Kosher Chinese: Living, Teaching, and Eating with China's Other Billion by Michael Levy + A Guest Review

Welcome back to Notorious MLE! She's written a guest review of this awesome book! You'll see that we've both given it a big thumbs up!

Elaine says:
Levy lives in Guiyang, China as a Peace Corps volunteer where he teaches English at a university for two years. The "other billion" in the title refers to the Chinese people who don't live in the most well-known coastal cities of China.

Levy describes his journey from the moment he steps off the plane in desperate need of a WC. His recounting of using a squat toilet for the first is really funny. So funny that I read it out loud. =D

The book is also serious though with great descriptions of Chinese culture and explanations of how life and relationships work there. What struck me most about this author is that he has a really good heart. Despite some of his difficulty with aspects of the culture, he really establishes some great friendships and really cares about his students and colleagues.

If you've spent any time in China, I think you'll appreciate this book. And if you've never been to China, but are curious about how another culture works, this is a very easy read.

P.S.: This book reminded me of River Town by Peter Hessler (also an excellent read) who also spent time teaching with the Peace Corps in China.

Notorious MLE says:
There is a scene in Kosher Chinese where the protagonist is unsuccessfully trying to order at a McDonald’s only to have a conversation (entirely in Chinese) in which he’s repeatedly told he doesn’t speak Chinese. I had almost the exact same conversation in a Chilean post office while studying abroad.  It seems that arguing in a foreign language about whether you speak a foreign language is both a unique and universal experience of being a foreigner.

Capturing these hilarious, frustrating and touching moments is where Dan Levy really excels.  He describes the experience of both losing and discovering your own identity by immersing yourself in a foreign country with a generosity, humility and humor that I loved. On this merit alone I would recommend his book but I felt this memoir was actually at another level due to how well he captures the more unknown parts of China during a unique time in that countries history.  I definitely recommend this book.