Book club discussion of Li's journey with China's Kazakh herders
From 6.30 pm until 7.30 pm
SPL book club meets on the fourth Monday of every month. 2022 is a yearlong exploration of recently published books by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color) women. Titles alternate between fiction and nonfiction. To join our Zoom discussions, register below.
Winter Pasture: One Woman's Journey with China's Kazakh Herders by Li Juan
Li Juan and her mother own a small convenience store in the Altai Mountains in Northwestern China, where she writes about her life among grasslands and snowy peaks. Encouraged by her neighbors, Li decides to join a family of Kazakh herders as they take their 30 boisterous camels, 500 sheep and over 100 cattle and horses to pasture for the winter. The so-called "winter pasture" occurs in a remote region that stretches from the Ulungur River to the Heavenly Mountains. Li vividly captures both the extraordinary hardships and the ordinary preoccupations of the day-to-day of the men and women struggling to get by in this desolate landscape. Her companions include Cuma, the often drunk but mostly responsible father; his teenage daughter, Kama, who feels the burden of the world on her shoulders and dreams of going to college; his reticent wife, a paragon of decorum against all odds, who is simply known as "sister-in-law."
In bringing this faraway world to English language readers here for the first time, Li creates an intimate bond with the rugged people, the remote places and the nomadic lifestyle.
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