Life by Lu Yao: book review

Life (2019) is set in rural China at the beginning of the 1980s.

Gao Sanxing is a teacher, ‘bestowing some dignity’ on the family, but his twenty-four year old brother Gao Jialin has a major decision to make when his job as a community teacher is terminated: stay in his rural village where life is familiar, and he can continue writing poetry, or move to the exciting city, an hour away, where life is unknown.

Gao Jialin contemplates what to do as he sells steamed buns. Liu Qiaozhen is glad Gao Jialin is a peasant again – she is in love with him. She does not want him to move to the city.

In Part Two, Gao Jialin rejects rural life, but he is confronted by a thunderstorm and flooding when he enters the city. Homes are destroyed and people have nowhere to go. This is not a good start. However, he takes the hardship and transforms it into an opportunity: ‘He knew that he had followed a rainbow, but he had preferred to see it as a bridge.’

In the city he meets Huang Yaping, a woman with ‘modern’ ideas. His sudden appearance had ‘turned her peaceful world upside down’ – she is in love with him. She does not want him to return to the country.

Now what was he to do. He had a choice of two locations, two loves, and two lives.

Liu Qiaozhen joins Sanxing on his tractor, for he is now in the agricultural machinery bureau, and they travel together to the city to surprise Gao Jialin. Jialin’s two lives clash.

This novel is a delightful story about the struggle between family ties, parental expectations, professional goals, romantic loves, and personal fulfilment. The writing is sparse but evocative, revealing Jialin’s personal journey, both physically and emotionally, against the backdrop of a nation undergoing its own transformations.

MARTINA NICOLLSis an international aid and development consultant, and the authorof:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom(2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

Comments

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. ...

Sister cities discussed: Canberra and Islamabad

Two months ago, in March 2015, Australia and Pakistan agreed to explore ways to deepen ties. The relationship between Australia and Pakistan has been strong for decades, and the two countries continue to keep dialogues open. The annual bilateral discussions were held in Australia in March to continue engagements on a wide range of matters of mutual interest. The Pakistan delegation discussed points of interest will include sports, agriculture, economic growth, trade, border protection, business, and education. The possible twinning of the cities of Canberra, the capital of Australia, and Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, were also on the agenda (i.e. called twin towns or sister cities). Sister City relationships are twinning arrangements that build friendships as well as government, business, culture, and community linkages. Canberra currently has international Sister City relationships with Beijing in China and Nara in Japan. One example of existing...

The acacia thorn trees of Kenya

There are nearly 800 species of acacia trees in the world, and most don’t have thorns. The famous "whistling thorn tree" and the Umbrella Thorn tree of Kenya are species of acacia that do have thorns, or spines. Giraffes and other herbivores normally eat thorny acacia foliage, but leave the whistling thorn alone. Usually spines are no deterrent to giraffes. Their long tongues are adapted to strip the leaves from the branches despite the thorns. The thorny acacia like dry and hot conditions. The thorns typically occur in pairs and are 5-8 centimetres (2-3 inches) long. Spines can be straight or curved depending on the species. MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Suda...

FEAST OR FAMINE

Search This Blog