20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth - Xiaolu Guo

...buying that book I discovered 20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth in my local library, naturally I picked it up so I could finally see how good of an author Xiaolu Guo was and see whether or not I should go look for the other books she has written.
I can tell you now that I am planning on looking for a copy of her other works, she's brilliant.

Fenfang has left the slow and boring life of the sweet potato fields and has come to ...
...for it.

20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth consists of small chapter length snippets of Fenfang and life in Beijing through her point of view. I was confused at some points of the book because of cultural differences between England and Beijing about certain laws and social life but the confusion didn't take away any of my enjoyment while reading this.

This book gave a fun but realistic look on life for the younger generation ... more

Written by Xiaolu Guo.
204 pages in paperback.
Written in first person.
Young Adult +
Can be bought new and used for £3+ on ebay.co.uk and new for £4.99 at amazon.co.uk.

After finding a copy of A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers in a nearby bookshop and being told it was a good read by others I decided to buy it, and then I discovered I'd left my wallet in my other coat.
A few months later after forgetting to come back to that bookshop and buying that book I discovered 20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth in my local library, naturally I picked it up so I could finally see how good of an author Xiaolu Guo was and see whether or not I should go look for the other books she has written.
I can tell you now that I am planning on looking for a copy of her other works, she's brilliant.

Fenfang has left the slow and boring life of the sweet potato fields and has come to Beijing, she now works as a film extra trying to get a lucky break. Fenfang spends most of her time looking for jobs, trying to live a modern life, eating UFO noodles and dating unsuitable men.
Just when will she be able to get all the 'shiny things'?

It's short but sweet with a melancholic view of the younger generation's life in Beijing. Although the events in the book would seem depressing in real life Fenfang's narration creates a humorous outlook on it. There's very little character development among the other characters though, the 204 pages are focused entirely on Fenfang with brief mentions of other people and what happens to them but they are only there to help bring Fenfang to a new destination/job. I found Fenfang a believable and enjoyable character to read though which made me want to read more of the story and think about life in general. It's just a pity the book is so short but I thought the similie style descriptions and Fenfang's views made up for it.

20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth consists of small chapter length snippets of Fenfang and life in Beijing through her point of view. I was confused at some points of the book because of cultural differences between England and Beijing about certain laws and social life but the confusion didn't take away any of my enjoyment while reading this.

This book gave a fun but realistic look on life for the younger generation in modern time Beijing, some people might find this slightly confusing or might find character developement lacking in some aspects but someone who wants a quick read (took me two days to read this) and a bittersweet look at the world from the perspective of a person living in another culture will enjoy this book. I'd definitely read this again and suggest it to others that I know who also enjoy reading books of this nature.

Other books written by Xiaolu Guo:
UFO in Her Eyes.
A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers.
Village of Stone. 

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