Genre: Literary Fiction
Description:
“Kurt and Reece don't fight the reputation foreign teachers have in
China in 2002—they embrace it. Opium, brothels, and booze help them forget
unsuccessful classes and long commutes.
When Reece abruptly leaves the country, Kurt takes over his apartment
and inherits Ronghua—Reece’s ex-girlfriend.
Originally from Anhui Province, Ronghua once sold cigarettes on a
Shanghai street and is now an unlucky gambler. As her problems spiral, Kurt
senses a chance to redeem his own failures through helping her. Or should he
jettison her to avoid sinking?”
Author:
” F.E. Beyer writes about dead-end jobs, travel, history, and crime. He
is the author of three novels. His articles and reviews have appeared in the
South China Morning Post, Los Angeles Review of Books, Inside Indonesia, and
Travelogues Magazine.”
Appraisal:
The premise of this book, a teacher from Australia is living in China
and teaching English there is an interesting one. How realistic the culture and
things he goes through are, I have no idea. It may be very accurate and it may
have no relationship to the reality someone in this situation would experience.
But either way it’s an interesting thought exercise as Kurt works his way
through the things he encounters and tries to figure things out in a culture
that he’s trying to figure out on the fly. If you’ve ever spent time in a
foreign country, especially if that involved trying to communicate in a
language you aren’t experienced in or depending on others to understand your
foreign (to them) language, you’ll probably flash back on that a time or two.
All in all an interesting read.
Buy now
from: Amazon US Amazon UK
FYI:
Some adult language and some relatively minor references to adult
subjects.
Format/Typo
Issues:
A small number of typos and proofing misses.
Rating: ****
Four Stars
Reviewed
by: BigAl
Approximate word count: 40-45,000 words
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