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Chronicle of a Blood Merchant
Chronicle of a Blood Merchant | Yu Hua, Hua Yu
1 post | 6 read | 1 to read
One of the last decade's ten most influential books in China, this internationally acclaimed novel by one of the mainland's most important contemporary writers provides an unflinching portrait of life under Chairman Mao. A cart-pusher in a silk mill, Xu Sanguan augments his meager salary with regular visits to the local blood chief. His visits become lethally frequent as he struggles to provide for his wife and three sons at the height of the Cultural Revolution. Shattered to discover that his favorite son was actually born of a liaison between his wife and a neighbor, he suffers his greatest indignity, while his wife is publicly scorned as a prostitute. Although the poverty and betrayals of Mao's regime have drained him, Xu Sanguan ultimately finds strength in the blood ties of his family. With rare emotional intensity, grippingly raw descriptions of place and time, and clear-eyed compassion, Yu Hua gives us a stunning tapestry of human life in the grave particulars of one man's days.
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ErnestB
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Yu Hua forces us to know his characters; we like them, we root for them, we understand them. They persevere and persevere again and again. All of them accept who they are and make lemonade. Hardships, death, and estrangements happen but they merely delay,he doesn't let them become showstoppers. Yu is exemplary in developing families, villages, and relationships - he uses this ability to explore, power privilege and the lack of both.