Reading Journal

The River at the Center of the World: A Journey Up the Yangtze and Back in Chinese Time by Simon Winchester


My rating: 3 of 5 stars


In the beginning, he says that he intends to go back into the history of China as he travels up the Yangtze. He didn't, which was a disappointment as I was rather looking forward to learning some Chinese history in such a unique way. Instead, I was flooded with information from whatever period of history was most eventful for the locale. Which probably wouldn't have been so bad if that's what I had been expecting.

Overall, the book and the stories were interesting, but I could see the editors and proofreaders started getting tired around page 300. I certainly can't blame them. The middle was rather dry.

If you're into travel writing, you might like it; if you're into Chinese history, you probably will; if you're not into either of those things, you'll get bored just after the page of no return.




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