Great insight into turn of the century China. Not sure how much of it is still relevant today, given the pace of the change, but if the author is correct about Chinese mentality then much of it should be as he claims the culture is so tied up in its own history.

Memorable quote:

A fish-trap is for catching fish: once you've caught the fish, you can forget the trap. A rabbit-snare is for catching rabbits; once you've caught the rabbit, you can forget about the snare. Words are for catching ideas; once you've caught the idea, you can forget about the words. Where can I find a person who knows howto forget about words so I can have a few words with him? - Chuang Tzu

Fascinating account of a journalist's experiences in China at the turn of the century. Hessler takes us from archaeological digs in Anyang to Muslim dumpling joints in Yabaolu, from the relentless industry of the experimental city of Shenzhen to the uncertainty in immigrant neighborhoods in D.C. post-9/11. He introduces us to an Uighur trader, former students from his time teaching English in a rural Sichuanese town, and even the famous actor Jiang Wen - all people trying to make their way in the world, all people who grew from the soil of 20th-century China in its most turbulent era. Hessler has a gift for telling the stories of the 老百姓, the ordinary people, without pushing his own narrative over theirs. Highly recommended.

Structurally interesting but frustratingly inconsistent. Hessler is an excellent craftsman and the structure of the book (narratives of present-day migrants divided by interstitial meditations on the politics surrounding interpretation of ancient written artifacts, the eponymous oracle bones) gives the book a measure of coherence, even though Hessler pointedly avoids developing any particular thesis about the Experience and Character of Modern China.

Hessler's skills as a writer can't make up for the inconsistent nature of the stories he follows. The pages that track the career of oracle bone scholar Chen Mengjia are a bit of a puzzle -- they often turn on errata about sources and documents that never resolve into anything meaningful. other stories seem like excerpts from the cutting room floor of his freelance career. The story about the Bronze Horse of Wuwei is particularly frustrating - it ends with a fact checker from the New Yorker apologetically disputing the relevant particulars of the previous material. If it wasn't ready for the pages of the New Yorker (amusingly translated as New York Person magazine by some bureaucratic apparatus of the Chinese government), why does it make the cut for Oracle Bones.

All in all, there's a lot to love about Oracle Bones. The stories that track the progress of his students from [b:River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze|94053|River Town Two Years on the Yangtze (P.S.)|Peter Hessler|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171271609s/94053.jpg|1441686], now teaching English around the country, are spectacular, capturing a spectrum of experiences from young people caught up in the China's enormous structural transformation. Confidential to William Jefferson Foster: come to New York and crash at my place. We'll brief you on all of the slang insults that we've got.

Nicely done. I'm looking forward to reading some more of his well written books.

Journalistic writing that I can appreciate. Personal stories of Hessler discussing his own experiences in China.
Wasn't quite sure if he was trying to make a point or not, but I'm not that great at picking up on these things, as I usually read for the story.

2.5