The New York Times: In ‘The Dog,’ Jack Livings '96 Writes of a Modernizing China
In The Dog, Jack Livings '96 writes of a modernizing China.
"Mr. Livings—an editor at Time Inc., who taught English in China and studied there as an undergraduate—writes less as an outsider, observing the exotic customs and traditions of a foreign land, than as a sort of Chekhovian observer, attuned to the absurdities and ironies of his characters' lives; their entrapment by family, tradition, party politics and government bureaucracy; and their struggles to clear for themselves some small measure of personal space and freedom. Together, his tales open a prismatic window on China, showing us how part of the country is rushing to embrace the 21st century, even as its history continues to exert a magnetic hold over people's thinking and expectations," writes reviewer Michiko Kakutani.
"With The Dog, Mr. Livings has made an incisive-and highly impressive-debut."
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The Dog is also a fall 2014 selection of the Discover Great New Writers Program at Barnes & Noble.
- Visit Jack Livings' web site at http://jacklivings.com