Land of Big Numbers: Stories

Land of Big Numbers, Te-Ping Chen author
In this book of short stories, the author has painted a broad picture of China, a country that sometimes subtly and sometimes overtly controls the lives of all its citizens. The stories illuminate life in China and life for the Chinese immigrant in America. Each tale is very unique. With a spare prose that needs no embellishment, each story fully develops and defines its main character as it shows the behavior that results from the brainwashing inculcated into the citizens in their daily lives. From the stories one gets the idea that many of the Chinese acquiesce as they succumb to something akin to the Stockholm Syndrome!
“Lulu” takes place in Beijing. The issue of one child per family is show more explored when a family is lucky enough to have twins. From there, the idea of the favorite child is tackled as the dreams of the parents are attached to one of them. Civil unrest that develops from the lack of freedom of choice and the regimented way of life allowing only for one set of ideas disrupts the country and the family.
In “Hotline Girls”, the theme illustrates the hopes and dreams of the young in China and the consequences they face if they fail. The reader learns how the workplace in China is controlled. The reader sees the development of personalities that grow from the strict discipline, coupled with the fear that accompanies their need to achieve or else face retribution which could affect their entire future. Poor performance is unacceptable. There is little room for dissent of any kind at work or in the political scene. Freedom has many meanings.
“New Fruit” is about a great tasting treat, a fruit that seems to make the eater more positive, more apt to help others, to like others and to be inspired to fulfill their dreams. Different behavior is motivated depending on the person’s personality, but the pattern was positive. When a crop is grown that does the opposite, that makes people feel guilty and remorseful for their past behavior, their shame makes them resentful and they become depressed, rude and selfish, reverting to their former selves. Can the government allow this?
In “The Flying Machine”, the resourcefulness and entrepreneurial spirit of the Chinese citizen is highlighted. An inventor who wants to join the Communist Party, but is always refused, never loses hope and keeps trying even after his many failures. Does he have hope for a reward someday? What gives him the hope?
“On The Street Where You Live” illustrates the consequences of compulsive and impulsive behavior. It exposes the way the jealous and suspicious mind works, always thinking someone has an ulterior motive, always finding it difficult to trust someone. The inability to accept responsibility for one’s one behavior and to face the truth about their own actions comes from the overriding atmosphere in China of mistrust.
In “Shanghai murmur”, a young woman, dissatisfied with her life, leaves home at 16 and runs away to Shanghai. She works odd jobs, never making much progress. In the flower shop she now works, her imagination about her feelings for a man who makes frequent purchases is her ruination. Because she covets his pen, her world collapses, but she is resilient, making excuses for her wicked behavior and does not repent. Has she learned anything from her mistakes or is her personality already irrevocably formed?
In the story with the book’s title, “Land of Big Numbers”, dreams of wealth and power cause a man to take foolhardy risks. Does he accept responsibility for his foolish choices? Is rebellion worthwhile? In a country which allows for little economic mobility and for no political activism against their policies, there is little hope for advancement. How does one survive?
In “Beautiful Country”, a young couple is on a trip. They have been involved for almost a decade, and still there is no marriage proposal. Should she believe his promises or his excuses? Is he faithful? She is a nurse living in America, but her personality has been nurtured in China.
“Gubeiku Spirit” is the most unusual story. Trapped in a train station, being held hostage by the government, the victims are at first patient, then they bicker, then they adapt and form a working community. Have they been so beaten down by propaganda that they cannot escape?
This author has captured the personality cultivated by an authoritarian government of obedience and acquiescence, always finding a reason to accept their plight and to tolerate the situation. It is about ordinary citizens who accede to authority, trusting them to provide for their lot in life. Even when they are unhappy, they adapt because what other choice do they really have? The characters are flawed, but flawed by the lives they are forced to lead. They are victims of their own poor choices, often made out of a sense of hopelessness because of the heavy hand of the government. The people that populate the stories seem totally authentic. This author has a gift for capturing memorable and emotional moments, of eliciting the human rights abuses and of providing examples of the character’s submission to circumstances, in each story. The characters are all flawed, all unable to recognize their bad choices, they simply move on. show less

Te-Ping Chen's debut story collection Land of Big Numbers started out strong and ended with a mind-blowing parable that knocked my socks off.

I read the first story through BookishFirst and put in my name for the ARC. Set in China, twins go on separate life paths, the bright and driven girl challenging government repression, the boy excelling in competitive video gaming. A reversal of expectations challenges our values.

The stories are revelatory about life in modern China and the expat experience. I was unsettled by the portrait of life in China, seemingly normal people doing seemingly normal things, and yet so much at odds with American expectations.

The generational divide shows up clearly. The older characters had lived hard lives of show more manual labor and poverty. Some hold onto fantasies of achievement and acceptance into the Party. Their children become teenage factory workers in the city or hope for a rich benefactor or play the stock market dreaming of easy money.

It is a world at once very familiar--and very alien. The details are different, but the human experience universal.
All around Zhu Feng, it seemed, people were buying, buying, homes and stocks and second and third houses; there was a whole generation who'd gotten rich and needed to buy things for their kids, and the same dinky things from before didn't pass muster: penny rides on those plastic cartoon figures that flashed lights and gently rocked back and forth outside of drugstores; hawthorn impaled on ticks and sheathed in frozen yellow sugar casings, a cheap winter treat. They needed to buy because they had the money and that's what everyone else was doing...Also, the government said it was the buying opportunity of a generations...China was going up and up and nobody wanted to be left behind."~from Land of Big Numbers by Te-Ping Chen

The last story Guebeikou Spirit is amazing, a parable that reaches past it's setting to alert against the lure of complacence that becomes complicity. Characters become stranded on a new high-speed train station after trains pass them buy. Regulations state that passengers must depart from a different station than they entered, and so they remain.

Every day they hear the announcement that the train is delayed. The guards reassure, "we'll get there together," as they bring in food, blankets, personal health supplies, and as weeks go on, televisions and coloring books.

The stranded people become a media sensation and the organize to represent "Gubeikuo Spirit." Several dissident young men try to follow the train tracks to another station, but always return and finally give up. The outside world's hardships come through the television news. They become comfortable so that when a train finally stops, they are unwilling to leave.

Obedience to an illogical rule, becoming comfortable leading to the loss of volition and self-determination--it's a powerful message.

Te-Ping Chen is a marvelous writer and I look forward to reading more from her pen.

I received an ARC from the publisher through BookishFirst and an egalley through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased. show less

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book of stories. I got a copy of this through Amazon Vine to review.

Story (5/5): This is a collection of stories mostly set in China (some are in the US too) and are set over a range of time. They are a pretty eclectic set of stories but I loved a lot of the irony to them. For example the story about twins; a successful and intelligent young woman and an ambition lacking young man. I loved how their fates twisted and the young woman ended up imprisoned while the young man ended up famous for playing video games; it shows a lot of the issues with a society's priorities today. Or the strange story about a group of people trapped on a train platform for no real reason who end having to form a show more society there to survive, which discusses how people will accept and adjust to the most arbitrary of rules and lifestyles.

All of these stories show incredible storytelling and thoughtfulness and resonate on a number of levels. They all left me thinking and were all easy to read and engage with. They gave some interesting insight into China’s culture too. There is a strong element of magical realism running through some of them as well.

Characters (5/5): Each story features a different set of characters. However, I found all the characters to be very human and engaging and fell into their stories very easily.

Setting (5/5): The description throughout is very well done and I never had trouble picturing the stories here. I love the China setting since I am fascinated with China and its culture. I also enjoyed the stories set in the US and looking through the eyes of a Chinese immigrant at the American people.

Writing Style (5/5): This is flawlessly written and shows amazing storytelling. I thought all of the stories ended in such perfect ways. I was amazed at how many parallels you can draw between these stories and current (and past) societal issues. These stories were engrossing, entertaining, and thought-provoking all at once. I was very impressed and enjoyed reading these immensely.

My Summary (5/5): Overall I loved this and think it’s something everyone should read. Not only was it highly entertaining, it was also very thought-provoking. Chen shows a skill in the art of telling a good short story that you don’t find often. I loved how some magical realism is woven into some of these stories and how ironic they all are. I will definitely be seeking out Chen’s future story collections. show less

Land of Big Numbers, by Te-Ping Chen, is a collection of short stories blending moments of everyday Chinese life with magical elements or extreme elements, constantly reflecting on what we owe to each other, in families or communities, with wild personal joys and heavy personal secrets. And all the stories created vivid scenes in just a couple paragraphs.

New Fruit stays with me, my favorite by far in this collection. The qiguo, peculiar fruit, is a new fruit variety suddenly sold by street vendors and the kind of Chinese bodegas that might sell random lots of random surplus. The first summer, the taste of the qiguo brings to life old memories. "“Today I had one that tasted like I had just told a good joke and everyone was laughing,” show more Lao Sui might say."

This is the mix of realism and fantastical that really works. The constant presence of fruit vendors on the streets makes it so easy to buy fruit for snacks, and I was constantly seeing new fruits sold in wheelbarrows. Sometimes just smaller and sweeter versions of grocery store fruit, but sometimes mangosteens, durian and other new fruit.
Full review is on my book blog show less

Dieses Buch mit zehn sehr unterschiedlichen Geschichten, die in China spielen (oder doch zumindest chinesische Protagonisten haben), hat mir sehr gut gefallen. Für einen wirklichen Einblick in eine Kultur reichen solche Geschichten natürlich nicht aus, aber sie beleuchten doch bestimmte Aspekte und regen zum Nachdenken an.
Eine Autorin, die ich sicher weiter im Auge behalten werde.

This book has ten beautifully written short stories - each with everyday life events for people that are trying their best to fit into this world.

Most of the stories take place in China with government involvement. The first one is about a talented twin who has posted notes about justice on the internet and ended up in jail at the expense of her disappointed family. It sets the tone for the rest of the pieces with an emphasis on family and people in the community. Another is about a girl that works in a "Satisfaction Office" for the government making me wonder if this really exists. It's followed by a story about a new fruit that sounds inviting but maybe not. Each one is different.

Some made me smile as she said, "Arizona is like show more living on Mars." Some made me sad when a young man wanted to impress his community with a new plane invention that didn't work out. One made me think about money as the young man lost a good deal from gambling with stocks and borrowing from a friend. Each one is thought provoking.

The stories are all unique. Of course, there are a few I enjoyed more than others but it's a great collection. I will look forward to more books from this author. show less

Land of Big Numbers by Te-Ping Chen is a collection of stories that will have something for everyone and, if you like a variety of styles, a treasure full of gems.

In many single author collections there may or may not be a theme or idea that ties them together but the style or genre will be fairly constant throughout. This book offers a thematic thread (which I think is variable based on what a reader brings to it) that runs through a variety of storytelling modes.

For those inclined toward political or social ideas, these stories will offer some glimpses into what it is to live in or be an expat from contemporary China. You can then make some connections with social and political thought. If your interest is really about the people, show more the human beings as human beings, these stories show highs and lows that, while specific to Chinese culture, also speak to our common plights living on this planet. These two (of likely others as well) are woven into compelling stories that will move you, to sadness or anger, to joy or empathy. But they will move you. In other words, these stories speak to both your head and your heart.

If, like me, you keep a book of stories and/or essays at the ready for when you don't have time to dive back into one of the other books you're reading but you want to read something, you will find this an ideal companion. The variety will keep the stories from seeming like they are all variations of the same story being told with different characters.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley. show less