A Bend in the Yellow River: Huang-Ho: Amazon.ca: Justin Hill: Books

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4 Reviews

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
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Average Customer Review

3.5 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)

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4.0 out of 5 stars A Rich Reality, Oct 11 2002

By

"isabellak" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A BEND IN THE YELLOW RIVER (Paperback)

Justin Hill's A Bend in the Yellow River is one of the most unique books I have read. In it he shares his personal experience: an English man with no travel experience who moves to remote, inland China to teach english for two years where the nearest english speaking person lives 10 hours away.

Mr. Hill's walks you through his experiences showing you everything he experienced. And I say "showing" because you do not simply sit down to read this story, it is shown to you. It has a cinematic visual effect that gives you the feeling that you are able to smell the scents, feel the awkward moments, taste the dumplings, hear the mah jong chips clicking, and see the country side to which you have never been.

Reading Mr. Hill's book is like taking a walk with a good friend who always has the ability to let you see things in a new light.

This reader highly recommends Bend in the Yellow river as and intriguing and insightful read from a new author who is bound to put forth more books of non-fiction and fiction that somehow manage to combine reality, poetic prose, and enlightenment effortlessly.

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1.0 out of 5 stars Interesting to an extent, but...., Sep 15 2002

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My Pen Name "not me" (nowhere) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A BEND IN THE YELLOW RIVER (Paperback)

Justin Hill got really tired of being stared at all the time as one of the handful of Europeans in a Chinese rural backwater town . He found that he was treated as an "inscrutable foreigner" and it was impossible to really "connect" with the his students and his Chinese hosts. He felt that by western standards the Chinese are lacking in manners, and much more "physical" than the British. The plumbing in his apartment was very bad, as was the dust, noise, and close quarters he endured. Apparently he was physically forced to eat large quantities of food by his hosts to the point of stupor. He spent two years there, and pretty much had the same experience for the duration.

Unfortunately this tale of suffering is repeated over and over again, chapter after chapter for 260 pages.
In between these monotonous repetitions , the author briefly describes what he loved about his 2 year experience in Yuncheng. I wish I could remember what he liked... I wish he could have too... it would have made "A Bend in the Yellow River " a much more worthwhile read.

Ultimately the book is the product of an extremely young author. Perhaps with time and greater experience (and a better editor) he will be able to communicate something more than his boredom and frustration with a foreign culture.

This book is a definite miss, soon to be out of print.

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5.0 out of 5 stars He read my mind, April 10 2000

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Megs (Paris, France) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A BEND IN THE YELLOW RIVER (Paperback)

I just returned from teaching English in China and read Justin's book. Most of the time I felt I was reading my own journal! He describes life as a foreign teacher in China with wonderful stories that make you laugh and make your jaw drop. A wonderful way to enter Chinese culture.

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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Wa What a good read~
I think this man has got us down to a tee. I am Chinese and I read alot of rubbish about china - positive and negative - but this is good stuff. Read more

Published on April 16 1999