Author: Liao Yiwu
Translator: Wen Huang
Publisher: Anchor books (2008)
I am more than thrilled to be able to finally finish reading the book and write a book review about it.
The funny thing is, I wasn’t even planning on reading it before this. I didn’t know the existence of this book until I went to the annual international book fair at KLCC Convention Center during early June. In fact, I wasn’t looking for any book at that time when I visited the fair.
I randomly picked up this book from the piles while waiting for my friend who was looking at other things. I skimmed through the summary at the back of the book cover: interviews conducted by a wandering, independent journalist, 28 real life stories of normal people like you and me. Enough said. I was sold.
First thing first, this book is not for everyone. As a matter of fact, the content is intense and it can be rather negative if not received properly. It is for mature readers who are either curious about humanity or interested in seeing history from alternative perspectives. If you are reading this book merely to find evidences to support your political views or to find fault with the country’s policies, I am sorry to tell you this, but you are not ready for this book.
All the 28 interviewees in the book are people from the bottom class of the society. Some had bizarre occupations like transporting corpses by foot; while some of them are commoners who we see and deal with daily, such as the public restroom manager.
Leveraging on his personal experience, the journalist quickly engaged the interviewees and had them open up to him about their life stories. After listening to their experience, he reported on it calmly and truthfully, without any sugar-coating. To be honest, each and every one of those stories was so poignant and enticing by itself that no amount of fabrication would do them justice. The journalist was well-aware of this too, so he didn’t even bother to alter the language used by these bottom class peasants. Some might find the language in this book vulgar, but the rough language preserved the demeanor and temperament of those interviewees, who have been through lots of struggles and are still continuing to seek a better tomorrow.
As a newbie translator, I am amazed to find out that this is Wen Huang’s first attempt at translation. She did such a great job at making the content and language plain enough for native English speakers who know nothing about Chinese language or culture, yet she meticulously preserved the crude language, sarcasm, and dry humors of the interviewees.
This book highlights many social problems that we face, one of them being the high birth rate among the poor. One of the interviewees, the Migrant Worker Zhao Er, might not be educated, but he had the best words to address this issue since he was a “victim” of this problem.
“I have no luck with money at all. That’s my fate. But my dick is not willing to accept fate. That stuff down there is the only hard spot in my body. The more seeds I plant, the more likely it is that I can change my fate and fortune.”
I laughed out loud when I read these lines. Hey, don’t judge me too hard, okay? The description might be unrefined but it has a ring of truth to it.
There are so much more that I want to share about this book, but I think it’s best for you to explore it on your own first. I do have a hardcopy of this book. So…give me a text if you want to borrow it.
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