Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Was the book blunt? Yes. Please don't let that description scare you off. I can't tell you the number of absolute stinkers Amazon has put up for their Kindle First selections and this is NOT ONE OF THEM. It was a very detail filled peek into the life of a man who left the impoverished countryside (Freshwind) of China for a hopefully better life in the city X'i'an. Happy takes along his friend and the book chronicles their lives as they settle into city life as trash collectors. The city they move to is really complex because it has such a conglomeration of different classes of people all struggling for the dream of "making it". Do people defecate outdoors, spit on the ground and generally act like they were raised in a barn? A RESOUNDING YES. It's a peek at the real life of people with some frank talk. An elder man teases Happy's friend Wufu that his wife is lonely at home with a cucumber or possibly her father in law to comfort her. It's locker room talk but felt that nothing at all in the dialogue was forced or salacious. These are men goading eachother and poking at one another. People fart, it a natural body function. When men urinate standing up they sometimes miss the mark, that should not preclude you from reading a fantastic story. ( I want to mention that when I read Anne Frank's Diary last month there was some very real talk about bathroom habits and smells and menstrual blood, it's called reality). This book should not be pigeon holed as Asian Literature even if it is based on the life of a man who happens to reside in China. The book translation was flawless. Wonderfully written, well developed characters allowed me to tear through it. People are depicted with all their flaws, no sugar coating. I can only say that I read it all the way through and felt it was one of the better Kindle First choices I have read. Nothing was written that an adult should not be able to see as true life with no white washing.