From the acclaimed author of "Brothers "and "To Live: " a major new novel that l
imns the joys and sorrows of modern China--a deeply resonant contemporary fable,
written with the author's hallmark sophisticated yet bawdy humor and piercing e
ye for the telling detail.
Yang Fei was born on a moving train, lost by his mo
ther, adopted by a young switchman, raised with simplicity and love--utterly unp
repared for the changes that await him and his country. As a young man, he searc
hes for a place to belong in a nation ceaselessly reinventing itself. At forty-o
ne, he meets an unceremonious death, and lacking the money for a burial plot, mu
st roam the afterworld aimlessly. There, over the course of seven days, he encou
nters the souls of people he's lost, and as he retraces the path of his life, we
meet an extraordinary cast of characters: his adoptive father, beautiful ex-wif
e, neighbors who perished in the demolition of their homes. Vivid, urgent, and p
anoramic, Yang Fei's passage movingly traces the contours of his vast nation--it
s absurdities, its sorrows, and its soul. This searing novel affirms Yu Hua's pl
ace as the standard-bearer of Chinese fiction.
