Book Review: Lost on Planet China by J. Maarten Troost

Title: Lost on Planet China: The Strange and True Story of One Man's Attempt to Understand the World's Most Mystifying Nation
Author: J. Maarten Troost
Enjoyment Rating: 7/10
Referral: Someone on one of the adoption boards told me about it
Source: Used copy from Amazon
Books I've read this year: 14

If you've been reading the blog over the last year, you know that I've been doing a LOT of reading about adoption and China. All told, I'd say I've probably read 10 books about China and 20 about adoption (with some overlap, to be sure). When I undertake anything significant in my life, the first thing I do to prepare is to read up on it.

Ed, on the other hand, reads to relax and to prepare for exams. Since there are no adoption exams (other than physical exams, which we've already passed), he hasn't done much any reading at all about China or adoption. I figure I've read enough for both of us and he never read What to Expect When You're Expecting either. But since he's the one up at night worrying about our trip, I thought it would be a good idea for him to read a little bit about what he might experience on our travels to Nanjing and Guangzhou. Enter Lost on Planet China. Judging from the fact that Troost's previous book was called The Sex Lives of Cannibals, I figured that Lost on Planet China was a book Ed might dig. It was sure to be entertaining, at least.

Lost on Planet China is entertaining. Troost leaves his wife and two young sons at home in California and takes off for six months on a tour through "the world's most mystifying nation." He doesn't just take a tram up the great wall and then retreat to the relative comforts of Shanghai or Hong Kong, nooooo, he goes to Inner Mongolia and Tibet. He eats everything (and doesn't seem to suffer any ill-effects). He stays in hotels that most foreign travelers wouldn't dream of spending the night in, and he learns to bargain like a pro.

While Lost on Planet China is thoroughly entertaining, after reading it I had a little bit more trepidation about our upcoming journey than I did when I was blissfully ignorant about what would greet us on the other side of the world. I knew about the smoking, the crazy driving, the spitting, and the "massages" but I didn't realize how living in China for an extended period of time would really change a person like it did Troost. Two weeks probably isn't long enough for it to happen. But I still haven't given the book to Ed to read. Maybe I'll hand it over when we're on the plane and it's too late to back out.