Customer Reviews

Across China

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have read all of Peter's books and have fallen in love with his exciting journeys. But none have touched me as much as "Across China". No anthropologist could touch the 'ways' of the Chinese people as Peter has. The 'fixes' he gets himself into (and out) are so hilarious that you find yourself sitting on the edge of your seat right along with him. The book is so well written that you find yourself on the last page before you are ready to close the back cover. You are guaranteed to read Peter Jenkins books more than once as watching a best selling movie over and over.

>I fell in love with Peter Jenkins work when I read WALK ACROSS AMERICA. After reading a few pages you feel like you are right beside him during his adventures. This book is wonderful, because he opens up an entire new world that the West knows very little about. The people in the book become real. This will be one of the best books that you will ever read.

This book was pretty good, and it read really fast. I would have liked a little more detail about some of the places. It was very hard to get a feel for the time element in Jenkins' trip. Also, it seemed like a lot of China was left out. I know Jenkins set out to see the "real China," but it seemed as though much of it was unaccounted for. Then again, I guess the book is called "across" and not "all around." I thought that he did a good job conveying the impact of the cultural revolution, but, overall I was left a little cold by the way the whole book seemed to hurry me back to America. Read this to get you acquainted with places and ideas, then read "7 Years in Tibet" and "The Snow Leopard" to really teach you something.

Have read most of Peter's books, his walks across America, his boat trip around the Gulf of Mexico, his adventures to Alaska and find this book to be in keeping with his personna as a traveling author. His writing style is a bit folksy and down to earth. In his books, you do feel like your traveling alongside him, meeting the people and experiencing the trip. Through the books, you come to know a lot about his life and family as well as wherever he is traveling. Certainly his books will not go down as a marvel of literary accomplishment, but I do enjoy simply sitting back seeing new places and experiences though the eyes of someone who has taken the initiative to travel places and write about it for us readers. All in all his books are good, comforting reads. And I'd recommend this and any of his books if you're looking for a story of one's travels to places we otherwise may never visit. Lastly, it's probably worth noting that China has radically changed since this book was written, so it's somewhat dated, yet looking past that, it's a glimpse into another place, another time.

This book is disappointingly adolescent. The writing is stale, especially given the imagination-stimulating possibilities when encountering a new culture, but its worst failing is the barely hidden--and quite possibly even written unawares--xenophobia. Much of the description is insulting--meant to be amusing, I suspect, but Jenkins comes across as a man who is determined to vaunt America and disparage Chinese history and culture. From the very beginning, still in the States, when he describes one of his "favorite waitresses" as having "a perm and wears tight pants", I squirmed. Did a teacher never help him distinguish between `telling detail' and pointless detail? More disturbing here, perhaps: is he unaware of the negative implications of this description? I wouldn't want to be any favorite of his. It's dated, yes--his never having met any "Orientals" (his description), say--but beyond this, the picture is flat, strained in its sentimental description, and the narrator comes across as self-absorbed and unsympathetic. For a far more comprehensive and thought-provoking picture of China in the 80s, and beautifully written, try Colin Thubron's, Behind the Wall.

This book is written from the viewpoint of an American with little knowledge of China. I think it is an entertaining book about new and unique experiences. It is not intended to be a deep study about China.

I'm just finished the book (it's now 2003). I believe Peter's trip to China took place in 1984. I'm sure things have changed a great deal in the last 19 years!

I would recommend this book.

All of Peter Jenkins's books are very inspiring. I highly suggest reading Across China if you are interested in eastern culture. My favorite sections featured the Tibetan culture and the joy and hope that the people embody in their day-to-day life as well as their struggles. If you like reading about nature expeditions, you are in for a treat since Peter traveled with the expedition team of Mount Everest during this trip. Instead of trying to reach the summit, he traveled around Tibet, China, and the Mongolian lands. His stories with the Mongolian family are also very insightful.

Please read his first book A Walk Across America. That one is my favorite as well as Across the Edge of America. He is currently working on a new book where he traveled to some of the same places in Walk Across America as well as new places too.

I found this book fascinating, not knowing much about the people, places, and culture described in it. It was relaxing and quick to read, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I recommend this for anyone interested in a personal account of different cultures and places.

I have read several of Peter Jenkins' books, and all were exciting. This book took me to places I likely will never go, and told of people and their customs that were just fascinating. He integrated himself into rare cultures and was privy to some of their innermost customs. A truly great read!

this is an exciting and easy read. i couldn't put it down!