Land of Big Numbers by Te-Ping Chen

Book Review

Yet another debut book! 🤗

I originally purchased this book thinking it was non-fiction and wanting to learn more about China. Turns out the book is actually a collection of fictional short stories. Despite that fact, it still provides some interesting insight into one of the largest countries in the world.

While I did find some of the stories a bit anticlimactic, I think that was kind of the point. Each story provides a look inside an ordinary Chinese person’s life. In the book’s short 233 pages, we encounter a young woman working at a government call center, an elderly man determined to build treasures from other people’s trash, a boy attempting to manipulate the stock market, a group of individuals trapped in a subway station as well as a university student arrested for speaking out against the government.

By diving into the culture, censorship, class divides and bureaucracy of contemporary China, the author offers us a glimpse of humanity inside a country largely defined by industry and communist values.

If you enjoy short stories and/or learning about other cultures, this one is for you.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫/5 stars

Next up in short stories, I plan to read Office of Historical Corrections. Do you read short stories?? If so, drop me a recommendation!