Customer Reviews

Mr. Ding's Chicken Feet: On a Slow Boat from Shanghai to Texas

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I spent the academic year of 1999/2000 teaching English in Shenzhen. I spoke no Chinese, at the time, and had no formal teaching experience. So I could definitely relate to Gillian's frustrations, culture shock, and malentendus. It's 1991 and Gillian is a grad student in Galveston, TX. The semester is coming to a close and she spies an ad on the bulletin board for an ESL teacher aboard a ship sailing from Shanghai to Galveston. After a hard sell Gillian manages to land the job aboard the all male ship. The company flies her to Shanghai where she boards the ship. The reader witnesses her feelings about being the only woman on the ship; loneliness and some sexual harassment egged on by the only other American on board. She experiences a Sapphic awakening as she realizes in her state of isolation that she doesn't have any romantic feelings for her boyfriend. She manages to break through the cultural, gender, and language barriers to form some attachments to her students and especially Mr. Ding, the cook. The book is riddled with faux pas but the funniest part, I would say, is when she saves Mr. Ding by hurling the violent Panamanian vendor into the Canal.

In Mr Ding's Chicken Feet, the author, Gillian Kendall, comes across at first as maybe a little naive and unwary. She is a risk-taker. Her apparent lack of serious doubt about the whole enterprise, her trust in her fellow human beings not to harm her and her faith that it would all work out made me a little nervous on her behalf. But she is vindicated by the experience and it is her empathy and geniality that are the keys to her success. Observing Kendall's openness to life and her willingness to reach out across cultures became one of the pleasures of reading the book. A cynical reader such as I am found it instructive to watch her interest in humanity unfold and be repaid.

Her story really takes off once the ship leaves shore. Then it leaves behind any experience I and probably most readers have had. Shipboard life with a completely male crew who mostly speak very fractured English seems so weird and challenging that you half expect the book to be a story of failure -- perhaps noble failure but depressing nonetheless. So it's very satisfying that she actually makes a difference to the sailors' English and lives. She is inventive in her methods and determined to give her employers their money's worth and thereby wins the crew's respect and affection.

Kendall can write -- just see her description of the terrible storm at sea. It had me rigid with tension. Shades of Conrad in Typhoon. She has a distinctive and likable tone of voice. The book tells an optimistic story in an unpretentious way and gives you faith in the power of empathic teachers (and English!).

Only a woman confident in her own sense of humor and adventure would have taken a job as the lone female and one of only two English-speakers on a boat far from shore. Gillian jumps on board with both feet, well-equipped with teaching materials and ideas. In short order some of her ideas are altered, replaced, or simply scrapped and thrown overboard. As she describes her daily struggles to accommodate vast cultural differences while at the same time trying to actually teach useful language, she offers sensitive analysis of the characters that make up the crew. Touching but funny interactions with the sometimes reverential sailors and vibrant descriptions of the nautical environment make this book a delight to read and a struggle to stop reading.

Quite a lot of backstory here, but once the trip got underway I was hooked. Worth reading to find out how she saves Mr. Ding's life if for no ther reason!

Too many writers of fiction as well as non-fiction develop their subject from imagination or the bedroom and never have an experience that is noteworthy. What I found remarkable about Gillian Kendall's book is that she went out and had a unique adventure that really commands attention. I think there are few people who would have had the courage to do what she did and still have the ability to tell the world about it.

This is a great, un-put downable read. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Kendall takes us into a completely foreign world of ships and sailing; and I don't mean a quiet sail out on the Bay that many people do on the weekend. I am talking SERIOUS sailing, where you loose sight of the coast, where it's just you, a dozen strangers who don't speak English and who love to eat chicken's feet.
The part where she tries to make friends with and feed a shark who swims with the boat is hilarious. The description of sailing through the Panama canal is fascinating. Actually, if I have any criticism of this book, it is that Kendall could have elaborated on this part more as the whole concept fascinated me.
Overall though it was a terrific read.

"Mr. Dings Chicken Feet" is a well paced can't put down memoir by Gillian Kendall. If you have ever wondered what it would be like to sail as part of the crew of a working boat, this will satisfy your curiousity. The author has a marvelous sensitivity and excitement about world wide cultures (she also taught in Egypt) and she manages to take us with her to Shanghai and back to Texas. She uses gentle irony to tease us along and includes an ongoing running joke that we never find the punchline for unless we read the book through. I am still missing the characters and writing although it has been more than a week since I finished reading it.

Everyone loves an adventure (or at least reading of one) and most of us will never take a boat from China to America. Envious of this one, I curled up by my fireplace and read Mr. Ding's Chicken Feet with a taste for the fascinating journey of a Caucasian woman on a boat full of Asian men. I was not disappointed.

The author sets sail on an ocean of cultural difference and wins over the hearts of the crew - a rough and salty bunch who sit spellbound by her in English class.

Because of the obvious vast expanse of ocean to cross, you know that the author is going to have to face a few things she has probably never had to before, and deal with them. There is, after all, no escape on a small boat in the middle of the ocean.

Kendall reveals the color of the crew over the course of the journey as if she were polishing up tarnished brass. It was great fun to read about the men as they blossom at the hand of their teacher...though the revelations were not one-sided.

Not surprisingly, I felt the poignancy at the sight of land, which meant having to say goodbye.

Kendall writes with an unpretentious clarity, humor and heart. I definitely recommend it.

I have read some of Gillian Kendall's travel stories and she has an eye for the telling detail. Although this book is more memoir than travel commentary, she manages to include enough background to set the scene for this genuinely funny page turner. Kendall finds herself signed up to teach English as a Second Language to an all-male crew of Chinese seamen, with her only non-crew companion an ex-jock from Texas on board as a technical adviser. The book recounts her voyage not only from China to the U.S. but from initial apprehension and self doubt to the sure knowledge that she has not only taught a good number of her pupils to make themselves understood in English, she has also become something of a hero to them -- and not only because of her teaching. I laughed out loud more than once and admired her apparent conquest of an improbably dificult task. Inventive teaching methods, respect for each other's culture (except perhaps for chicken feet on the menu or the reported promiscuity of American women) and genuine curiosity and humanity made this a journey I felt must have been pivotal to both crewnmen and author. There is a subplot of Kendall's indecision about her love life back in Texas, and actually, her love life in general. If I have a criticism, it is that the reader never finds out how that aspect all worked out. But that's fodder for another book from this talented author. I can't wait.

I am late in writing my review of Gillian's book. Recently I had occasion to give it as a gift to 2 of my friends contemplating a journey. True they had nothing like this in mind, but the whole concept of her endeavor was so appealing i couldn't help but pass it on to other traveling friends.
The writing is alive and you are right their on the boat on choppy seas and with poor clueless tutees and of course Mr. Ding. The tile is charming and and the story is everything a good story should be, suspense, education, resolution, etc, and it is compelling and great read for taking along on a trip or curling up with when you have no intention of going anywhere.