Reading both River Town and Oracle Bones by Peter Hessler heightened my understanding and appreciation of Chinese history and culture.
Hessler’s first piece of narrative non-fiction, River Town, portrays the life of an ambitious Peace Corps volunteer during his 2 year stay at a small Chinese fishing town on the Yangtze river. Hessler is honest from the start by pointing out that his impressions only cover a miniscule glimpse of a small section of China. His appreciation for the expanding economic culture and political issues in China are further explored in Oracle Bones through many interviews and even intimate relationships with a range of personalities.
Even if readers possess very little understanding of Chinese culture or history, Hessler’s insights and descriptions are easy to understand and even relate to. In Oracle Bones, Hessler strives for more historical content in order for the reader to gain a clearer picture of the whirlwind changes that China is currently undergoing.
Hessler gets his feet wet with minor character development in River Town and then dives in detailing a wide range of personalities in Oracle Bones. Having not read River Town, it is still possible to follow the characters of Oracle Bones even those some of them surface in both books.
Hessler is a main character in both books, and his growth from River Town to Oracle Bones is nothing short of inspiring. From the start, it’s obvious that Hessler’s bravery and adventurous spirit create a fascinating tale. He starts out not knowing a lick of Mandarin Chinese and by the end of Oracle Bones, he chats with people like he’s lived in Beijing all of his life.
I have little negative to say about these two books. River Town is a fine introduction to Chinese characteristics and quite simply, it’s a charming tale. The story line is easy to follow and pretty straight forward. Hessler tackles a much larger range of characters and issues in Oracle Bones. Stylistically, the chapters are very short and he switches between “Chapters” and “Artifacts” sections. This is not necessary nor does it add any type of clarification to the jumpy nature of the first dozen chapters. After Hessler finally settles in and described a handful of characters, the book begins to flow quite nicely. Toward the end I was worried how he was going to pull everything together. In the last chapter, his conclusion is smooth but it’s held together by a shoestring. That said, it is amazing that he covered as many subjects as he did. His subjects portrayed the lives of young and old Chinese from all different regions and socio-economic situations. Oracle Bones is jam packed and it offers the reader a huge window into Chinese culture and history.
These books have been a God-send to me. I’ve been traveling throughout China for the past month and Hessler’s insights have eased the transition from the US. Without these books, I would be more confused and shocked by Chinese culture. Thank you, Mr. Peter Hessler.
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