20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth

Book is little old but expected of a used copy. Still well maintained and there are no pages torn or anything so I'm happy

"Fenfang, yours is the face of a post-modern woman."Set in modern China against the backdrop of urban fragmentation, isolation of modern life and struggles of being a woman struggling for a higher ground, 20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth took me by surprise. Even the most disturbing and shocking incidents are conveyed with an insouciant tone that sets the novel apart. Don't read it to escape reality, but rather to feel it closer to you skin than ever before. While nihilism is the prevalent mood of the rotten urban city, the spark and desire for something more drives the protagonist, just like it drives us in these times of turmoil and existentential dread. Highly suggested!

I don't read enough translated literature and I'm trying to change that.It took a few pages to get into but once I got into the story, I completed it in a few nights.

This is a very interesting book about a young actress and film writer in Beijing and her struggle in this city, emphasizing beautifully the conflict between individualism and collectivism in today's China.I especially enjoyed the debut film script of the protagonist, titled, "The Seven Reincarnations of Hao An"; a rustic, beautiful script about the social and cultural milieu of the Beijing lower class, full of raw spirituality, sultry emotions, and fatalism in today's China.The author alludes that scripts like those do not get passed the censors of the Chinese Communist Party, which is a real loss for China, and artistic culture as a whole. I think this book points out very acutely that social criticism is not accepted yet by the Chinese government; the one-party government of the world's most populous country still unwilling to comprehend that social criticism is not a liability for China, but rather a great asset.

Thank you Xiaolu Guo for making the at times intimate feelings and experiences of a young woman coming of age in China accessible and almost tactile - to me at least. Xiaolu can even communicate a day spent at home feeling bad in an interesting and captivating manner. Great humour. Great self-irony. Great sadness. Great exuberance. Great read. Get it!

I bought this book on a whim, and through amazon recommendations. I can honestly say I did not expecte to enjoy it as much as I did. It is strange I have never read a book quite like this before. It is not written in a story like fashion, moreso, almost a diary or notes on day to day life of the main character over a relatively short period of time.Perhaps I am biased as am of a similar age to the leading lady, but I found the book to be blunt, to the point, precise, descriptive, realsitic and dry in humour. It regularly made me chuckle, her cynicism and modernist views that just don't quite fit in with where she is in life. It was so easy to read, I flew through the book in no time. I found this quite refreshing as some chinese based books I have read in the past have been quite heavy going, especially when describing China's turbulent past and of opression etc. So this was startlingly different. It kind of doesn't particularly follow a storyline, just life and day to day.. things that happen...the pondering we all do, analysing the peple we know...as well as ourselves. Just hoping to better ourselves one day soon.Lighthearted and fun, interesting perspective. :)

A young girl lives in a remote village in China where nothing appears to change. Life is simple, hard and boring, so she walks away from it and goes to live in a big city. It reads like a succession of short stories.