A special thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Mariner books and NetGalley for count am 4 actual ARC's to pass around to my book club that's not virtual. Thank you also to author Te-Ping Chen.

Everyone knows I love short stories. Some stories were great and some left me feeling they were a bit flat or unfinished. Still I'm grateful to have this book. Definitely recommended highly for most of the stories! 3.5 rounded to a 4.

Land of Big Numbers by Te-Ping Chen is a powerful collection of short stories. Within sentences of each new story, you are wrapped into important moments in the worlds of Chen’s characters—the diversion of lives between twins in “Lulu,” a stalking in the monotony of a day job in “Hotline Girl,” the formation of a community stuck in a train station in “Gubeikou Spirit” —the subtlest details building a whole world. Chen writes with beautiful prose, delicately unfolding each person to their simplest desires and motivations. Each story ends with a step into a future that does not look back. Somehow, Chen wrote a collection that moves forward together, (and it’s fitting the last story takes us to a train station). Focusing on the experiences of contemporary Chinese and Chinese American people, Chen weaves history, politics, culture and the complicated nature of choosing to fit in or be noticed into these narratives. Just as her characters are, it’s clear Chen is incredibly adept at studying people and understanding what drives their bravest moments and their most shameful retreats. Posted on Instagram @mixedreader.

I received an ARC digital edition of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a collection of short stories featuring Chinese culture. The stories end abruptly with no closure. One of the stories (the last one) was about being stranded at a train station. I understand the moral of the story, but I would have loved to know what happened to the characters or had this particular story as a novella or full length novel.

The first and last stories were my favorite, but the middle stories were paced slowly. I kept putting the book down during these stories.

I did enjoy the writing style and would have given this 5-stars if the middle stories were more of a page turner like the last story.

Thank you to NetGalley for the copy of Land of Big Numbers by Te-Ping Chen.  I usually don't really like short stories.  I thought I would try this one because it was rated so high plus two years ago, I went on a trip to China.  This book is a collection of ten short stories revolving around China and its culture.  I had hoped it would give me a little more insight into the country of China and its people.  It did do that some what but not as much as I had expected.  For me the trouble with short stories is by the time I'm really interested in the story, it's over.  I felt the writing was more of a slow build to the characters and plot and then ended very abruptly.  This left we feeling.....what was that all about?  The stories never felt finished to me.  Since the ratings are so high on this debut book, I'm sure it is just me and how I feel about short stories in general.  Give it a try, you might love it as most of the reviewers have.

Land of Big Numbers is a diverse collection of short stories depicting life in China, highlighting different singular life experiences in each story. Every one presents a different aspect of Chinese history, government, culture, and the human condition all together.

"Thank you for your cooperation, please line up, do not push
Be a civilized passenger, for your safety and that of those around you
We'll get there together." 

One thing I must say, about reading this debut collection, is to read the stories and enjoy them for the story! Chen has constructed exactly that… great stories. Do not wait for that one defining moment (that most of us novel readers wait for) to enjoy the story, because that moment may not come to you until far after you have finished that story and moved on to the next. Don't wait for "something" to happen because it IS happening, right now, as you read them, the stories are happening. They start and end in such unique and unexpected ways, sometimes you are thrown into the story midday or mid-situation while others you are left the same way with a striking writing style that while leaving you hanging... you are, at the same time, satisfied and content. Enjoy these stories, in the moment, as they are unfolding for you. The stories are what they are, no frills, no fuss but everything you need to keep you engaged and leave you wondering about what's next and/or wanting more. It is a great collection, my favorite was Gubeikou Spirit by far (a solid example of the saying "Save the best for last," it was a good ending story.) It is a short read that lends to the voices of the Chinese people in a way I have not experienced as of yet, it has my curiosity senses tingling about this foreign (to me) land of big numbers and I will be picking up more books about their politics, culture, food culture and ways of life. 

"...We'll get there together."

[Thank you NetGalley, Te-Ping Chen, and HMH Books for the free eARC]

This sounds like a really intriguing book, but after I down;loaded it, I only got the covers, first few pages, the name Lulu, and a first page of the first story. The rest was blank.

I finished LAND OF BIG NUMBERS (out February 2021), a collection of short stories that follows a diverse cast of Chinese characters, surprised by how moved I felt. Te-Ping Chen breathes life into seemingly mundane moments and mundane people she's picked out from this land of big numbers—from a country girl holding onto a very expensive pen and hopes to make it in Shanghai, to a prisoner reflecting on his obsessive relationship with the girl who left him, to a gambler who falls deeper and deeper into fraud and debt. Chen's stories overflow with uncertain hope, magic, and disillusionment. Reflecting further, I realized my sense of uneasiness stemmed from the uncanny resemblance to the Chinese people I know—and at times, to myself.

Thanks tp NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a collection of short stories that depict the land, culture and peoples of China in a very unique way. I found each of the stories to be enjoyable, but I have to admit I found myself asking “what was the plot/purpose of this story” and was left confused more than once. Nevertheless, I am happy to have been given the opportunity to read the book. I would recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in China, its people and culture, especially those who like stories that make you think.

Overall, this is a strong short-story collection. I've always really enjoyed reading about Chinese culture and history, so this book checked a lot of boxes for me. I don't want to spoil anything, so all I will say is that by the time I was finished with this book my mind was blown. Please check it out!

This was such a great collection of short stories! Each one was so different but they were all beautiful and moving. This is Te-Ping Chen’s debut novel and I am really looking forward to reading more of her work!

I was really looking forward to reading this book and was so excited when my request for an ARC was granted.  However, I was only able to read a few pages , specifically the first page of every story. The rest of the pages were blank.  I tried deleting and re-downloading over and over again, to no avail. I even paid $4.00 for the BlueFire App to see if i could read the complete book there, but again I could only see the first page of each story. The few sentences I was able to read were beautifully written and I hope my local library gets this book after it is published so I can read the whole thing.

e-Ping Chen's debut story collection Land of Big Numbers started out strong and ended with a mind-blowing parable that knocked my socks off. 

I read the first story through BookishFirst and put in my name for the ARC. Set in China, twins go on separate life paths, the bright and driven girl challenging government repression, the boy excelling in competitive video gaming. A reversal of expectations challenges our values.

The stories are revelatory about life in modern China and the expat experience. I was unsettled by the portrait of life in China, seemingly normal people doing seemingly normal things, and yet so much at odds with American expectations. 

The generational divide shows up clearly. The older characters had lived hard lives of manual labor and poverty. Some hold onto fantasies of achievement and acceptance into the Party. Their children become teenage factory workers in the city or hope for a rich benefactor or play the stock market dreaming of easy money.

It is a world at once very familiar--and very alien. The details are different, but the human experience universal.
All around Zhu Feng, it seemed, people were buying, buying, homes and stocks and second and third houses; there was a whole generation who'd gotten rich and needed to buy things for their kids, and the same dinky things from before didn't pass muster: penny rides on those plastic cartoon figures that flashed lights and gently rocked back and forth outside of drugstores; hawthorn impaled on ticks and sheathed in frozen yellow sugar casings, a cheap winter treat. They needed to buy because they had the money and that's what everyone else was doing...Also, the government said it was the buying opportunity of a generations...China was going up and up and nobody wanted to be left behind."~from Land of Big Numbers by Te-Ping Chen

The last story Guebeikou Spirit is amazing, a parable that reaches past it's setting to alert against the lure of complacence that becomes complicity. Characters become stranded on a new high-speed train station after trains pass them buy. Regulations state that passengers must depart from a different station than they entered, and so they remain.

Every day they hear the announcement that the train is delayed. The guards reassure, "we'll get there together," as they bring in food, blankets, personal health supplies, and as weeks go on, televisions and coloring books. 

The stranded people become a media sensation and the organize to represent "Gubeikuo Spirit." Several dissident young men try to follow the train tracks to another station, but always return and finally give up. The outside world's hardships come through the television news. They become comfortable so that when a train finally stops, they are unwilling to leave.

Obedience to an illogical rule, becoming comfortable leading to the loss of volition and self-determination--it's a powerful message. 

Te-Ping Chen is a marvelous writer and I look forward to reading more from her pen.

I received an ARC from the publisher through BookishFirst and an egalley through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

This is simply one of the best collections of short fiction I have ever read.  Land of Big Numbers is a debut work of Te-Ping Chen who has used her years of experience reporting on the ground in China to create stories that are both fictionalized accounts of what she sees and also a social commentary on the Chinese culture today

The writing is simply beautiful and while the stories were dark and haunting, they were a pleasure to read as Chen’s writing is so crisp and vivid.  Te-Ping Chen is clearly a gifted writer and a master of short fiction; both the exposition and character development were excellent.  I hope that there is a full-length novel in the offing.

My favorite story by far was “Gubeiko Spirit” followed by “Hotline Girl” and “Flying Machine.”  To be honest, each story in the collection is moving, but these three spoke to me the most and left me with indelible memories of the main characters.   

This is an extraordinary collection of short stories by a gifted writer.  Reading this book is an enriching experience and I highly recommend Land of Big Numbers.

First of all, a disclaimer: I had to read this book via Adobe Digital Editions, which wasn't a pleasure at all. I was reading via mobile phone or laptop, which hurt my eyes after a while. So I guess this had impacted my view of the stories. But nevertheless, I deeply enjoyed the peeks into Chinese culture and tradition and would like to re-read this at some point - but on paper!

I will begin by thanking NetGalley and Hughton Mifflin Harcourt for allowing me a free ARC of this book, The Land of Big Numbers, in exchange for an honest review. As always, I hope that my opinions are worthwhile. 

From the title, The Land of Big Numbers, I got the sense this book would contain stentorious examples of the masses living in China. I imagined the Big Numbers the way I assume most rural Americans visualize Chicago or New York City, swarms of busy-bodied pedestrians queuing at street corners waiting for the little orange hand to become the little walking person. The titles of books are funny that way. I am forever expecting things they do not deliver.

The masses play a central role in most of the stories; they appear frequently and regularly in the variety of short stories in The Land of Big Numbers. But they are never the focus of the stories. In place of Big Numbers, Te Ping Chen mesmerizes us utilizing a haunting marriage of subjugation by The Chinese Government and the hopeless dreams of its citizens as a backdrop, the two actors forever entwined, dancing the dance of captor and captive. The actions of trapped, desperate people wanting a better future for posterity, their families, or themselves, in crystal clear HD. Oppression is a theme people worldwide can empathize with, regardless of their homeland. To recognize a dreamer is to recognize our own dreams. 

So, it’s in the dream world that this book shines. In story after story, the protagonists deal with longing and aspiration. A man desires a local government official’s attention, so he builds an airplane that ultimately never flies, simply speeds back and forth down a runway. A brilliant girl (then woman) dreams of a just, fair world wherein the government takes care of its people. Agonizingly, her more mediocre, loyalist brother watches her life crumble as her vain attempt to bring about real change leads to incarceration. 

A natural accomplice of the dreamer is disappointment. It is impossible to have one without the other. Accordingly, the central characters are awash in and adjacent to disappointment. Such longing breeds desperation and strained behavior. Some of the characters are longed for, some long after things, and in both cases, the end often comes with pain—beautifully written pain, but pain nonetheless. The discomfort beckoned by those vignettes is delicious. (Not in the schadenfreude way.) The odd behavior displayed as a result creates a delicious tension that drew me into those tales over and over.

If there is a missing part of this collection, and it’s tough to find one, but if it exists, it lies in the way many of the stories end or don’t end. The narratives start, build and maintain tension and flow consistently and without fail. The author drew me into the mini-worlds then left me on the shore, a few feet from the water. This eventuality is meaningless in the big-picture sense. My opinion is that a story is either compelling or not. A good ending only puts a bow atop the gift. The gift can exist without it. But some may argue this so that I will use it as an escape hatch. I am sure others will find flaws with this collection, which I will leave to them. I can now look forward to adding Te Ping Chen to my favorite author’s list and look forward to reading more of her work.

3.5 rounded up

A solid debut collection of short stories set in contemporary China. Chen's stories illustrate people adrift in their country and often faced with personal moral dilemmas which have arisen out of societal changes and their need to adapt to a rapidly changing environment. The last story - Gubeikou Spirit - is probably the story that stuck with me most, and is about how a group of commuters adapt after they are trapped in a train station for several months with no explanation. 

I think these stories will resonate most with those with a familiarity with Chinese society and politics, but I'd recommend this to anyone interested in well-written and thought-provoking speculative short fiction.

The book caught me completely by surprise. I usually don't go for this type of book, but I'm happy I was able to grab this one. This is a beautiful collection of stories. that reflects on the different and difficult aspects of the history and culture of China. 

The stories are well thought out, the characters feel so real and you are fully immersed in each story. The only issue I find is that some stories just cut off like there was no finality to them. It leaves you with an unfulfilled feeling. Overall, this story added another book genre I need to look into more. Very well done.

This book blew me away! I was unable to but it down. Perfect, dazzlingly, very well written. The details the author described throughout the book was so amazing. The  characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming  Truly Amazing and appreciated the whole story. This is going to be a must read for many many readers. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! No spoilers. Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming  Could not put down nor did I want to. Truly Amazing and appreciated the whole story. This is going to be a must read for many many readers. Maybe even a book club pick.

I liked this book. I would have liked it even more, had I actually been able to read it instead of just the first story. For some reason, that was all I got, the rest of the pages were blank, although I tried to redownload the book multiple times.
The part I was able to read, however, made me regret deeply that the rest of the book wasn't available either. 
While the story was great, I can only rate one star even though it breaks my heart to do so, but I can't know whether the other stories would have been as good as the first and the error I had with that book was very dissapointing.

I received a free ARC by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

I did not realize when picking up this title that it was going to be a collection of short stories, but I enjoyed it more than I even thought I would as a result. I have been making an effort to read outside of my comfort zone, especially from own voices writers, and this was a great glimpse into Chinese culture that I enjoyed reading. 

While short stories can tend to leave you wanting more from character development and backstory, these stories felt like they had layers of life woven that made me feel connected, even to a culture that was so different from my own.