pay attention to those Mandarin words because they will probably continually show up, eventually without English translation. It was a real challenge to find the original translation and I often found myself giving up and trying to decipher it's meaning from the sentence it was used in. The good thing is I do know a few Mandarin words now!

The only other weakness I found in this book was the interruption of flow created by a short story after each chapter. In some cases the story was the history of White Flat Mountain, the mountain above Fuling, and in other cases the story delved into the lives of some of Fuling's residents. Each little story was very interesting, but it broke up the flow of the main story, which followed a chronological order from the time of Hessler's arrival in Fuling to the time he left. The real problem was that most of these stories didn't have a clear link to the chapter before them. Some did have a link, but for the most part, I felt that the flow was hard to re-grasp after these stories.

Despite these weaknesses, River Town's attributes more than make up for them. The book is well-written and easily captures the reader's attention. I would suggest this book for anyone who may travel to China, particularly if they are considering living there. Although, really this book can be read by anyone interested in Chinese life. River Town is a good read that is both fun and enlightening.