Well Read Hostess: Ancient Chinese Secret, Huh?

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Kristin Dunning is, or aspires to be, the Well Read Hostess. The WRH lives, geographically speaking, outside of Philadelphia. In her imagination, however, she breathes the rarified air of a place where she can spend her days reading and throwing fantastic parties. She does not particularly care for the word "Blog" and is considering offering a reward for the clever soul who comes up with a happy substitute. She is writing this "not-a-blog" because her brother basically double-dog dared her to.
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Well Read Hostess: Ancient Chinese Secret, Huh?

Ancient Chinese Secret, Huh?

Posted by Well Read Hostess at 7/13/2008 9:58 PM and is filed under WRH,On the Nightstand

At one point in his latest travel narrative, Lost on Planet China........, J. Maarten Troost compares riding in an especially mini van with Chinese tourists to those tiny cars stuffed with clowns; you just can't believe how many people they can actually squash in. This is also a fitting metaphor for Troost's own work. In terms of writing and humor, Troost does not disappoint. Lost on Planet China is certainly not as pee-in-your-pants funny as The Sex Lives of Cannibals, but really, what is? When I ~~pre-ordered the book from Amazon and then obsessively sat by the door waiting for its delivery~~ picked it up, I knew I was in for a good time, but I didn't expect to learn so much. He packed so much detail and information and even raw data into this account of his brief time in China.

Of course, I also didn't expect to be totally and completely skeeved out by the turd in the punchbowl-esque message embedded within this feisty little gambol across China. There are too many clowns (or Chinese tourists) packed into this itty bitty car for me to start to unpack them all and get them to stand still long enough for you to process the scope of the effect that China is having and will have on YOUR OWN LIFE. So you should just go ahead and read the book. Seriously. As Troost himself says,"We need to understand China. Really. You'll see."

I wish I could say that I finished reading the book and thought, "Wow! I want to go to China!" I don't. I didn't before I started reading either, though. That's a little hard to admit, because it probably makes me sound like some kind of provincial, unadventurous bore. Not true, I protest. I have traveled quite a bit. I have a strong desire to visit, among many other places, both Dubai and Iceland. But not China. Especially after reading about the number of people who die from simply breathing the air in China per year (700,000). *

And, Mr. Troost, you clever funny man, you were right. I do see. I think it is very important that we all understand (or try to, most of it is pretty mystifying in its arbitrariness, frankly) China. If we'd like to breathe, not be poisoned by food or toys or toothpaste, live in a country with a sustainable economy ~~someday again maybe~~, profess to stand up for human rights on both macro and micro levels, or ever have access to fuel again, we should probably all be paying closer attention to China - what it is, what it isn't, and how it got that way.

Now, clever funny man. Might I suggest that your next book be about Dubai? Or maybe Iceland?