Scan barcode
gingey's review against another edition
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
tasmanian_bibliophile's review against another edition
4.0
‘In the year of the great drought, time was baked to ash; and if you tried to grab the sun, it would stick to your palm like charcoal.’
An old man and a blind dog trying to survive in a terrible drought in rural China. The old man didn’t leave when the other villagers left:
‘I’m seventy-two years old, and would surely die of exhaustion if I tried to walk for three days. If I’m going to die either way, I’d prefer to die in my own village.’
The Elder and the dog he calls Blindy set out to survive. A corn seed has germinated, and the Elder tries to nurture it. His hope is to harvest corn seed for the future, when people return to the village. He and Blindy work together: The Elder bringing water to the seedling, Blindy guarding it from the rats that want to eat it. The two of them, when the other food runs out and they’ve recovered all the corn seeds from the rats nests, kill and eat the rats.
‘The Elder said, You can starve the sky and you can starve the earth, but you certainly can’t starve this old man .’
The Elder must walk further to find water when the well runs dry. He has a terrifying encounter with wolves which he survives. He keeps bringing back the water, but it takes longer as he grows weaker. He has weighed the rays of the sun, to work out the arithmetic of starvation and survival. He concludes that the only way that the seedling can survive is if either he or the dog becomes fertiliser for it.
The Elder tosses a coin. He loses the toss. He lies in the grave he has dug and asks the dog to bury him.
‘In the end, the only people left were seven men from seven of the village’s households.’
I was led to this novella by Lisa at ANZ LitLovers Lit Blog (https://anzlitlovers.com/2020/05/20/the-years-months-days-by-yan-lianke-translated-by-carlos-rojas/) and highly recommend it. I remember reading about the disastrous impact of The Great Leap Forward when millions of Chinese starved to death in The Great Famine.
This fable unfolds over ninety-seven pages. It is both powerful and unforgettable: the relentless drought; the desperation for food and water; and The Elder’s determination to try to grow the seedling, to secure corn seed for a future he knows he will not be part of.
And now I need to seek out more of Yan Lianke’s work.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
An old man and a blind dog trying to survive in a terrible drought in rural China. The old man didn’t leave when the other villagers left:
‘I’m seventy-two years old, and would surely die of exhaustion if I tried to walk for three days. If I’m going to die either way, I’d prefer to die in my own village.’
The Elder and the dog he calls Blindy set out to survive. A corn seed has germinated, and the Elder tries to nurture it. His hope is to harvest corn seed for the future, when people return to the village. He and Blindy work together: The Elder bringing water to the seedling, Blindy guarding it from the rats that want to eat it. The two of them, when the other food runs out and they’ve recovered all the corn seeds from the rats nests, kill and eat the rats.
‘The Elder said, You can starve the sky and you can starve the earth, but you certainly can’t starve this old man .’
The Elder must walk further to find water when the well runs dry. He has a terrifying encounter with wolves which he survives. He keeps bringing back the water, but it takes longer as he grows weaker. He has weighed the rays of the sun, to work out the arithmetic of starvation and survival. He concludes that the only way that the seedling can survive is if either he or the dog becomes fertiliser for it.
The Elder tosses a coin. He loses the toss. He lies in the grave he has dug and asks the dog to bury him.
‘In the end, the only people left were seven men from seven of the village’s households.’
I was led to this novella by Lisa at ANZ LitLovers Lit Blog (https://anzlitlovers.com/2020/05/20/the-years-months-days-by-yan-lianke-translated-by-carlos-rojas/) and highly recommend it. I remember reading about the disastrous impact of The Great Leap Forward when millions of Chinese starved to death in The Great Famine.
This fable unfolds over ninety-seven pages. It is both powerful and unforgettable: the relentless drought; the desperation for food and water; and The Elder’s determination to try to grow the seedling, to secure corn seed for a future he knows he will not be part of.
And now I need to seek out more of Yan Lianke’s work.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
merixien's review against another edition
4.0
Günler, Aylar ve Yıllar kısa bir okuma okacağını sanıp, çarpıldığım kitaplardan birisi. Çünkü Yan Lianke 100 sayfalık ve oldukça sade bir dil kullandığı bu metinden adeta bir halk destanı tadında çok güçlü bir anlatı yaratmış.
Hem insanın hem de doğanım hayatta kalma çabasını; kuraklık yüzünden bütün sakinlerinin terk ettiği bir köyde, bir mısır fidesine umutla tutunan bir ihtiyarla, kör bir köpek üzerinden anlatıyor. Çin’in tarihine ve kodlarına işlemiş olan açlık, kıtlık ve yokluk kavramlarını resmen zihninize işleyen bir dil ile anlatıyor. Öyle ki çevirdiğiniz her sayfada güneşin inatçı yakıcılığını ve toprağın kırılmasını, yanık kokusunu duyuyorsunuz adeta o coğrafyayı yaşıyorsunuz. Bu kadar gerçek ve okurunu içine alan anlatıda Yan Lianke’nin anlattıklarını dilimize pürüzsüz, hiç bir aksaklık yaşamadan aksine kendi dilinizde yazılmış bir metni okuyor gibi hissetmenize sebep olan çevirisi ile Erdem Kurtuldu’nun hakkını da teslim etmemiz gerekiyor bence.
Çin edebiyatında anlatılan açlık ve kıtlık hikayeleri, batılı okura zaman zaman mübalağa gibi gelse de, günümüzde bile ülkenin iç kısımlarına ilerlediğinizde hala Yan Lianke’nin, Mon Yan’ın ya da Yu Hua’nın anlattıkları sıkıntılar aynı şekilde yaşanıyor maalesef. Bunu biliyor olmak bu kitapları okumayı daha da zorlaştırıyor, arada durup-mola verip, bir nefes almadan yolunuza devam edemiyorsunuz.
Hem insanın hem de doğanım hayatta kalma çabasını; kuraklık yüzünden bütün sakinlerinin terk ettiği bir köyde, bir mısır fidesine umutla tutunan bir ihtiyarla, kör bir köpek üzerinden anlatıyor. Çin’in tarihine ve kodlarına işlemiş olan açlık, kıtlık ve yokluk kavramlarını resmen zihninize işleyen bir dil ile anlatıyor. Öyle ki çevirdiğiniz her sayfada güneşin inatçı yakıcılığını ve toprağın kırılmasını, yanık kokusunu duyuyorsunuz adeta o coğrafyayı yaşıyorsunuz. Bu kadar gerçek ve okurunu içine alan anlatıda Yan Lianke’nin anlattıklarını dilimize pürüzsüz, hiç bir aksaklık yaşamadan aksine kendi dilinizde yazılmış bir metni okuyor gibi hissetmenize sebep olan çevirisi ile Erdem Kurtuldu’nun hakkını da teslim etmemiz gerekiyor bence.
Çin edebiyatında anlatılan açlık ve kıtlık hikayeleri, batılı okura zaman zaman mübalağa gibi gelse de, günümüzde bile ülkenin iç kısımlarına ilerlediğinizde hala Yan Lianke’nin, Mon Yan’ın ya da Yu Hua’nın anlattıkları sıkıntılar aynı şekilde yaşanıyor maalesef. Bunu biliyor olmak bu kitapları okumayı daha da zorlaştırıyor, arada durup-mola verip, bir nefes almadan yolunuza devam edemiyorsunuz.
chloweep's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
nghia's review
4.0
Yan Lianke is the most noted (and most controversial) of China's modern writers, with two of his books being banned in China. He was born to poor, illiterate farmers and it is clear that is where his heart still is. This book collects two of his novellas. Though the novellas has no connection to one another it is clear why they've been published together in English. They both take place in poor, remote farming villages. And both tackle the theme of the sacrifices elderly people make for the next generation.
Think how rare it is for any book or movie to feature someone so old in the starring role. In "The Years, Months, Days" the nameless Elder is 72-years old. In "Marrow" Fourth Wife You is in her early 50s.
In "The Years, Months, Days", the entire village has been abandoned as a drought has stretched on. Only The Elder remains, too old to travel, along with his only companion a blind dog. In all the parched fields, only a single seedling of corn struggles to stay alive. The Elder has decided, no matter the cost, he will keep the seedling alive so that, one day, when the rest of the village returns, they will have a few grains of corn to plant for new crops.
Lianke is noted for his strange metaphors. They somehow seem appropriate until you reread them and realize...you don't quite know what they mean:
There's also a kind of magical realism thing going on. The Elder talks to the dog (who seems to understand him and answer), whips the sun, weighs the sunlight, and more. Eventually this strange humor turns increasingly grim. He is, after all, all alone in a land stricken by drought. The village well runs dry. There is no food to be found. But he has vowed that the corn seedling will survive, no matter what it takes.
The second novella, "Marrow", is missing the strange metaphors and dark levity of "The Years, Months, Days". Here we have the story of Fourth Wife You, whose husband committed suicide 20 years previously leaving her alone to raise their four children. All four of them have severe mental disabilities and his guilt that it was his family's genetics that caused it led him to take his own life.
This is a fairly harrowing story of the lengths a parent will go to in order to try to ensure a good life for their children. She has managed to marry off two daughters, though neither marriage is especially happy. But her youngest daughter (28-years old) and son (20-years old) are still unmarried.
It is hard not to find Fourth Wife You's fierceness for her children admirable. At first she has difficulty finding suitable husbands. Her neighbors warn off all the possible candidates until Fourth Wife You lays down the law:
And just "The Years, Months, Days" took a darker turn as the Elder fought to protect the seedling corn, "Marrow" also takes a dark turn as Fourth Wife You tries to ensure her four broken children are provided for after she's no longer there.
Think how rare it is for any book or movie to feature someone so old in the starring role. In "The Years, Months, Days" the nameless Elder is 72-years old. In "Marrow" Fourth Wife You is in her early 50s.
“I’m seventy-two years old, and would surely die of exhaustion if I tried to walk for three days. If I’m going to die either way, I’d prefer to die in my own village.”
In "The Years, Months, Days", the entire village has been abandoned as a drought has stretched on. Only The Elder remains, too old to travel, along with his only companion a blind dog. In all the parched fields, only a single seedling of corn struggles to stay alive. The Elder has decided, no matter the cost, he will keep the seedling alive so that, one day, when the rest of the village returns, they will have a few grains of corn to plant for new crops.
Lianke is noted for his strange metaphors. They somehow seem appropriate until you reread them and realize...you don't quite know what they mean:
Throughout the entire mountain range, they heard these smells clanking together
There's also a kind of magical realism thing going on. The Elder talks to the dog (who seems to understand him and answer), whips the sun, weighs the sunlight, and more. Eventually this strange humor turns increasingly grim. He is, after all, all alone in a land stricken by drought. The village well runs dry. There is no food to be found. But he has vowed that the corn seedling will survive, no matter what it takes.
The second novella, "Marrow", is missing the strange metaphors and dark levity of "The Years, Months, Days". Here we have the story of Fourth Wife You, whose husband committed suicide 20 years previously leaving her alone to raise their four children. All four of them have severe mental disabilities and his guilt that it was his family's genetics that caused it led him to take his own life.
After her husband died, the light vanished from Fourth Wife You’s life. When she was working in the fields there was no one to bring her shovels and sickles, and when she was resting there was no one to chat with.
This is a fairly harrowing story of the lengths a parent will go to in order to try to ensure a good life for their children. She has managed to marry off two daughters, though neither marriage is especially happy. But her youngest daughter (28-years old) and son (20-years old) are still unmarried.
It is hard not to find Fourth Wife You's fierceness for her children admirable. At first she has difficulty finding suitable husbands. Her neighbors warn off all the possible candidates until Fourth Wife You lays down the law:
“Hey … I want everyone to listen carefully … I’ll fuck your ancestors, I’ll dig up their graves. You’re trying to keep my two elder daughters from finding husbands. You told everyone that my family is full of idiots, but when did this family of idiots ever keep you from screwing around, or keep your elders from kicking the bucket? Now, everyone listen to me … from this point onward, my children will marry whomever they choose, and whoever says otherwise will get sores in their mouths, run pus from their gums, get cancer of the throat, and after they die their graves will be dug up by grave robbers and their bones will be left out to be devoured by wild animals!”
And just "The Years, Months, Days" took a darker turn as the Elder fought to protect the seedling corn, "Marrow" also takes a dark turn as Fourth Wife You tries to ensure her four broken children are provided for after she's no longer there.
peiman198913's review against another edition
4.0
خیلی باید توانا باشی تا از چنین موضوع ساده ای یک شبه حماسه خلق کنی. روایت جدال انسان یا طبیعت برای بقا و در موازاتش داستان جالب رابطه ی یک پیرمرد با سگش و گیاهی که کاشته... دلم میخواست آخرش یه طور دیگه تموم شه