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Loading... Double Happiness: One Man's Tale of Love, Loss, and Wonder on the Long Roads of Chinaby Tony Brasunas
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Full review here: http://thesteadfastreader.blogspot.com/2014/01/finding-yourself-friday-double-ha... Since I love to travel and have long had a fascination with China I jumped at the chance to read Double Happiness. I'm glad that I did. This is a memoir and a travelogue but it's also more than that. Honestly, it reads more like a novel than it does a memoir, which is good. There is plenty of action and crazy things happening, but underneath it all is a sense of peace and understanding. Great coming-of-age story. Read the review at The Book Wheel. no reviews | add a review
Tony Brasunas had never left the United States nor taught a class on anything when he arrives in hot, coastal Guangzhou, China, armed only with a beginner's grasp of the language. He is thrown in front of thirty-seven awestruck ninth graders. Trial and error in the classroom, trickery and generosity in the street markets, and conversations over mouth-watering rabbit with new friends fuel his hunger to understand China and draw him deeper and deeper into his new community. When the school year ends, a harder and sweeter journey begins. With just a backpack and a handful of wild expectations, he sets off alone across the vastness of China, along the Silk Road in the north, and to the edge of ancient Tibet in the west. His rugged path brings friendship, danger, romance, and wild encounters with fate that transform his basic understanding of right and wrong, beauty and love, suffering and happiness. A journey across China and through the soul of a young American, Double Happiness is both travel writing at its very finest and a groundbreaking story of coming of age in the era of globalization. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)915History and Geography Geography and Travel Geography of and travel in AsiaRatingAverage:
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I truly enjoyed this book and found it very educational. It was interesting to see how the average Chinese citizen lived their life with very little, but still managed to feel fulfilled. It made me realize how blessed those of us are that live in this country. At the same time I read how brain washed the people of China are and felt sad for them. The children of China have no hope with their current communistic system and will never get a chance to thrive if their society persists. There were times in the book that I found it difficult to read due to the lack of education of the children and the gross prejudices they held toward the non-Chinese. I believe that this book would be useful in a high school setting for a report as a learning tool. I also feel it is just a good read in general. I must admit that I was given this book in a give away, but I am grateful that I was and I appreciate the opportunity in reading it. Thank you author and your story was fascinating. ( )