Book set in China – Life by Lu Yao

Submitted: 20th June 2019

A book about Rural China in the 1980s

A book so tiny, it made me want to read it as it looked more like a diary. It read like one as well – for this is a personal account of a man called Gao Jialin, a stubborn, idealistic, and ambitious young man from a small country village whose life is ruined when corrupt local politics costs him his job as a schoolteacher, forcing him to move to the big city.

It’s all set against the vivid, gritty backdrop of 1980s China,and so is a bird’s eye view of rural China and its people as a whole….

BookTrail Travel to the locations in Life

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A good friend sent me this book as he knows I enjoy a good translated novel and I was so pleased he did. This was a tiny sized book which packed an enormous punch. It’s one of those which lingers after you’ve read it and you’re left with wanting to know more, not just about the book, but also the author.

My research told me that Lu Yao is one of the most celebrated, prominent Chinese writers of the twentieth century. He sadly died aged 42, but he wrote two books which have made such a mark on the literary world. He writes about the small villages and region of his youth and encapsulates their world so well with so few words, it’s quite remarkable. The translated version is exquisitely done.

This book has a story but it’s more of a literary experience than a novel. You float through the novel,watching the people, living their culture and their problems but also their joys. It’s a journey where you learn a lot about the culture and history of China without actually realising it. I really take my hat off to the translator that this read so easily and that the subjects were so accessible throughout.

It was heartbreaking to read about in places and to learn of the harsh political and economic climate of the 1980s. Add to that, the poverty, the weather, the harvests, the lack of education and the class struggle. Together, this makes the novel offer a unique view of that time from many angles.

It almost reads as if the author has written a diary. A personal account that I was privileged enough to read. He writes from the heart and you feel the gammet of emotions through his pen. A book to read slowly as each word counts.

I felt moved and very calm at the end. A reading experience I would heartily recommend to find out more from this Chinese author.