Shelf Life Book Reviews

For those of you wondering if I am still alive, the answer is a firm yes. My lack of updates can be wholly attributed to the chaos that surrounds a major life decision; in this case, it’s my husband and I deciding to move to China for a year (or three) that has deprived me of my usual updating schedule. By the way, we are still trying to figure out what this move will mean for Shelf Life, but there is a chance it will not be a regular part of our new life overseas.

Understandably, I’ve been reading a ton on the Middle Kingdom lately. I’ve read 3 travelogues on China recently, to the effect that they are all beginning to blend weirdly in my head. Rather than bore you with THREE accounts of the same, I will post just the review of the one I liked best, from favorite author J. Maarten Troost:

I  remember quite clearly one fine spring day in Arkansas, where I found myself negotiating a moving truck from a nearby UHaul distrubutor from the pleasant confines of a Barnes and Noble. With travel on my mind, I wandered over to travel essays, and found myself drawn to <i>Lost on Planet China: The Strange and True Story of One Man’s Attempt to Understand the World’s Most Mystifying Nation or How He Became Comfortable Eating Live Squid</i>. I had never heard of this J. Maarten Troost fellow, and I had no idea he had actually written two other uproariously funny travel essays. I did know that I had recently been in China, I was constantly surprised by how much I missed it, and that this Troost fellow absolutely <i>nailed</i> what it was like to be a passenger in China.

But being the completely bonkers type-A person that I am, I pulled myself away from Troost’s experiences in China and sought his books out in chronological order. Finally, FINALLY, I was able to finish this marvelous tome on what is truly, one of the weirdest, most complex nations today. And one that I will soon find myself living in.

By far the most entertaining of the many adventures-in-China books out there

Genre: nonfiction, travel

Plot: Troost and his wife, Sylvia, have had just about enough of American suburbia. But while she’s thinking Monterey would be a good alternative, he’s heard mysterious things about China and decides to embark on an extended trip there. He spends over  6 months (I think it’s closer to 8, actually, but he never says explicitly) traveling from one end to the other, seeking to understand this chaotic country. From frozen, psuedo-Russian Harbin to austere Lhasa, Troost makes an impressive tour for one little laowai on his own.

Structure:  Considerably longer than his previous books, Troost writes a whalloping 24 chapters telling of his adventures in chronological order. 

Execution:  I am still undecided as to which I liked better, The Sex Lives of Cannibals or this one. The former was much funnier, but the latter is definitely Troost’s best prose. He writes about some pretty unique experiences, like hiking Tiger Leaping Gorge, visiting Tibetan monestaries, and eating live squid; this I appreciated muchly, because I felt like not only had I traveled with him, I had gotten a feel for places in China that I will probably never experience personally (and isn’t that the goal of good travel writing?). I will probably never get to see the Great Wall, but now I know not to bother with the Traditional Medicine Clinic. This is advice you can probably get in other books, but not in such an entertaining fashion.

He’s still carrying the political writ he acquired in Getting Stoned with Savages, though, and that was a bit of a downer. Yes, I know, the government of China is hardly up for the Nobel prize, but his scathing commentary on both the Chinese and American political situation was often below the belt, and honestly, seemed like negativity for negativity’s sake. But still, I will forgive him because he seems like a very nice Dutch/Czech Canadian, and perhaps he can teach this native Texan something about being an American.

Theme: China (various cities), Tibet, Macau, Hong Kong, Chinese transportation, Chinese politics, the Chinese approach to the environment

Read this if you have been, or plan to, visit China anytime soon; you will learn many interesting things that will help you adjust in that too often startling land, or will smile and wistfully remember your time in there.

3 out of 5 stars

Other works:
The Sex Lives of Cannibals
Getting Stoned with Savages

If you liked this, you  might also like:
How to Cook a Dragon – Linda Furiya
Serve the People – Jen Liu-Lin
Fried Eggs with Chopsticks – Polly Evans
The Fortune Cookie Chronicals – Jennifer Lee

Oh Lisa See. If I’ve ever come close to a destructive relationship with someone, it’s definitely you.  Your first book I devoured, and came back for seconds. Your second kept me hanging on, frustration after frustration, to ultimately disappoint in a huge way. But I still remembered the good times we had together, and so I couldn’t help but try your third. Sigh. I wanted so  much to like it, truly I did.

A good story of sisters immigrating to America, but lacked any satisfaction in the ending

Genre: fiction, historical

Plot: Pearl and May are two sisters, growing up in the “Paris of Asia” in the 1920s. They are young, rich, and beautiful, enjoying the high life of modern women. That is, of course, until their father bankrupts himself and is forced to marry them to his debtor’s sons, just as the Japanese begin their conquest. Forced to flee to San Francisco, they must learn to make a life with the strangers they have married, facing racial and economical hardships as they mourn for their former lives as “beautiful girls”.

Structure: Each of the chapters had a jaunty title such as “a piece of jade” or “one inch of gold”. They were strictly chronological, though toward the end the space between them lengthened considerably. The narration is from Pearl’s perspective.

Execution: Lisa See reminds me a little bit of what Patrick O’Brien would be if he set his heart on China instead of the British navy. In other words, they are both great on the nitty-gritty details that really count in historical fiction, but in my eyes, weak on the plot.

At first, the novel was very well executed. The plot was surprising, and you really felt emotionally compelled along with Pearl at each turn. What was especially well done—besides the historical accuracy and, as I always harp on, the use of native language-to-English ratio—was the relationship between Pearl and her sister May. This was a complicated one, and just as in the real world, they had ups and downs which were realistically portrayed.

Things got into a bit of a lull toward the middle, where everything seemed to be going just swimmingly for everyone involved. In the final pages, the plot picks up again at an almost frenetic pace as tragedy occurs and family secrets are spilled, sending a disillusioned daughter rushing off to Communist China. Her mother desperately scrapes up the money to follow her, determined to bring her back to the US safely. And…that’s where the story ends.

I felt like screaming. Did she get her back? Were they ever reconciled after the truth came out? But See obviously felt she had reached her goal or deadline or whatever and abruptly brought things to an end. This frustrated me more than I can adequately convey, and in reality soured my opinion of the novel much more than I had thought of it up until that point.

Theme:  Shanghai, San Francisco, Chinatown, Chinese-Americans, Chinese Immigration Exclusion Act, sisterhood

Read this if  you so love Chinese culture you’d read anything, anything about it.

3 out of 5 stars

Other works:
Although I’ve read both Peony in Love and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan I would actually only recommend the latter.

If you liked this, you  might also like:
Ha Jin’s Waiting and A Good Fall
Alan Brennert’s Honolulu
Yoshiko Uchida’s Picture Bride

If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go? I have to admit most answers I heard to this cliche ice-breaker question are pretty humdrum. But not Cheryl and Bill Jamison. They said, “well, we’d go to 10 different countries and eat awesome food. Oh, and then write a book about it all.” Now there’s some people I wouldn’t mind sitting next to on a plane!

Escapism has never been so delicious

 Genre: nonfiction, travelogue/memoir

Plot: Cookbook authors Cheryl and Bill Jamison one day discovered they had a LOT of frequent flier miles. So many, in fact, that with a little planning they could actually plan to spend 3 months traveling to 10 different countries with free airfare. So that’s exactly what they did for their 20th anniversary. Along the way they enjoyed spectacular food, whichis as big a driving force in this book as it was in their adventure.

Structure: Chapter 1/the introduction is basically a logistics chapter – how did they pull it off, the planning, the packing, etc. Following that, each country gets its own chapter (Bali, Australia, New Caledonia, Singapore, Thailand, India, China, South Africa, France and Brazil, in that order) detailing their stay, their food, and their non-food related adventures. At the end of each country chapter, they also listed the contact information for the hotels and restaurants they visited, and also included a “do-it-yourself” at-home recipe of one food item they enjoyed in country. The last chapter was a wrap-up of coming home and planning their next great trip.

Execution: This was a bit of a rollercoaster for me. The beginning chapter, I have to admit, initially was pretty boring. I don’t really consider other people’s packing list entertaining reading. But in hindsight, it was an excellent guide to preparing for world-wide travel for someone who might dream of doing something similar. Some of the countries (Bali, Singapore) sounded like so much fun I wanted to go book a trip that instant. But some of the countries (Australia, Thailand, Brazil) sounded a little less interesting, either to me personally or just in what it sounded like they did. At any rate, though, I enjoyed getting to hear about these unique cultures and foods, especially from people that really appreciate such things (they constantly reviled chances to “eat like Americans” while abroad).

I was very pleased with the “nitty gritty” sections they included, making it possible for others to enjoy the same experience they did. That to me really set this couple apart from most travel writers – they wanted to help others enjoy the same things they did, either by giving great recommendations in country or providing recipes for the home cook.

However good their intentions were, though, the recipes were unwieldy and impractical. Most of them featured about a mile of ingredients, the majority of which were expensive, hard-to-find, or of inferior-quality in the US. I appreciate the thought, but there’s no way I would spend an estimated $30-40 on the ingredients for just ONE dish. So I don’t really recommend it as a cookbook. Also, I have to say I was a little disappointed with the chapter on China. After all, this is a civilization whose cuisine is so rich in tradition, history, and variation you could spend years on it. Yet they spent suprisingly little time there, and mainly focused on one incredible banquet they got to attend. But they hardly talked about the street food, or the food specific to Guangdong province, or even mentioned the great culinary traditions of the country.

Overall, it was a fun escape. Getting to live someone else’s dream vacation is, in some ways, just as much fun as taking one yourself. It’s not without its flaws, but it was a thoroughly enjoyable read.

Theme: food, travel (see the countries listed above)

Read this if you’re one of those people with a beach photo on your desktop — a cubicle monkey who dreams of getting away.

3 out of 5 stars

Other works:
Numerous cookbooks and hotel guides

If you liked this you might also like:
Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations (basically a photo scrapbook of the show of the same title)
Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love (of course!)
Anything by J. Maarten Troost