RIVER TOWN Two Years on the Yangtze

This endearing memoir of a Peace Corps volunteer who spent two years in Fuling, an industrial city soon to be drowned by the Three Gorges Dam Project, transcends the travel genre to appeal to anyone fascinated by this populous country. Old China buffs and new Sinophiles will find a depth of understanding here for the warmth, ambition, and pride of this amazing people. Scott Brick becomes the author, Peter Hessler; it's just as if he is newly arrived home filled with his adventures and can't wait to tell them to you. Brick's Chinese seems perfect to this non-Chinese-speaking listener, and there are no corny accents either. There are, however, a multitude of visual memories and sweetly poignant moments. The students in the English department where Hessler worked are a magnificently motley crew filled with excitement for the rebuilding of their new country. B.H.B. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB / MAR 03]