The Land of Big Numbers is the incredible short story collection by Te-Ping Chen. In this collection Chen follows Chinese citizens lives as they navigate the political and cultural landscape of China both past and present, sometimes often colliding. In many of the stories generational differences come to a head, in others we explore familial relationships such as a brother-sister pair (one of my favorites), a woman who goes to meet her late husbands parents, and another that explores the long marriage of a couple whose goal is to build a plane. Another large portion of the collection is pointed critiques of China's government and its political systems.
I really enjoyed this short story collection and its one of my favorites that I've ever read. I don't believe I've ever rated a short story collection higher than four stars. Simply put, some of these stories impacted me more than others. I really loved the first 3/4 of this collection, but ended up kind of falling out of interest with the book one we reached the last couple of stories. I also felt like the first and third stories were my two favorites.
If you're at all interested in exploring China in a very nuanced, well written way I can't recommend this collection enough. Even the stories that I didn't love still made me think plenty.
I really enjoyed this short story collection and its one of my favorites that I've ever read. I don't believe I've ever rated a short story collection higher than four stars. Simply put, some of these stories impacted me more than others. I really loved the first 3/4 of this collection, but ended up kind of falling out of interest with the book one we reached the last couple of stories. I also felt like the first and third stories were my two favorites.
If you're at all interested in exploring China in a very nuanced, well written way I can't recommend this collection enough. Even the stories that I didn't love still made me think plenty.