A review by emilyhan0906
Life and Death are Wearing Me Out by Mo Yan

5.0

Bizarre, unique, tragic modern Chinese history through one family. When I read the book I thought, these radical social movements back and forth cannot have all happened in one person’s lifetime. And I realize it is the same time period my grandparents would have lived through, and begin to appreciate how this part of history has shaped 奶奶 who shows zero interest in anything political, 爷爷 who follow contradictory ccp rhetorics with not a trace of cognitive dissonance, 外公 who has his own beliefs and is depressed and worried about being spied on. I also wonder, how has our first taste of absolutist alternative reality through the last three years of radical zero-covid movement shaped our generation?