20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth is a coming-of-age tale told in 20 brief vignettes. Fenfang grew up in rural China, in a small village dominated by sweet potato fields. Determined to escape the monotony of home, she moves to Beijing in an attempt to break into the film industry. One dead-end job leads to another, with a distinct feeling of ennui that I'm sure many people who have worked in similar jobs will relate to. Fenfang is restless yet not exactly ambitious. She makes half-hearted attempts at writing her own screenplays when she tires of only being cast in minor roles. When she finally does write something she's happy with, she discovers it's far from what the producers of Beijing are after. Thinking she'd left that sort of backward thinking behind in the countryside, she soon realises that sexism is as rampant in Beijing as it is back home, and women writing scripts is practically unheard of. 

Guo gives us brief flashes of life in China, but these brief flashes do come together to form a more comprehensive picture. She explores the disparity between those from the countryside and those from big cities, the rift seeming as large as if they were from completely different countries. As well as work, we're also privy to Fenfang's love life which is, to be frank, a mess. She goes back and forth between an abusive Chinese boyfriend and an oblivious American boyfriend, realising yet not realising that neither are the right choice for her. I think fans of similarly messy books like Normal People and Luster (which isn't out here yet but from what I've heard, Edie is very messy) will enjoy this too, while those who grow frustrated with characters continuously making bad decisions won't find much joy here. Thankfully I'm the former, and sympathised with Fenfang's plight.

I actually didn't realise that this book had been translated until the afterword. There was no mention of translators on the title page, and I only found them after scouring the tiny text about publishing houses etc. at the front. Guo originally wrote this book in Chinese, but when she came to translate it with her translators 10 years later, she realised she wasn't happy with the original text. They also had to wrestle with Fenfang's 'slangy Chinese' to transform that into English. So Guo worked together with her translators, Rebecca Morris and Pamela Casey, rewriting and translating. It makes me feel like I'm missing out a bit on the original text, I'm definitely curious, but Guo said that although she still wanted Fenfang to be desperate, she also wanted her to be more of an adult. So it seems like Fenfang was an even more lost, immature soul than she is now, which could have bordered on frustrating even for me, a person who loves protagonists steeped in ennui.

Overall it's a very interesting little book, touching on themes of conformity in China as well as Fenfang's individual coming-of-age story. I'd recommend it to those who enjoy a quieter novel.