Oracle Bones: A Journey Through Time in China

If you are interested in Chinese/China, this book is really good. The only problem is the narrator thoroughly an completely butchers the Chinese words in this otherwise terrific audio book.
To be fair to the narrator, his voice is interesting and expressive. It's just the Chinese language parts that do him in. Maybe if I did not speak Chinese I would not care so much.
However, as a Chinese Language and Lit graduate who lived in Asia for a few years, I was taken away with this book. The author is great. I will look for other books from Peter Hessler.

Oracle Bones is another excellent book from Peter Hessler. He writes from a unique and insightful perspective. He has lived in China for many years; beginning as an English teacher at a Chinese college. He has remained in close touch with his former students, whose own experiences in working after graduation in the ???New China??? form an important part of the book. Mr. Hessler has also been accredited as a foreign correspondent in China for the New Yorker magazine. As a writer of magazine articles, he has been free to develop stories and themes at much greater length and depth than would have been possible as a reporter for a daily newspaper. In my view that is a big plus for his readers.

His books reflect first hand experiences and conversations with Chinese residents (not all of them native Chinese, by the way) from various walks of life, many of whom he can consider good friends. They also reflect extensive interview notes, some scholarly research, and a whimsical eye for things comic and ironic in everyday life. Mr. Hessler also shares poignant conversations with Chinese who experienced the trials and terrors of the 1960???s ???Cultural Revolution??? and the earlier ???Anti-Rightist??? campaign of the late 1950???s.

As readers we are fortunate that Mr. Hessler has developed considerable literary talent. The writing is clear, suited to the humor or poignancy of the events or conversations he is describing, and has a personal tone that allows us to share his fascination and feelings in what he is seeing and hearing.

I loved this book. The scope of it surprised me with its look at history, culture and day-to-day life. You certainly can't understand everything about China by reading a couple of books, but this book and Hessler's River Town have made China a little more accessible for me. The narrator, I believe, did a great job. He sounds like a native english speaker reading for other native english speakers.

The author was a reporter of sorts in China and this is the account of his life there over 10 years. Very interesting view of culture and history. I enjoyed all of it.

Hessler writes a wide ranging and incisive account of China at the turn of the 21st century. He is able to present much of the dystopian craziness of China while still humanizing individuals that he encounters. The narrator, however brings the book down. His reading of Hessler's narration and thoughts is fine, and his mispronunciation of Chinese (i.e. Mao Zhidong) is forgivable, but his "Chinese" voice is truly awful and distracting from the narrative.

I purchased this book to listen for a class and I most appreciated having the narrator's pronunciation of people and place names. I also had the hard copy of the book, but did little reading from it as it tripped me up when I would run into the foreign place names. The narrator made it flow nicely with (what I hope is) accurate pronunciation.
Also, I appreciated the subtle variances in tone used when reading speech versus Hessler's writing. This made it easy to understand. Hessler had his own voice and the different characters had their own other voices which were easily distinguishable as the book went on, which could potentially be very confusing after 18 hours.

I appreciated being presented with a view of China that most Americans like myself do not have the chance to see, as Hessler did. He often seemed to take on a very authoritative approach that was borderline arrogant, because he is definitely not a native of the country and can never get that same experience, although he seems like he is trying to present the material as if he did live as a Chinese-born person.
Also, his writing is heavily bias against the Chinese government. This would go along with his desire to come off as a Chinese native, but as a reader we are clearly hearing about his experience as a travel writer. It seems as though he is trying to take on contradictory identities. As a travel writer, I expected a little bit more objectivity.
I appreciate extending sympathy to people who are struggling. The way he communicates with his students during and after his teaching in China is very wonderful and was my favorite part of the book. It seemed, however, that he was trying to do more with this book than just relay his experience. It seemed like he was trying to make some big statement about China, and this did not seem to be quite the right outlet, or something seemed to be off in the delivery--maybe I just cannot put my finger on it. It just seemed that there was a tone of arrogance, as I said, as if he were trying to be more political than necessary about the book. Just hearing about a person's humble experience is what I prefer.
There was a lot of information about archaeology and history which was admirable in this book as well, but some of it got so intertwined with Hessler's opinions that it was difficult to separate out the facts.
At the end of the 18 hours I am glad to have made the time investment in the book. It was not something I would have chosen on my own, but hearing the stories about the different people have stuck with me. For the most part, the facts and information did not really grab (for reasons I already mentioned). The people, however, were outstanding and it was fascinating to hear their stories.

I was the most fascinated by the way the narrator could subtly communicate a female Chinese character's voice--of which there are several. Even among the different ones, variances in age and academia were performed well in the delivery.

I don't even recall why I bought this book. I found it on my IPAD as something half lost in titles and just thought since I had paid for it I would get it out of the way. I spent the next five days in wonderland! What an amazing writer. The best performance EVER for a reading. I traveled the world into universes I never knew existed! China now became a reality for me. I had an agenda to read a group of other books after this as my attention had been swayed in another direction, but once I finished this, that was all forgotten. I had to go back and buy every book this writer has written and the reader has performed. I feel bridged into a country and a culture thousands of miles away from me. I feel I have traveled although I never left my home. I feel I skipped all over the universe although I have been sitting in one neighborhood. THIS is why I read!

No.

Teach Chinese instead of teaching English.

Insufferable condescending tone when referring to the Chinese or China and absolutely incomprehensible pronunciation of the Chinese words

First Chapter -- the only chapter I read.

I have read hundreds of books about China. In general, those written by Chinese are the best. Those written by Western academics are acceptable but are still often unenlightened and carry the baggage of Western bias. Those written by Western journalists are several rungs below the academics. These writers are usually poorly educated (a la Sarah Palin) and have very little interesting to say. Those written by American teaching English in China are generally unreadable like this book. They are usually written to make a buck and leave the reader less educated than when they began. I think the reason for the last may be that the Chinese students' traditional respect for teachers, good or bad, may have swelled these English teachers heads.

I had just finish listening, on my daily run, Ji Chauzhu's excellent autobiography as the English translator for Mao; and had to suffer through the first Chapter of this book. Instead of doubling the distance of my run every day, I had to cut short of my run today to write this review. I don't think I have the stomach to continue listening. Peter Hessler’s first chapter betrayed a deep disrespect for the Chinese people and for China. The narrator’s condescending tone and lack of effort to pronounce the Chinese words accurately makes the problem worse. When Peter Hessler started sneering at the Nanjing Holocaust and the Nanjing Holocaust Museum, I decided one chapter was enough. If the Jews in American weren’t so vocal, I think Peter Hessler would have sneered at the Jewish Holocaust as well.

Narrator used an Irish accent to simulate a Chinese speaker, made this unbearable. I tried listening to more but it made me sick.

The narrator's fake accent.

Truly a bad accent...why have one at all?

content may have had some accuracy, but, I couldn't listen to it anymore.

The author only look at one side of facts and dismiss all others. A very narrow view of the true civilization of the Chinese historical development and purport that none of the artifacts proved anything but the western biased perspective.