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Home Is A Roof Over A Pig: An American Family's Journey In China (2012)

by Aminta Arrington(Favorite Author)

3.88 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1590208994 (ISBN13: 9781590208991)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Overlook Hardcover

review 1: An informative yet personal account of a family's decision to adopt a child from China and subsequent decision to move to China as a family. Both parents teach ESL and their three preschool children attend the local grade school. The author is earnest and yet despite all the language and cultural distinctions she and the family come to understand the story is ultimately that of an American abroad and it comes to seem an all too pat adventure in all things Asian. There isn't a lot of depth perception nor is there much intrigue. In addition there is a component of narrator as Christian doing good in the world that seems to underlie the story and which prevents at least this reader from grinding much more than a superficial quality to this detailed account of learning to live... more abroad.
review 2: This is a great description of the Chinese culture by someone who has lived there for several years. Aminta Arrington and her family moved to Tai'an, a small city in the Shandong province of China, when her husband retired from the army and told her it was her time to choose where they would live. Because they had adopted a daughter from China she wanted to learn more about the Chinese culture and let her kids know about it as well, so she and her husband took jobs teaching English at a small university there. What makes the book really fascinating is her analysis of Chinese characters and how they reflect Chinese culture. This memoir is well written and really captures the experience of Americans learning to live in other cultures. less

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