Country Driving

A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory

By: Peter Hessler

Narrated by: Peter Berkrot

Length: 16 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

From the best-selling author of Oracle Bones and River Town comes the final book in his award-winning trilogy, on the human side of the economic revolution in China.

In the summer of 2001, Peter Hessler, the longtime Beijing correspondent for The New Yorker, acquired his Chinese driver's license. For the next seven years, he traveled the country, tracking how the automobile and improved roads were transforming China. Hessler writes movingly of the average people - farmers, migrant workers, entrepreneurs - who have reshaped the nation during one of the most critical periods in its modern history.

Country Driving begins with Hessler's 7,000-mile trip across northern China, following the Great Wall, from the East China Sea to the Tibetan plateau. He investigates a historically important rural region being abandoned, as young people migrate to jobs in the southeast.

Next, Hessler spends six years in Sancha, a small farming village in the mountains north of Beijing, which changes dramatically after the local road is paved and the capital's auto boom brings new tourism.

Finally, he turns his attention to urban China, researching development over a period of more than two years in Lishui, a small southeastern city where officials hope that a new government-built expressway will transform a farm region into a major industrial center.

Peter Hessler, whom The Wall Street Journal calls "one of the Western world's most thoughtful writers on modern China", deftly illuminates the vast, shifting landscape of a traditionally rural nation that, having once built walls against foreigners, is now building roads and factory towns that look to the outside world.

©2010 Peter Hessler (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"The best yet from Peter Hessler, whose two earlier books, River Town and Oracle Bones, were exemplary forays into the genre. . . . Told with his characteristic blend of empathy, insight, and self-deprecating humor." ( Time)

"[A]n utterly enjoyable guide, with a humane and empathetic eye for the ambitions, the failures, and the comedy of a country in which everybody, it seems, is on the move, and no one is quite sure of the rules." (Amazon.com review)

"Peter Hessler is a fine tour guide for the new China, a writer who is capable of tossing aside the country’s (deplorable) maps and admitting: 'In China, it’s not such a terrible thing to be lost, because nobody else knows exactly where they’re going, either.'....It’s not merely that Mr. Hessler convinces us that the Chinese, being new to driving, are simply awful at it. He makes the additional, and delightful, case that perhaps no other people 'take such joy in driving badly.'" ( The New York Times)

The life as a foreigner in China

Peter Hessler paints quite a vivid picture of what life in China was like in the last decade in the midst of China's economic boom. He write about his experiences driving west following the Great Wall, as well as his life in a rural village outside of Beijing and his visits to factories in Zhejiang province. The writing is fluent and clear. The book will especially appeal to people who have visited China and may have had similar encounters.

The one thing that could have been improved is the narrator, Peter Berkrot's complete butchering of all the Chinese words in the book. The publishers should have hired someone who at least had studied pinyin and can pronounce Chinese words with some fluency. I was lucky to have bought the actual book, so I could look up the cities and words, because I had no idea what he was saying.

Great nonfiction. Annoying narration.

Could they not get someone who can pronounce Chinese properly. And he gives the English translation of direct quotes in odd American accents making the quoted person sound idiotic.

Interesting!

What did you love best about Country Driving?

I love the naration, and the short stories found within. This was a wonderful book.

What about Peter Berkrot’s performance did you like?

Clear speaking skills, easy to understand, and changed his voice to go along with the characters. Loved the naration.

Any additional comments?

I have listened to 3 of Peter Hesslers books so far, and this one is enjoyable as well. Peter makes you learn of how the people of China are, and understand a different culture much better.

The strange imitation of voices in chapter 6

Why does the narrator imitate the voices of these Zhejiang businessmen in such a feminine way? It sounds intentional and makes me uncomfortable.

In defense of the narrator

Just wanted to say how much I've enjoyed this audio book, along with Oracle Bones, also by Peter Hessler and narrated by Peter Berkrot. True, the narrator's pronunciation of Chinese words is not native-like, but overall I would rate the narration very high, and would hate to think that someone might pass up this book just because of that! The Chinese words are quite comprehensible, and Mr. Berkrot's engaging style of narration helped to make the 18-ish hour audio book a real pleasure!

Great way to get to know life in China

I don't speak Chinese and my travel in China is very superficial as I can not get into the homes and minds of Chinese people. Walking around Beijing it was great to listen to Peter Hessler's book and to hear more about the life and values of the people portrayed.

Was not Hessler’s voice

This is a brilliant, difficult, and delightful story. I have read it and decided to listen to it. The huge disappointment was the narration. It did not fit Hessler’s voice. If you are a Chinese speaker, you will cringe at the narration. I’m not sure how Hessler approved of this reading. After a while it becomes very irritating. If you are going to do an Audible book, get someone who can pronounce the language. We’ve lived in China for 26 years with the last 22 in Beijing. For that reason, this book was like comfort food—So familiar and so enjoyable to ride on Hessler’s coattail’s of his incredible experiences and research. All of his books are excellent reads and his research becomes engrossing story worth your time.

Great book!

I loved this book. From start to finish the stories were fascinating and told with great expression. I was hooked from the beginning and this was my favorite book until I was finished. This will go down as one of my favorite China books.

discover China through the eyes of an insider

What made the experience of listening to Country Driving the most enjoyable?

The tidbits of daily life in a completely different culture. Learning more about what has happened to the author since his first book

What other book might you compare Country Driving to and why?

Any of Hessler's other books on his China experience

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I found it gave me a new appreciation for what life in China must be like.

Enlightening, keen-eyed and humourous

The wall - captured the sense of loss that people are feeling in such remote regions as Inner Mongolia.

The village - I was most engrossed in this part and almost on the edge of my seat as the drama unfolded surrounding health problems of Wei Ziqi's son.

The factory - a little dry with facts and figures, but the report on the professional arts producing village was enlightening.

Peter Hessler has an amazingly keen eye for detail and commendable skills of building rapport with his subjects. Several occasions he became more than simply an observer - aided by his high-level of Chinese. He has a gifted, lucid style of writing, that is both highly accessible and humourous.

As with several other audiobooks on China, the narrator's pronunciation of Chinese was awful, and left me in confusion at several points. Audible should remedy this problem to do this genre justice.