Review – Land of Big Numbers by Te-Ping Chen (5/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Historical Fiction
Length: 256 pages
Publisher: Mariner Books
Release Date: February 2, 2021
ISBN-13 : 978-0358272557
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Amazon Vine for Review
Rating: 5/5 stars
“Gripping and compassionate, Land of Big Numbers traces the journeys of the diverse and legion Chinese people, their history, their government, and how all of that has tumbled—messily, violently, but still beautifully—into the present.
Cutting between clear-eyed realism and tongue-in-cheek magical realism, Chen’s stories coalesce into a portrait of a people striving for openings where mobility is limited. Twins take radically different paths: one becomes a professional gamer, the other a political activist. A woman moves to the city to work at a government call center and is followed by her violent ex-boyfriend. A man is swept into the high-risk, high-reward temptations of China’s volatile stock exchange. And a group of people sit, trapped for no reason, on a subway platform for months, waiting for official permission to leave.
With acute social insight, Te-Ping Chen layers years of experience reporting on the ground in China with incantatory prose in this taut, surprising debut, proving herself both a remarkable cultural critic and an astonishingly accomplished new literary voice.”
Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book of stories. I got a copy of this through Amazon Vine to review.
Story (5/5): This is a collection of stories mostly set in China (some are in the US too) and are set over a range of time. They are a pretty eclectic set of stories but I loved a lot of the irony to them. For example the story about twins; a successful and intelligent young woman and an ambition lacking young man. I loved how their fates twisted and the young woman ended up imprisoned while the young man ended up famous for playing video games; it shows a lot of the issues with a society’s priorities today. Or the strange story about a group of people trapped on a train platform for no real reason who end having to form a society there to survive, which discusses how people will accept and adjust to the most arbitrary of rules and lifestyles.
All of these stories show incredible storytelling and thoughtfulness and resonate on a number of levels. They all left me thinking and were all easy to read and engage with. They gave some interesting insight into China’s culture too. There is a strong element of magical realism running through some of them as well.
Characters (5/5): Each story features a different set of characters. However, I found all the characters to be very human and engaging and fell into their stories very easily.
Setting (5/5): The description throughout is very well done and I never had trouble picturing the stories here. I love the China setting since I am fascinated with China and its culture. I also enjoyed the stories set in the US and looking through the eyes of a Chinese immigrant at the American people.
Writing Style (5/5): This is flawlessly written and shows amazing storytelling. I thought all of the stories ended in such perfect ways. I was amazed at how many parallels you can draw between these stories and current (and past) societal issues. These stories were engrossing, entertaining, and thought-provoking all at once. I was very impressed and enjoyed reading these immensely.
My Summary (5/5): Overall I loved this and think it’s something everyone should read. Not only was it highly entertaining, it was also very thought-provoking. Chen shows a skill in the art of telling a good short story that you don’t find often. I loved how some magical realism is woven into some of these stories and how ironic they all are. I will definitely be seeking out Chen’s future story collections.
