{"product_id":"twenty-fragments-of-a-ravenous-youth-a-novel-1","title":"Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth: A Novel","description":"From the author of the 2007 Orange Prize finalist A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers comes a wholly original and thoroughly captivating coming-of-age story that follows a bright  impassioned young woman as she rushes headlong into the maelstrom of a rapidly changing Beijing to chase her dreams.  Twenty-one year old Fenfang Wang has traveled one thousand eight hundred miles to seek her fortune in contemporary urban Beijing  and has no desire to return to the drudgery of the sweet potato fields back home. However  Fenfang is ill-prepared for what greets her: a Communist regime that has outworn its welcome  a city under rampant destruction and slap-dash development  and a sexist attitude seemingly more in keeping with her peasant upbringing than the countrys progressive capital. Yet Fenfang is determined to live a modern life. With courage and purpose  she forges ahead  and soon lands a job as a film extra. While playing roles like woman-walking-over-the bridge and waitress-wiping-a-table help her eke out a meager living  Fenfang comes under the spell of two unsuitable young men  keeps her cupboard stocked with UFO noodles  and after mastering the fever and tumult of the city  ultimately finds her true independence in the one place she never expected.  At once wry and moving  Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth gives us a clear-eyed glimpse into the precarious and fragile state of Chinas new identity and asserts Xiaolu Guo as her generations voice of modern China.","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44686241202229,"sku":"ByrdShop_0385525923","price":49.48,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/ByrdShop_0385525923_6f80a99f-0ddc-402c-9fce-5b9e2cd89214.jpg?v=1764992808","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/twenty-fragments-of-a-ravenous-youth-a-novel-1","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}