Cousin Felix Meets the Buddha: and Other Encounters in China and Tibet
Set free from editorial constraints that have bound him in his 15-year career as a journalist at the Far Eastern Economic Review, Kaye takes the time in this account of his adventures as a China correspondent to devote long passages to rarely noted attributes of the country, from the fragrance of Beijing's subway system to the gastronomic sensations of yak fat. These digressions, while at times meandering, are redeemed by Kaye's ample knowledge of China and his childlike excitement over his subject. Kaye's edifying narrative can, during a brief train ride to Xian, the middle kingdom's ancient capital, entertainingly skim across a range of subjects throughout China's long, complicated history. The book's most revealing observations come not from Kaye, but from the people he speaks and travels with across China, a diverse cast of characters that includes a reincarnated lama, a Shaanxi cop, a fast-talking city lawyer and a die-hard Communist revolutionary. Among them, his travel companions have seen China's recent revolution and reform from significantly different perspectives-upper- and lower-class, rural and urban-and Kaye's record of their experiences is valuable. His deftness with the Chinese language, helped in part by his Taiwanese wife's occasional stint as translator (she is also the book's illustrator), enables him to capture subtle insights into his interlocutors' personalities and motivations. This allows Kaye to capture the conflicts and contradictions of a country that is so often depicted as a teeming, homogenous mass.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.