Well, somehow I have managed (again!) to get a month behind in my book posts. This is good and bad in that it allow the book to sink in and I can really determine what kind of impact it had on me... but then, even if I liked it, it is sometimes hard to remember... as the years go on, I am definitely experiencing shorter-term memory loss in regards to books.
I'm guessing it will not take much of an explanation of why I read Lost on Plant China by J. Maarten Troost. Needless to say, I have been on China kick going back the nearly 6-7 months since we found out that we were going to China... a place I honestly never thought I would go to, but some place I am now so glad I did.
But the subject matter wasn't the only reason that I read the book. I had read (and enjoyed) Troost's two previous books - The Sex Lives of Cannibals and Getting Stoned With Savages - both which recount Troost's extended stays on remote South Pacific Islands. Similar to this book, I also read the first of his books shortly after our own amazing trip to French Polynesia - though Troost didn't exactly have our resort/beach bungalow, decidedly non-primitive experience.
So while I was familiar with Troost, I do have to give a shout-out to my fellow reading challenge participant Joanna, for letting me know about this book. I am sure I would have eventually stumbled onto it, but likely not in time to enjoy it so quickly upon our return (and here's a link to Joanna's thoughts about the book).
While I had the heads-up about this before our trip to Beijing, I am so glad that I waited until we got back to read it... and I had many head-nodding, laugh out loud recognition moments time and time again while reading this book. I still don't think that I have accurately written about China... I have talked about how there is a lot of contradictions / paradoxes (paradoxi?), but still could not quite effectively communicate it... and thankfully Troost is able to do this time and time again. I had to constantly stop myself from reading passages to Todd and let him just read it for himself... which he may have a chance to do in the next two weeks as he is headed back to Asia (though not to China) on a business trip. But here's a passage from the book that is a pretty good summation... and something we experienced firsthand as well:
In China, it doesn't take long for a first time visitor to realize how very delusional he has been in terms of his assumptions about the country. If nothing else, traveling through China is a profoundly humbling experience, no more so than when you realize everything you thought about the country, all your presumptions and book learning, your opinions, turn out to be utterly, completely wrong. Take, for instance, public order. I had taken as a given that in a country under one-party rule, a party that periodically felt the need to kill a million here and a million there and to now and then run over its citizens with tanks, and that even today jails its citizens for even the slightest suggestion of dissent, public order just wouldn't be an issue. But this turns out not to be the case. Indeed, I couldn't imagine a people more disinclined to obey rules than the Chinese.
This gives you a great sense of Troost's writing style... and his humor (which I love)... so I am sure it's pretty easy to see why I loved this book. And while the my own experiences certainly made it a more rich reading experience, I think pretty much anyone would find it both entertaining and informative. Troost travels extensively through China making a fairly brief stop in Beijing at the beginning of the book -- so there was a lot that was totally new to me as well... though again, there were many experiences I could relate to... though I definitely sense that we had a very unusual and unique experience... as during the Olympics, there were very likely the most ever foreigners that have ever been in the country at one time... so things like the pollution, traffic, and general behavior were all things that were not "typical."
I think this is my favorite Troost book yet, and one that I can heartily recommend to others since China is such a force on the world stage... and this book tells you (again, often comically) some of the reasons why... the subtitle of the book is "The Strange and True Story of One Man's Attempt to Understand the World's Most Mystifying Nation -- or How I Become Comfortable Eating Live Squid"... which reminds me I should share with you some of our own dining experiences (no worries, nothing too or that strange)... but I think that subtitle sums it up great... it is mystifying... and 'attempt' is a good word to describe a foreinger's ability to take it all in.
2008 1-2-3-4-5 Reading Challenge: + 382 Pages (Total: 7,817 pages - Finished: 9/7/2008)
-774 pages behind pace for the year (+44 change in pace since last book).
Hey Ed!
I have been eagerly awaiting your review on this - hoping that you would react just as you did. :>) You are such a great reviewer - you really do a nice job of conveying enough about the book to get people interested but not too much so as to spoil it. I am so glad you liked it!
And thanks for the shout out - that was really awesome of you!
Happy weekend!
Joanna
Posted by: Joanna | Saturday, October 04, 2008 at 03:39 PM