Sounds of the River: A Memoir

From Barnes & Noble

"Colors of the mountain will never leave our door/Sounds of the river will linger forever in our ears." Da Chen took the title of his first memoir, Colors of the Mountain, from the first line of this Chinese couplet, and now he borrows words from the second line for the banner of this inviting sequel. Chen's roll call of the challenges he faced at the University of Beijing could raise the eyebrows of any American undergraduate: corrupt professors, wretched living conditions, a suicidal roommate. Nevertheless, Sounds of the River is by turns poetic and hilarious, never surrendering its sense of human integrity.

Publishers Weekly

This book begins where Chen's extremely well-received second memoir, Colors of the Mountain, published last year, left off. Coming from the small town of Yellow Stone in the southern province of Fujian, 16-year-old Chen moves to early 1980s Beijing to study English at the university. More anecdotally driven than Colors, this book's thumbnail character studies and small moments of triumph and defeat do most of the narrative work: the amazement of the other students at Chen's deep tan from working in the fields; the serious professor who teaches the class the multiple uses of the word "fuck"; a Buddhist monk who surreptitiously loves the theater; a friend who introduces high heels, torn T-shirts and jeans to Beijing. Chen delicately weaves his own personal story of maturation into that of the slow shaking off of the Cultural Revolution; he still faces potentially serious difficulties when he uses Sidney Sheldon along with Shakespeare to teach his students English, or meets a psychoanalyst and a musician who are secretly Christian missionaries, are just two examples. But Chen states from the outset that the point of his studies was to get him to the U.S. While this book isn't as constantly engaging and thoughtful as Colors, by its end, when Chen's visa is granted, readers will already be looking forward to the next installment. (Feb. 9) Forecast: Colors, which followed Chen's childhood chronicle China's Son, was widely reviewed and continues to sell in paper; a seven-city tour and an NPR campaign should help all three books. Look for major reviews, some that possibly take issue with Chen's version of '80s Beijing, and bestseller numbers. The story of Chen's arrival in the U.S. at 23 "carrying just 30 dollars and a bamboo flute" (as the galley notes) and subsequent full scholarship to Columbia Law School should be the subject of Chen's next book and of the countless interviews this one should generate. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

VOYA

Da Chen follows up his critically acclaimed Colors of the Mountain (Random House, 1999/VOYA August 2000) with a wonderfully engaging account of his college years. He left his tiny southern Chinese coastal village at the age of sixteen and traveled three days by overcrowded train to the Beijing language institute where he studied English, absorbed the intricacies of academic politics, and garnered a wide range of lessons in life across the next four years. Chen recounts conversations with his parents, brother, new roommates, and teachers in idioms that today's youth can understand, bearing irony, sweetness, and grief that make this memoir a universally accessible tale of college life. Across the years, Chen roomed with an iconoclast, who eventually committed suicide, and found that the English he believed at home was excellent could barely be understood when he was among urban-educated students. He illicitly commandeered many boxes of cigarettes that could be used to pay for his visit to the Buddhist temple when he returned home on vacation. Upon graduation, he landed a job with the Sports Ministry just in time to translate for the NBA team visiting in China to film a commercial atop the Great Wall. Although the events here took place nearly two decades ago, Chen's remembered ingenuousness comes through without sentimentality or later-day reinterpretations of events as he experienced them. This book will appeal to a wide range of high school readers, and it also can serve as curriculum support in English and social science curricula. VOYA CODES: 5Q 4P S A/YA (Hard to imagine it being any better written; Broad general YA appeal; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12; Adult and YoungAdult). 2002, HarperCollins, 307p,
— Francisca Goldsmith

Library Journal

In this follow-up to the best-selling memoir Colors of the Mountain the second in a trilogy Da recalls coming of age far from home in China's wild north, all the while longing for America. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

In an equally beguiling sequel to his acclaimed memoir, Colors of the Mountain (2000), which chronicled growing up during China's Cultural Revolution, Chen vividly details his years at college in the early 1980s as Mao's successors now encourage moneymaking but are loath to loosen the reins of power.