I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started reading Martha C. Franks’ Books Without Borders: Homer, Aeschylus, Galileo, Melville, and Madison Go to China. The book is Franks’ account of teaching the liberal arts to high-school students in Beijing from 2012 to 2014.
Guided on a cultural journey of Western literature through discussions and dialogues, we learn of the high-achieving Chinese students attending Franks’ classes. The interactions and reactions of the students to the literature taught in class are interesting, but I find the depth of their characterizations flat and in need of emotional development, which would help the reader feel more invested in the book.
The book, centred mainly around the classroom and the students, is a well-written personal narrative that flows with lyrical prose carrying Franks’ narrative. At other times, Franks goes on a tangent to put in context a memory to support the narrative of the book. Sometimes it works, but other times these tangents become distracting and unnecessary, and they occasionally made me ask how many more pages were left to the end of the book.
This brings me to the question of who is reading this book—who is her audience? I wasn’t quite sure if she is writing for her peers or for those who think the liberal arts aren’t as valuable as the maths and sciences.
It’s not that I didn’t like the book. It’s helpful in how it explains through each of the chapters the importance of the liberal arts to the students; each chapter focuses on a specific humanity to show how especially important it is to the educational system.
But it wasn’t enough.
When I first started reading Books without Borders I found myself wondering what was next. I wanted to know more about these students and why they think the way they do.
But as I kept reading, all I wanted to know was how long before I reached the end.