Letter from China
Today we release Letter from China by Peter James Froning:
This is a poignant and irreverent diary of the author’s yearlong (2001-2) experience of teaching English to college students in Beijing, People’s Republic of China. From the very first pages, the author draws you into his struggle with a culture worlds away from his comfort zone. The author’s generous and compelling personality allowed him to gain access to the lives of his students and their families, who became characters in his tale. One can experience the author’s wit and humanity throughout the narrative.
The author’s humorous view of China is especially timely and dovetails with the current explosion of interest in that country as it enters the modern world. The book is neither a travelogue nor a look at the government, although elements of those subjects are woven into the story. Instead, it is an engaging look at China, tailored toward those who know little about it. Still, those who have lived and/or traveled there will also enjoy the book as it reminds them of the absurdities they, too, experienced.
Barrett Whitener provides the narration for this book. Many fans of audiobooks will recognize that name, as he’s a professional narrator with dozens of titles under his belt. A huge thanks to Mary Froning for allowing us to distribute this book.
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July 28th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
I absolutely adore this book!! I lived in China until I was 7.5 years old then moving to the states. Hearing his view of Beijing brings back so many memories. I’ve only visited my family back in China twice in 13 years but I can still relate to everything Peter writes, especially the one child rule. I’ve been told I still look amazed when I find out my friends have siblings. I’ve already recommended this to my roommate who desperately wants to go back to China with me one of these years.
July 28th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
A wonderful book! I thoroughly enjoyed the stories and the how much of Peter’s personality comes shining throught. Some humour caught me unawares and I had to stop the playback as I was laughing so hard, I didn’t want to miss anything. It is down to earth recounting of everyday life in China through Western eyes. Peter certainly was a gifted story teller. I was shocked when I heard the epilogue, it was so unexpected. As I went into the epilogue, I was listening and also wondering what other books Peter has written. I was hit by a deep sadness for this wonderful person who I’ll not get to know better through his writings. And I cryed all the way through the 11th installment, yet still smiled at the humourous stories. My daughter thinks I’m crazy to cry over someone I don’t know but it’s a grief for what might have been for this wonderful man, if you know what I mean. Thank you so much for sharing this book. Mr. Whitener has done a terrific narration – an absolute gem of a presentation.
Joan
July 31st, 2008 at 5:10 pm
I’ve know Peter since 1999, where we met in a chat room online, of all places! He encouraged me to join Explora Children’s Museum’s board of directors. He bonded with one of my daughters, and when she was about 11 years old he taught her how to play croquet in his back yard. When Mary told us about his book, I purchased it for my daughter’s Chritmas present. She is now looking forward to listening to the stories that she has already read. I always remember him when I’m cooking–he loved cooking and scolded me for not beating the eggs BEFORE adding them to the rest of the ingredients! He said that Julie Child would have a fit! LOL Mary
August 4th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
what a great story. I was on the second to last chapter, when I noticed that the author is not the narrator, thinking that it was odd and I was going to have to go home and see if the author has any more stories and if they were narrated by the same person. When the ending hit, I actually had to stop what I was doing and go outside. It hit me as such a surprise, I was trying not to cry.
August 14th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
I’m living in Shanghai now and spent the first two years I was here teaching English. Peter’s has such great examples to share with everyone. Makes me regret not having recorded everything I thought when I first arrived in China.
The narrator is quite good, but unfortunately his Chinese is horrible. His pronunciation is almost unrecognizable, but his English is quite clear, lol.
October 15th, 2008 at 8:59 am
Great book. I thought it was interesting that in all of the authors letters I couldn’t remember a single mention of Peter’s faith, but almost every letter from his students in the last chapter discussed God, the afterlife or a quality associated with real Christianity. I’m curious how Peter affected his students in this.
October 20th, 2008 at 7:25 am
As Peter’s sister, I can assure you that he did not discuss faith with his students. As you could see in the book, he did talk with them about the Bible, but only as a way of helping them connect with a culture with which he was familiar. When reading the students’ letters, we were floored by all the spiritual comments from young people ensconced in a Communist nation. But it wasn’t Peter’s influence.
October 20th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Great book,
Kept me up till 4 in the morning. Learned a lot. It seems at least after listening to this fascinating account I don’t have much to fear from the Chinese.
December 10th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
As a teacher, and a recent transplant to a foreign country, (Japan), I found a lot of universal truth in Peter’s portrayal of satisfaction in the triumphs of his students, and in his adventurous and gleeful dealings with “culture shock.” His sense of humor and down-to-earth descriptions of the social and cultural environment had me completely engrossed. The narrator did a wonderful job of bringing this vibrant text to life–bringing me to several fits of laughter, one solid bout of tears, and continuously giving me the feel of Peter’s engaging personality. I will be strongly recommending (insisting upon?) this book to several fellow teachers, travelers, and lovers of warm-hearted, humorous, engaging narration.
The only drawback to this novel is the repetitive overuse of the hyperbole “God-damned” in the later installments, which serve a purpose, I suppose, but become a bit clamorous in a “clean” novel.
December 29th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
–CC review–
TAGS-anthropology,sinology,TEOFL,cultural study,modern china(ecology,urban,pollution,lifeways,etc),travelogue,book written as a series of emails,friendship,modern communism
A good CC work, an excellent recommend for anthro, sino-, cultural studies, etc. Don’t expect kinship diagrams, but the author makes excellent use of understatement and example to communicate. Highly recommend. Also would be useful for Chinese language instruction. Veracity? Meh. No citations. But reads well.
-Not a waste of time.
January 25th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
What a wonderful book. His playful yet vivid descriptions of China match my own memories of the place. The warmth of his spirit shines through every minute of this podcast. I can hear those Chinese students booing the umpire at the baseball game and singing Procul Harem’s Whiter Shade of Pale – in straight-laced Beijing! Those students were lucky to have met Peter. I wish I had met him, too – but actually, from this narrative, I feel that I know him well. And I’m a better man for it.
February 22nd, 2009 at 8:10 am
I’m from a small city in Canada, and I listened to this book while living in New York City. The book was fantastic, and hearing descriptions of China made New York seem much less overwhelming. I was going to send Peter a letter letting him know how much his book helped me, and when I found out he had passed away I was very shocked. I ended up crying a lot. Zai jian Peter, and thank you.
May 15th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Having lived the last 7 years in South Korea as a teacher and business owner, I immediately connected with the author. I intend to pass this book around to my friends in the hope it will mitigate their culture shock.
The ending brought me to tears.
May 26th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Thank you for your comment, Thomas. As Peter’s sister, the family appreciates these comments.
May 31st, 2010 at 5:02 am
I loved this book. To the family -Thank you for sharing Peter and this journey with us. Thomas did an excellent job. This was an out of genre book for me and I’m glad I took that step.
February 9th, 2011 at 9:32 am
Thank you for sharing these letters. Life is to full of the bad but this is really good.
March 18th, 2011 at 7:37 pm
As a teacher preparing to teach in China for the first time this summer, this book was recomended to me by a friend. I loved his humor and personality. I also took several notes to self of what to pack and bring with me and what not to do while I’m teaching. This is the kind of advice I won’t find in a travel guide, but thouroughly enjoyed. I’m so glad and thankful that he recorded his memories and experiences and has shared them for several to hear and live vicariously through them!
September 23rd, 2011 at 6:47 pm
Not my usual kind of book but it looked interesting. Boy am I glad I did. I was 2/3 of the way through when I googled the author so maybe I could email him a note on how much I was enjoying the book. I was sad to read of his death. When I got to the last chapter I had to listen in small chunks as I didn’t want to get all teary-eyed and people wonder what was wrong with me.
An excellent book. Now one of my favorites.
January 12th, 2012 at 5:24 pm
this was a truly wonderful book. I’m so glad to have come across it. I was listening to it while working, and although it is such a simple story, just a journal of daily experiences in China, it was so beautiful and well told. I was crying while at work as the story reached its end. So very touching and it makes me want to visit china and other countries.
January 17th, 2012 at 2:52 pm
Jane -
Thanks for your comment. The family always appreciates hearing that people are enjoying the book and being motivated to take action to enjoy the diversity of life, as did he.
January 31st, 2012 at 8:13 am
I downloaded this podiobook a few months back as a major gathering of podiobooks to listen to. This morning I started listening to this one and was very surprised at the quality of the letters. I am an International Studies major and last semester I took a class on China and many of the things he has mentioned in the first 5 episodes are things I learned about in class.
Definitely a 5 star book.