Wuhan Diary: Dispatches from a Quarantined City

Wuhan Diary: Dispatches from a Quarantined City

by Fang Fang

Narrated by Emily Woo Zeller

Unabridged — 14 hours, 7 minutes

Wuhan Diary: Dispatches from a Quarantined City

Wuhan Diary: Dispatches from a Quarantined City

by Fang Fang

Narrated by Emily Woo Zeller

Unabridged — 14 hours, 7 minutes

Audiobook (Digital)

$31.99
FREE With a B&N Audiobooks Subscription | Cancel Anytime
$0.00

Free with a B&N Audiobooks Subscription | Cancel Anytime

START FREE TRIAL

Already Subscribed? 

Sign in to Your BN.com Account


Listen on the free Barnes & Noble NOOK app


Related collections and offers

FREE

with a B&N Audiobooks Subscription

Or Pay $31.99

Overview

From one of China's most acclaimed and decorated writers comes a powerful first-person account of life in Wuhan during the COVID-19 outbreak.

On January 25, 2020, after the central government imposed a lockdown in Wuhan, acclaimed Chinese writer Fang Fang began publishing an online diary. In the days and weeks that followed, Fang Fang's nightly postings gave voice to the fears, frustrations, anger, and hope of millions of her fellow citizens, reflecting on the psychological impact of forced isolation, the role of the internet as both community lifeline and source of misinformation, and most tragically, the lives of neighbors and friends taken by the deadly virus.*

A fascinating eyewitness account of events as they unfold,*Wuhan Diary*captures the challenges of daily life and the changing moods and emotions of being quarantined without reliable information. Fang Fang finds solace in small domestic comforts and is inspired by the courage of friends, health professionals and volunteers, as well as the resilience and perseverance of Wuhan's nine million residents. But, by claiming the writer´s duty to record she also speaks out against social injustice, abuse of power, and other problems which impeded the response to the epidemic and gets herself embroiled in online controversies because of it.

As Fang Fang documents the beginning of the global health crisis in real time, we are able to identify patterns and mistakes that many of the countries dealing with the novel coronavirus have later repeated. She reminds us that, in the face of the new virus, the plight of the citizens of Wuhan is also that of citizens everywhere. As Fang Fang writes: “The virus is the common enemy of humankind; that is a lesson for all humanity. The only way we can conquer this virus and free ourselves from its grip is for all members of humankind to work together.”*

Blending the intimate and the epic, the profound and the quotidian,*Wuhan Diary*is a remarkable record of an extraordinary time.*

Translated from the Chinese by Michael Berry


Editorial Reviews

JUNE 2020 - AudioFile

Emily Woo Zeller’s melodious voice, clear diction, and thoughtful pacing shape these dispatches from the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak. She emulates Fang Fang's tone whether she discusses daily life, takes officials to task for an insufficient response to the pandemic, or vigorously defends herself from the Internet trolls and ultra-leftists who attack her. Novelist Fang becomes the social conscience of China even as her daily posts on Weibo and then WeChat are taken down the next day. Wang’s entries speak truth to power. She lambastes the prominent doctor who said the virus was not contagious, unmasks civic ineptitude, and calls out the media for phoniness. Fang's message has been heard. Millions of her posts were read during the 76 days of quarantine. This audiobook presents a heroic writer. A.D.M. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

From the Publisher

This is an important and dignified book...[Wuhan Diary] is most scorching in Fang Fang’s calls to hold to account the leaders who downgraded and minimized the virus."  — New York Times

“The go-to unofficial account of events unfolding in Wuhan.” — Financial Times

“Voices like Fang Fang's...remain increasingly rare in China." — NPR

“[Wuhan Diary] is the personal account of a layperson reacting to confusing, conflicting, and distressing circumstances in real time. It is an emotional work that finds its charm in its spontaneity and wit.” — South China Morning Post

“[Wuhan Diary] remains a glimpse into a distressing future.” — The New Yorker

"Fang Fang’s account makes clear that as the geopolitical differences between the Chinese regime and the United States grow by the day, the lives of middle-class Chinese meanwhile seem ever less exotic and ever more similar to those of Americans." — Washington Post

"This is a book that will be referred to in the future when people want to know how many Chinese felt about the pandemic."    — Ian Johnson, author of The Souls of China and Wild Grass

"Imagine this: the author Fang Fang did not exist in today’s Wuhan. She did not keep records or pen down her personal memories and feelings... What would we have heard? What would we have seen?" — Yan Lianke, author of Three Brothers: Memoirs of My Family and The Explosion Chronicles

The New Yorker

[Wuhan Diary] remains a glimpse into a distressing future.

New York Times

This is an important and dignified book...[Wuhan Diary] is most scorching in Fang Fang’s calls to hold to account the leaders who downgraded and minimized the virus." 

South China Morning Post

[Wuhan Diary] is the personal account of a layperson reacting to confusing, conflicting, and distressing circumstances in real time. It is an emotional work that finds its charm in its spontaneity and wit.

Ian Johnson

"This is a book that will be referred to in the future when people want to know how many Chinese felt about the pandemic."   

NPR

Voices like Fang Fang's...remain increasingly rare in China."

Financial Times

The go-to unofficial account of events unfolding in Wuhan.

Yan Lianke

"Imagine this: the author Fang Fang did not exist in today’s Wuhan. She did not keep records or pen down her personal memories and feelings... What would we have heard? What would we have seen?"

Washington Post

"Fang Fang’s account makes clear that as the geopolitical differences between the Chinese regime and the United States grow by the day, the lives of middle-class Chinese meanwhile seem ever less exotic and ever more similar to those of Americans."

The New Yorker

[Wuhan Diary] remains a glimpse into a distressing future.

Washington Post

"Fang Fang’s account makes clear that as the geopolitical differences between the Chinese regime and the United States grow by the day, the lives of middle-class Chinese meanwhile seem ever less exotic and ever more similar to those of Americans."

Financial Times

The go-to unofficial account of events unfolding in Wuhan.

The Financial Times

[The] go-to unofficial account of events unfolding in Wuhan.

JUNE 2020 - AudioFile

Emily Woo Zeller’s melodious voice, clear diction, and thoughtful pacing shape these dispatches from the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak. She emulates Fang Fang's tone whether she discusses daily life, takes officials to task for an insufficient response to the pandemic, or vigorously defends herself from the Internet trolls and ultra-leftists who attack her. Novelist Fang becomes the social conscience of China even as her daily posts on Weibo and then WeChat are taken down the next day. Wang’s entries speak truth to power. She lambastes the prominent doctor who said the virus was not contagious, unmasks civic ineptitude, and calls out the media for phoniness. Fang's message has been heard. Millions of her posts were read during the 76 days of quarantine. This audiobook presents a heroic writer. A.D.M. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID: 2940177424750
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication date: 05/26/2020
Edition description: Unabridged
From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews