x dismiss this message
Did you know you can edit this page?
-
Sign Into Shelfari
-
Choose something to edit
-
Save your contributions
see page history
Description edit
A legend in China, where it won the major literary awards and inspired an Oscar-nominated film, this is a novel of family, myth, and memory, set during the fratricidal barbarity of the 1930s, when the Chinese battled both Japanese invaders and each other.
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Characters/People edit
- Yu Zhan'au: The narrator's grandfather and main protagonist of the novel; leader of a group of resistance fighters at the beginning of the novel.
- Douguan: Father of the narrator and son of Yu, much of the story is seen from his perspective accompanying his father.
- Grandma (Dai Fenglian): The narrator's grandmother, wife of Yu Zhan'au.
- Uncle Arhat: The manager of the Shan family distillery, later owned by Yu and Grandma.
- Beauty: Usually referred to as Mother, the narrator's mother and wife of Douguan.
- Second Grandma: Passion, Yu Zhang'au's second wife.
- Great-granddad: The father of Grandma.
- Magistrate Nine Dreams Cao: The local representative of the Nationalist central government.
- Pocky Leng: Leader of a Resistance group, rival to Yu's.
- Bugler Liu: A soldier in the Resistance who blows a bugle to annoy the Japanese.
- Wang Wenyi: A soldier in Yu's group.
- Wang Guang: A surviving villager who joins up with Yu after the massacre at the village.
- Little Foot Jiang: Leader of another rival Resistance group.
- Shan Tingxiu: The father of Grandma's first husband.
- Dezhi: A surviving villager who joins up with Yu after the massacre at the village.
- Shan Bianlang: Grandma's first husband.
- Mute: A soldier in Yu's group.
- Old Geng: An old hunter from the village.
- Dr. Zhang: A physician in the region who treats various characters.
- Pocky Cheng: A villager who later joins one of the Resistance groups.
- Guo Yang: A surviving villager who joins up with Yu after the massacre at the village.
- Great-grandma: Grandma's mother.
- Wu: A night watchman.
Setting & Locations edit
First Sentence edit
THE NINTH DAY of the eighth lunar month, 1939.
First Edition edit
Original Language: Mandarin Chinese
Publisher: Viking
Country: USA
Publication Date: 1993
ISBN: 0670844020
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Viking
Country: USA
Publication Date: 1993
ISBN: 0670844020
Page Count: 368
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
- Dewey: 895.1352
Subjects edit
We’re hiding the errata, movie connections, books that influenced this book, books influenced by this book, books that cite this book and books cited by this book sections. If you would like to add content to them, you must first make them visible.
