Land of Big Numbers by Te-Ping Chen is a collection of short stories that are told by or about Chinese people. Although, most of the stories do take place in China there are an odd couple that are set outside of China with Chinese characters. The stories do not seem to be interconnected and for the most part can be read as individual stories. They are beautifully written with compelling characters and beautiful imagery. The majority of the stories are bound in reality although a couple dabbling into magical realism.
The stories are short enough to be read in one sitting which makes them much more enjoyable because it becomes almost like reading a snippet of someone’s life. And that’s what these stories feel like, a glimpse into a life we know little about and we are given this one tiny window to look in before it is shut again. To expect these to be traditional stories with a plot and conclusion is to be disappointed. But, the stories are satisfying in what they do offer a snippet into fantastically ordinary people and the decisions they make that veer them off the course that had been set for them.
More than anything, these stories read like they should be an English class assignment. With enough beautifully written prose and sufficient questions of what ifs to make an interesting class discussion. What if the twins in the first story hadn’t been twins. If they had been born as individual births would they have made the same decisions and ended in the same places? If the old man had been accepted into the communist party early on would he still have the same desire to make things out of discarded pieces of people’s lives?
This is the kind of book I revisit when I need something quick and beautiful to read because no matter how incomplete some of these stories feel there is no denying that they are beautiful.
An e-ARC of this book was provided free of charge by NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.
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