Land of Big Numbers: Stories (2021)

by Te-Ping Chen

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282	23	93,621	(3.75)	9
Fiction. Literature. Short Stories. HTML: "Chen has one of the year's big debut books." �??*Philadelphia Inquirer* "Gripping and illuminating . . . At the heart of Te-Ping Chen's remarkable debut lies a question all too relevant in 21st Century America: What is freedom?" �??Jennifer Egan "Immensely rewarding, from the first sentence to the last . . . An exceptional collection." �??Charles Yu A "stirring and brilliant" debut story collection, offering vivid portrayals of the men and women of modern China and its diaspora, "both love letter and sharp social criticism," from a phenomenal new literary talent bringing great "insight from her years as a reporter with the Wall Street Journal" (Elle). Gripping and compassionate, Land of Big Numbers traces the journeys of the diverse and legion Chinese people, their history, their government, and how all of that has tumbled�??messily, violently, but still beautifully�??into the present. Cutting between clear-eyed realism and tongue-in-cheek magical realism, Chen's stories coalesce into a portrait of a people striving for openings where mobility is limited. Twins take radically different paths: one becomes a professional gamer, the other a political activist. A woman moves to the city to work at a government call center and is followed by her violent ex-boyfriend. A man is swept into the high-risk, high-reward temptations of China's volatile stock exchange. And a group of people sit, trapped for no reason, on a subway platform for months, waiting for official permission to leave. With acute social insight, Te-Ping Chen layers years of experience reporting on the ground in China with incantatory prose in this taut, surprising debut, proving herself both a remarkable cultural critic and an astonishingly accomplished new liter… (more)

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Showing 1-5 of 23 (next | show all)

Focused on other books and ran out of time on the loan. Enjoyed what I read though and will likely finish this another time.

Jenniferforjoy | Jan 29, 2024 |

Short stories of modern day China. Well written, interesting in the human, family drama familiarity mix with the foreign Chinese culture and history. Chen does an excellent job of making it feel familiar with different details. I did not find it tremendously moving but it was good. I read most but not all of the stories as they all shared a similar tone. The weirdness of people. Not horrible but not great—the people, that is… although I guess that describes the stories somewhat as well— not bad but not great.

BookyMaven | Dec 6, 2023 |

3.5 (

)

mmcrawford | Dec 5, 2023 |

4.5 ⭐️ (

)

srms.reads | Sep 4, 2023 |

I thought it was incredible. A couple of stories weren’t for me but they were mostly exactly my type of story. I really liked the last one especially. (

)

ninagl | Jan 7, 2023 |

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Chen reveals herself to be a writer of extraordinary subtlety. Details accrue one by one, and as each story reaches its inevitable conclusion, a sense emerges that things could have gone no other way. Still, there’s nothing precious or overly neat here. Chen’s stories speak to both the granular mundanities of her characters’ lives and to the larger cultural, historical, and economic spheres that they inhabit. She is a tremendous talent. Chen’s stories are both subtle and rich, moving and wry, and in their poignancy, they seem boundless.

added by Lemeritus | editKirkus Reviews (Feb 4, 2021)

Wall Street Journal correspondent Chen emerges as a fiction powerhouse, each of her 10 stories an immersive literary event.... Traversing continents and cultures, moving effortlessly between China and the U.S., Chen deftly presents everyday lives that entertain, educate, and universally resonate.

added by Lemeritus | editBooklist, Terry Hong (Dec 15, 2020)

Told in a straightforward journalist's style, Chen's stories are filled with individuals facing hardships of varying degrees, with no happy endings to be found. She delves into the human psyche to ponder just how far individuals go tolerate duress. Not light reading, but this collection may be of interest to those looking for book group titles addressing the challenges of finding success, happiness, love, and contentment.

added by Lemeritus | editLibrary Journey, Shirley Quan (pay site) (Nov 1, 2020)

The often haunting stories in Chen’s strong debut follow characters striving for a better futures in China as buried memories begin to surface.... Chen’s sweeping collection comprises many small moments of beauty.

added by Lemeritus | editPublisher's Weekly (Sep 22, 2020)

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Barack Obama's Favorite Books (2021)

Esquire (Fiction – 2021)

Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year (Short Fiction – 2021)

NPR: Books We Love (2021)

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Chicago Public Library Best of the Best: Adults (Selection – 2021)

NPR Best Book (2021)

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To my parents

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The hour of our birth has been carefully forecast, a winter's day cesarean timed to coincide with Dr. Feng's lunch break. -Lulu

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▾Book descriptions

Fiction. Literature. Short Stories. HTML:

"Chen has one of the year's big debut books." �??Philadelphia Inquirer
"Gripping and illuminating . . . At the heart of Te-Ping Chen's remarkable debut lies a question all too relevant in 21st Century America: What is freedom?" �??Jennifer Egan
"Immensely rewarding, from the first sentence to the last . . . An exceptional collection." �??Charles Yu
A "stirring and brilliant" debut story collection, offering vivid portrayals of the men and women of modern China and its diaspora, "both love letter and sharp social criticism," from a phenomenal new literary talent bringing great "insight from her years as a reporter with the Wall Street Journal" (Elle).
Gripping and compassionate, Land of Big Numbers traces the journeys of the diverse and legion Chinese people, their history, their government, and how all of that has tumbled�??messily, violently, but still beautifully�??into the present.

Cutting between clear-eyed realism and tongue-in-cheek magical realism, Chen's stories coalesce into a portrait of a people striving for openings where mobility is limited. Twins take radically different paths: one becomes a professional gamer, the other a political activist. A woman moves to the city to work at a government call center and is followed by her violent ex-boyfriend. A man is swept into the high-risk, high-reward temptations of China's volatile stock exchange. And a group of people sit, trapped for no reason, on a subway platform for months, waiting for official permission to leave.

With acute social insight, Te-Ping Chen layers years of experience reporting on the ground in China with incantatory prose in this taut, surprising debut, proving herself both a remarkable cultural critic and an astonishingly accomplished new liter