Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven by Susan Jane Gilman
I usually read at night, after the girls are in bed. But work has been a bit crazy, and I’ve found myself bringing work home and spending three to five hours working at night after the girls are in bed. I started Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven last week but do not know when I’ll get to finish it. But it’s there, in the back of my mind. It is demanding that I finish it.
The story starts out with a wild landing at the old Hong Kong airport. Two girls graduate Brown University in 1986 and decide to backpack across the world – starting in China. As the book says, China has been open to tourists for about ten minutes at that point. The girls go from Hong Kong to Shanghai, and then off to a smaller city, and now they are in Beijing. I’ve heard they go to Guilin at some point, I can’t wait to see the descriptions of Guilin.
There have been a lot of changes in China since I first started visiting. But the changes between the visit described in this book, and my first visit, are phenomenal. I’ll give a full review of the book once I’ve finished it, but it’s one of those books that just won’t get out of my mind. Also, I love some of the philosophizing the author does. She’s studied third world countries, she’s learned of the poverty, and she’s had all of these ideals in her head about these things. But when faced with it head on, she comes to a few realizations that I’m going to want to share and discuss here, at some point.
This is a true story, a memoir. The author says she’s changed some names here and there where she doesn’t have permission to use someone’s real name, but other than that, she claims that there is no way she could have made this story up.
February 9th, 2010 at 12:32 pm
That looks like a good book. Think that I will get it! Thanks!
February 9th, 2010 at 12:37 pm
Thanks so much. I practically eat non-fiction books such as these. Here’s another one you, and others might enjoy. I loved it. The title is pretty self-explanatory.
Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China (Paperback)
~ Leslie T. Chang
I would have posted the Amazon link, but I wasn’t sure of the rules regarding that. If you have others like this, I’d love for you to share them. Thanks again.
February 9th, 2010 at 1:31 pm
This does look interesting. I think I’ll put it on my amazon wish list.
I first visited china in 1989 just a few mos before the student rebellion. To say it has changed is putting it mildly. I only wish I would have seen more of china at that time.
February 9th, 2010 at 3:19 pm
I so love memoir books such as this. May have to scour Amazon for this one.
In a similar vein, the book “Eat, Pray, Love”
is also fantastic. Sorry, cant’ remember the author.
But she has also written a memoir about her travels through 3 very different countries, and the messages and lessons that came with each stop. The people she meets are very interesting.
Just to throw it out there…has anyone else read “Running With Scissors” ? Holy cow! Very disturbing, entertaining, and enlightening all at the same time.
February 9th, 2010 at 6:48 pm
Some friends of mine went to China around that time frame (very soon after China opened) and their stories of the trip are fascinating and soooo different than now.
February 9th, 2010 at 6:48 pm
RQ,
Good job posting about this book. I have Gilman’s
‘Hypocrite in a Poufy White Dress’, which is as the review says ‘irreverant’, and it is also very funny. White dress is sort of like “In her shoes” (Jennifer Weiner).
Will be interesting to read “…temple of heaven” which sounds like a very different book . Thanks!
February 9th, 2010 at 7:06 pm
My father and grandfather were in China with a group from Purdue University back in the summer of 1984. What they described was worlds apart from what we experienced in 2007.
Thanks RQ for the book suggestion. I’m looking forward to picking up a copy from the library later this week.
February 9th, 2010 at 8:36 pm
some great suggestions. thanks!
two books I’d like to recommend are:
1. A Leaf in the Bitter Wind, by Ting-Xing Ye. This is memoir of a young woman who lived through the cultural revolution. She defected and moved to Canada where she lives now.
2. Egg on Mao, by Denise Chong. This is the amazing story about Lu Decheng, the man who threw paint on Chairman Mao’s portrait in Tiananmen Square at the time of the student protests. It’s really well written.
February 9th, 2010 at 9:45 pm
I love and appreciate book suggestions. I will be reading several of the above.
I would wholeheartedly recommend:
The Long march : the true history of Communist China’s founding myth by Sun, Shuyun
It was both enjoyable and enlightening.
February 16th, 2010 at 12:09 pm
I read this book a year ago. I remember I couldn’t put it down. It was like a surreal glimpse into what it was like to travel in China when it first opened. I also was terrified for the girls throughout the book.