This is the fourth or fifth time I’ve read Mark Salzman’s charming debut novel, and it’s still just as delightful as I remember it. The book recounts Salzman’s two years of teaching English in China in 1982-84, and it is one of the best and most honest of the “English teacher in Asia” type books I’ve seen, as well as being one of the best of the China Watcher genre (although the China it describes really no longer exists). It helps that Salzman speaks Chinese and has an abiding interest in the culture; he seems to have been game for pretty much anything, including punishing bouts of martial arts practice, calligraphy, cooking and what have you. Despite the light style of the writing, these interests enable Salzman to delve deeper into what goes on around him than most foreigners would, and saves the book from the limitations of, say, Learning to Bow.
Salzman isn’t a really well-known author, but he has written a number of books, and the ones I’ve read have been uniformly engaging and entertaining despite their widely divergent subject matter. He has an ability to relate – when you think about them – really incredible stories with a complete lack of pretentiousness and a good dollop of humor. At the same time, Salzman isn’t afraid to look more deeply into himself and others to find the more lasting lessons and aspects of the things he has experienced.
I find it hard to imagine a reader who wouldn’t enjoy Iron and Silk. If you’re looking for a new author, you can do much much worse than to try Mark Salzman.
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