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A review by proust_mobile
The Day the Sun Died by Yan Lianke
3.0
A curious and hypnotic novel that uses a mass sleepwalking event as a metaphor for ancient and hidden resentments, desires, and power fantasies coming to life. An interesting look at how family histories can calcify into condemnations and how people struggle to escape those generational fates.
The novel's odd use of repetition and its perfunctory and overabundant use of similes aims to give a hallucinatory feel to the prose, but it becomes grating and makes it easy to zone out if you're not careful. Its meandering plot, though intentional and thematically appropriate, also doesn't help.
Much more successful is the novel's bizarre internal logic and its mangling of time. It's dark humor is also handled well, and the way it coalesces into an explosive end is satisfying. Though occasionally frustrating, its odd uniqueness kept me engaged.
The novel's odd use of repetition and its perfunctory and overabundant use of similes aims to give a hallucinatory feel to the prose, but it becomes grating and makes it easy to zone out if you're not careful. Its meandering plot, though intentional and thematically appropriate, also doesn't help.
Much more successful is the novel's bizarre internal logic and its mangling of time. It's dark humor is also handled well, and the way it coalesces into an explosive end is satisfying. Though occasionally frustrating, its odd uniqueness kept me engaged.