Twenty Fragments of A Ravenous Youth
Hardcover
Paperback
UK/AUS Edition among othersAmazon.com:
From the author of the 2007 Orange Prize finalist A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers comes a wholly original and thoroughly captivating coming-of-age story that follows a bright, impassioned young woman as she rushes headlong into the maelstrom of a rapidly changing Beijing to chase her dreams.
Twenty-one year old Fenfang Wang has traveled one thousand eight hundred miles to seek her fortune in contemporary urban Beijing, and has no desire to return to the drudgery of the sweet potato fields back home. However, Fenfang is ill-prepared for what greets her: a Communist regime that has outworn its welcome, a city under rampant destruction and slap-dash development, and a sexist attitude seemingly more in keeping with her peasant upbringing than the country’s progressive capital. Yet Fenfang is determined to live a modern life. With courage and purpose, she forges ahead, and soon lands a job as a film extra. While playing roles like woman-walking-over-the bridge and waitress-wiping-a-table help her eke out a meager living, Fenfang comes under the spell of two unsuitable young men, keeps her cupboard stocked with UFO noodles, and after mastering the fever and tumult of the city, ultimately finds her true independence in the one place she never expected.
At once wry and moving, Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth gives us a clear-eyed glimpse into the precarious and fragile state of China’s new identity and asserts Xiaolu Guo as her generation’s voice of modern China.
I read the book as the hardcover edition and just find it BEAUTIFUL! But seeing the paperback makes me think that might fit better with the strange nature of the book. I like the flowers and branches on the UK/AUS version but overall not as much as the other two.
Hardcover or Paperback?
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Hardcover, definitely ! And I love the UK/AUS version.
ReplyDeleteI think all of the covers are really pretty! I have read her other novel, the Concise Dictionary but it was not to my taste though a nice story.
ReplyDeleteHardcover!!
ReplyDeleteI like them both, really. I like the hardcover because of the photo/colors & that BEAUTIFUL font. However, I like the paperback for the same reasons.
ReplyDeleteThe UK cover would be okay on it's own but compared to the other two I don't think it holds up.
I haven't read the book, but I like the hardcover the best!
ReplyDeleteUK, hardcover, paperback in that order.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love the hardcover version.
ReplyDeleteThe UK/AUS version is also quite lovely. If I were to come across the paperback version, though, I wouldn't even look at it twice.
Totally uninteresting.
The hardcover is so beautiful. I love it.
ReplyDeleteI love the UK/AUS Edition! That's the best one.
ReplyDeleteI love all three; they're all so pretty. :)
ReplyDeleteOverall though, I think I like the second one the best.
Hardcover, hands down. I also like the UK/AUS edition better than the paperback, but the hardcover is the best!
ReplyDeleteI loved this book, too! I really like the hardcover copy(:
ReplyDeleteDefinetely hardcover. It's way more eye-catching...
ReplyDeleteMy favourite is the paperback =D
ReplyDeleteI like the one in the middle...
ReplyDeleteHardcover! That milkshake makes me hungry...(:
ReplyDeletePaperback because there is more intrigue but I love the other covers as well.
ReplyDeleteI like the hardcover.
ReplyDeleteSo hardcover. That pic is gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteI think I like the top and bottom the best. The middle makes sense aesthetically with the title but it just doesn't appeal. Probably the first is the one that would most draw me in.
ReplyDeleteI thought the first one was so perfect that I couldn't possibly like another version more. Until I scrolled down and saw the second cover. I love it.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely love the hardcover! It's very striking, and the colors are awesome. The paperback falls a little flat for me, honestly, and the UK/Australian version doesn't really grab me, either.
ReplyDelete