Country Driving : A Chinese Road Trip

Getting a new book from a favourite author sends a tingle down my spine. It is almost like renewing a conversation with an friend you haven't seen in a while. You know in advance more or less what you are going to talk about, but you are excited to break new ground and catch up on the last year or so.

These were my feeling when the new book by Peter Hessler 'Country Driving : A Chinese Road Trip ' arrived in the latest shipment.

Hessler's first book, River Town, won the Kiriyama Award for writing about Asia. In it he recounts the two years he spent as a volunteer English teacher on the River Yangtze. What I admired most about the book was the elegance of the writing. Hessler knows exactly where to insert himself into the picture to bring his characters and stories to life. He writes with insight, sensitivity and killer wit.

You might have the impression that I enjoyed it.

In this new book Hessler recounts his seven years of travels around the country by car. It is divided into three parts. (At least I assume it is three. I still have about 50 pages left.) In the first part he drives along parts of the Great Wall and narrates the history of the monument and the lives of the people who live beside it. Next he offers insights into the life of the rural community which he retreated to for his writing. The final segment he views Chinese economic growth through the lives of two entrepeneurs, and their migrant workforce, who establish a factory in an economic development zone.

This book effortlessly lifted me from of the day-to-day and had me reading until the early hours of the morning.