🇨🇳 Book Review: Happy Dreams by Jia Pingwa 📕
I just finished this terrific book on my Kindle app the other night. I usually have two or three books going at the same time, especially since one of my 2018 Goals is to read more. Happy Dreams had been my current 'primary read' which simply means to me, the first book I pick up for a reading session.
Set in modern China, the book is based on the life of a rural trash picker living in the industrialized city of Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi province . The main character, Happy Liu, looks to find the recipient of his donated kidney, whom Liu is sure is a rich and powerful businessman or politician. The book depicts the life of Liu and his friends and neighbors, offering a look into the life of migrant workers in a rapidly industrializing area of China.
While I found the English translation somewhat lacking and at times awkward, the story itself was fascinating. Happy Liu, despite living on the absolute fringe of a modern, bustling city, living in abject poverty, maintains a ruthless optimism despite his circumstances. He projects an absolute, almost childlike positivity, determined to be happy despite any and all events.
I found this book on an email subscription I receive daily entitled BookBub which you can find here: https://www.bookbub.com. It's free, and it suggests ebooks you might like that are priced anywhere from $.99 to $4.99. Occasionally, the books are completely free! Happy Liu was just $1.99, and the chance for this American to read about China was too good to turn down.
As it turns out, the author, Jia Pingwa, is one of the foremost authors in China. The translator, Nicky Harmon, has translated many books from Chinese to English.
I'm now focused primary on reading Ann Raynd's Atlas Shrugged. I just picked up a second book off of Bookbub, a non-fiction Self-Help work by Jim Rohn entitled 7 Strategies for Wealth & Happiness: Power Ideas from America's Foremost Business Philosopher. I usually pair fiction with non-fiction books so I feel like I'm always working both sides of my brain...
What's on your reading list?
#cn #china #jiapingwa #fiction #reading
It's already on my bucket list to finish reading Atlas Shrugged lol.
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I'm really getting into it! Do you like to read, in general?
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Yeah, this is just one particular book that I haven't finished reading yet. Investment read lol. But I read 'The Fountainhead' by the same author. That one I really like.
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Hmm. I haven’t heard of that one. I’ll have to check it out.
My oldest daughter has bugged me for two years to read Atlas Shrugged. I’m really enjoying, though, so I may be up for another of Rand’s books.
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Yeah. I don't know how it is possible to write without liking to read.
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