Overview

The latest novel from Orange Prize finalist Xiaolu Guo is the enchantingly comic story of a young Chinese woman's life as a film extra in hyper-modern, tumultuous Beijing.Though twenty-one-year-old Fenfang Wang has traveled 1,800 miles to seek her fortune in urban Beijing, she is ill-prepared for what greets her: a Communist regime that has outworn its welcome, a city in slap-dash development, and a sexist attitude more in keeping with her peasant upbringing than the country's progressive capital. But after mastering the fever and tumult of the city, Fenfang ultimately finds her true independence in the one place she never expected.

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An engrossing portrait of a charmingly chaotic young woman. <br>-- Entertainment Weekly <br> Twenty Fragments resembles a Chekhov story in containing, under its brief, chatty surface, an enormous world.... It's a little book that's so moving, you'll want to read it twice. <br>-- Chicago Sun-Times <br> Energetic.... Fenfang Wang, the book's endearing heroine is a young woman whose dynamic narration offers an intriguing glimpse into what it means to come of age in China. <br>-- San Francisco Chronicle <br>Praise from the UK for Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth: <br> Xiaolu Guo's literary voice remains a breath of the freshest air imaginable. <br>-- The Independent <br> Xiaolu Guo is an instinctive, humane witness, her atmospheric, unusually physical narratives are alive and attractively insistent, inspired variations on the theme of quest ... Guo's observations will make you smile and remember; she will also nudge the reader towards thoughts about language, culture, and the very business of living. <br>-- Irish Times <br> [A] sharp, unpretentiously sophisticated piece. <br>-- Sunday Times <br> [Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth] is a graceful, subtle novel...a piece of art that portrays human determination through evocative photos and simple narration. <br>-- Sunday Herald <br> <br> A delightful peek under the veil of today's China. <br>-- Daily Mail <br> <br> This book is vacuum-packed, refrigerated, a novel that keeps its cool... impressively clear, unvarnished, honest. <br> -- The Scotsman <br> <br> Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth shines with the utterly blameless, scarily fragile arrogance of youth itself. <br>-- Telegraph <br> Slangy, direct, oftendisarming, the novel has an immediacy that brings [Xiaolu Guo's heroine] Fenfang to life. <br>-- Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) <br> <br> [Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth's] impudent, hand-on-hips attitude cannot fail to charm. <br>-- New Statesman

An engrossing portrait of a charmingly chaotic young woman. -- Entertainment Weekly Twenty Fragments resembles a Chekhov story in containing, under its brief, chatty surface, an enormous world.... It's a little book that's so moving, you'll want to read it twice. -- Chicago Sun-Times Energetic.... Fenfang Wang, the book's endearing heroine is a young woman whose dynamic narration offers an intriguing glimpse into what it means to come of age in China. -- San Francisco Chronicle Praise from the UK for Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth Xiaolu Guo's literary voice remains a breath of the freshest air imaginable. -- The Independent Xiaolu Guo is an instinctive, humane witness, her atmospheric, unusually physical narratives are alive and attractively insistent, inspired variations on the theme of quest ... Guo's observations will make you smile and remember; she will also nudge the reader towards thoughts about language, culture, and the very business of living. -- Irish Times [A] sharp, unpretentiously sophisticated piece. -- Sunday Times [Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth] is a graceful, subtle novel...a piece of art that portrays human determination through evocative photos and simple narration. -- Sunday Herald A delightful peek under the veil of today's China. -- Daily Mail This book is vacuum-packed, refrigerated, a novel that keeps its cool... impressively clear, unvarnished, honest. -- The Scotsman Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth shines with the utterly blameless, scarily fragile arrogance of youth itself. -- Telegraph Slangy, direct, often disarming, the novel has an immediacy that brings [Xiaolu Guo's heroine] Fenfang to life. -- Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) [Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth's] impudent, hand-on-hips attitude cannot fail to charm. -- New Statesman

An engrossing portrait of a charmingly chaotic young woman. --Entertainment Weekly Twenty Fragments resembles a Chekhov story in containing, under its brief, chatty surface, an enormous world.... It's a little book that's so moving, you'll want to read it twice. --Chicago Sun-Times Energetic.... Fenfang Wang, the book's endearing heroine is a young woman whose dynamic narration offers an intriguing glimpse into what it means to come of age in China. --San Francisco ChroniclePraise from the UK for Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth Xiaolu Guo's literary voice remains a breath of the freshest air imaginable. --The Independent Xiaolu Guo is an instinctive, humane witness, her atmospheric, unusually physical narratives are alive and attractively insistent, inspired variations on the theme of quest ... Guo's observations will make you smile and remember; she will also nudge the reader towards thoughts about language, culture, and the very business of living. --Irish Times [A] sharp, unpretentiously sophisticated piece. --Sunday Times [Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth] is a graceful, subtle novel...a piece of art that portrays human determination through evocative photos and simple narration. --Sunday Herald A delightful peek under the veil of today's China. --Daily Mail This book is vacuum-packed, refrigerated, a novel that keeps its cool... impressively clear, unvarnished, honest. --The Scotsman Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth shines with the utterly blameless, scarily fragile arrogance of youth itself. --Telegraph Slangy, direct, often disarming, the novel has an immediacy that brings [Xiaolu Guo's heroine] Fenfang to life. --Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) [Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth's] impudent, hand-on-hips attitude cannot fail to charm. --New Statesman

Author Information

Xiaolu Guo was born in a fishing village in southern China. After graduating from the Beijing Film Academy, she wrote several books published in China before she moved to London in 2002. She was awarded the Grand Jury Prize at the 2007 International Women’s Film Festival for her first feature “How Is Your Fish Today?,” and is the recipient of the prestigious Cannes Film Festival Cinefondation Residency grant based in Paris. A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers, her first novel published in the U.S., was shortlisted for the 2007 Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction. She divides her time between London and Beijing, and is at work on a new novel.

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