Sounds of the River

Fülszöveg

'He is enormously frank, and remorselessly reflects the current condition of the People's Republic of China. Sounds of the River is not only cntertaining but enlightening. Ghen's prose... is readable and evocative, moving... Fascinating' TLS Teenager Da Chen gathers soil from the riverbank near his village in China s far south, before he leaves to attend university in Beijing to bear witness to his past and contain the sounds of the river of his childhood. Later, spilled on to the dry earth of the North, they will merge two parts of Chen's life. Arriving in Beijing, armed with a dogged determination to learn English and familiarise himself with 'all things Western', he must compete with every other student to win a chance to study in the US - a chance that rests in the shrewd and corrupt hands of the all-powerful professors. In this remarkable book - by turns ribald, hilarious and heartbreaking - Chen retains his indomitable spirit, but will he be any closer to attaining his goal?... Tovább

Fülszöveg

'He is enormously frank, and remorselessly reflects the current condition of the People's Republic of China. Sounds of the River is not only cntertaining but enlightening. Ghen's prose... is readable and evocative, moving... Fascinating' TLS Teenager Da Chen gathers soil from the riverbank near his village in China s far south, before he leaves to attend university in Beijing to bear witness to his past and contain the sounds of the river of his childhood. Later, spilled on to the dry earth of the North, they will merge two parts of Chen's life. Arriving in Beijing, armed with a dogged determination to learn English and familiarise himself with 'all things Western', he must compete with every other student to win a chance to study in the US - a chance that rests in the shrewd and corrupt hands of the all-powerful professors. In this remarkable book - by turns ribald, hilarious and heartbreaking - Chen retains his indomitable spirit, but will he be any closer to attaining his goal? 'Da Chen is an irrepressibly engaging narrator and has captured the contradictions of a creakily liberalising post-Mao China... [He] has givenWestern readers something new to think about modern China...moving further along the trail first blazed by Wild Swans.' Guardian '[Chen's] writing ripples with tough wit.' Independent 'Da Chen... is an extraordinary individual... [a] dazzling autobiography' Los Angeles Times Vissza