A review by davybaby
Strange Stones: Dispatches from East and West by Peter Hessler

4.0

I had the good fortune of reading Hessler's River Town during a trip to China in college, and it's colored my hunting down his work since then.

Strange Stones is a collection of essays from Hessler's years of travel- some about China, some about his experiences after returning to the United States. In both cases, he writes with a clear affection for the places, a respect for the people, and yet an honest presentation of the absurdity of both. The characters are larger than life in some cases, but also full and real.

Reading the essays about various places and people in the same collection brings them together in a wonderful way. We're not so different, we earthlings. Worthy of respect, but a bit bonkers in many cases.