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Brothers

by Yu Hua, Eileen Cheng-yin Chow (Translator ), Carlos Rojas (Translator )

3.94 of 5 stars 3.94 · rating details · 591 ratings · 120 reviews

A bestseller in China, recently short-listed for the Man Asian Literary Prize, and a winner of France’s Prix Courrier International, Brothers is an epic and wildly unhinged black comedy of modern Chinese society running amok.

Here is China as we’ve never seen it, in a sweeping, Rabelaisian panorama of forty years of rough-and-rumble Chinese history that has already scandali...more

Hardcover, 656 pages

Published January 27th 2009 by Pantheon (first published 2005)

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May 25, 2009 Seth Hahne rated it 4 of 5 stars

To begin with, a poorly-devised haiku review:

Yu's roller coaster
Is careless with emotions.
Like a bad girlfriend
________________

I'm not really sure what to make of Brothers. I liked it, that much is certain.

The story is expansive and the characters indelible. The insight into the development of Chinese culture over the last four decades was enlightening. The episodes related were heartfelt, both funny and tragic. And sometimes even both simultaneously. I was involved for the book's entirety (wh...more To begin with, a poorly-devised haiku review:

Yu's roller coaster
Is careless with emotions.
Like a bad girlfriend
________________

I'm not really sure what to make of Brothers. I liked it, that much is certain.

The story is expansive and the characters indelible. The insight into the development of Chinese culture over the last four decades was enlightening. The episodes related were heartfelt, both funny and tragic. And sometimes even both simultaneously. I was involved for the book's entirety (which was not insubstantial).

The problem, I guess, is twofold: 1) I can't tell if the writing was simplistic and somewhat stilted by design or by translation; and 2) the extremism of Yu's emotional roller coaster reminds one of the formulaic approach of self-important tear-jerkers that mob the cineplex every Fall.

So far as the writing goes, it was more a curiosity than a bother. If the style was due to translator inadequacy, then I suppose I should feel a little ripped off (not getting anything close to the full expression of the author's intended work), but if the style was the author's choice and the translators indeed faithfully transmitted Yu's text into the book I read, then I find the choice fascinating. If the text was truly intended to be as simplistic as it was, then perhaps the semantic and grammatical choices fit the story. Liu Town, where the principal action occurs is certainly provincial and a place in which education is of the smallest of concerns. It then makes a kind of sense that the narrative should echo the voice of the story's inhabitants.

Emotionally, Brothers may be one of the saddest funny books I've ever read. I laughed a lot—mostly due to the ridiculousness of the town's many inhabitants and most especially because of the proclamations of the principal brother, Baldy Li. Still, the story carries more than its share of tragedies. And these aren't just garden-variety tragedies either. Brothers can be brutal as it destroys lives without tact or conscience. Perhaps this too is a reflection of the world in which our the brothers dwell, an echo of the terror—both loud and quiet—that the last half-century of China's history and culture have wrought in the lives of its citizens. In any case, I don't know if I've ever felt more mournful while reading a novel. Which of course makes me suspect it.

Brothers develops alongside the lives of two step-brothers (or more properly, brothers) from about 1960 onward. These brothers weather the terrible years of the Cultural Revolution and the mortal fear Chairman Mao's movement instilled in the nation. They struggle through the years following and look for opportunities in the more capitalistic China that would grow out of the revolutionary era. Their differing temperaments and philosophies of life offer breadth to the tale, allowing readers to more completely apprehend China and its culture.

Yu focuses much of his effort exploring the depths of human folly and the sewer stain of humanity's soul, only occasionally revealing the purity of true love and camaraderie throughout. And of course those moments shine all the more brightly due their depraved surroundings. I don't know exactly what Yu thinks of the human being, but I suspect that he doesn't think much of it—though he seems willing to be surprised by its moments of joy and beauty.(less)

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Feb 23, 2013 Katia added it

Il m'a fallut du temps pour pondre ce billet, du temps pour repenser à ce roman et prendre du recul. Voilà un roman qui marque, je m'aperçois que j'y repense encore, alors que je l'ai terminé il y a plusieurs jours. Ce roman n'est pas anodin, il est d'abord très bien écrit, l'auteur nous ouvre une bulle dans le passé dont on a du mal à ressortir, et puis les personnages sont réels, ou presque. Les deux frères, qui sont en fait les deux destins de ce roman, ont une telle densité qu'on pourrait le...more

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Jul 15, 2012 Franziska rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: china, brother, love, family, cultural-revolution

Glatzkopf-Li und Song Gang haben es von Anfang an nicht leicht - beide wachsen (zunächst in getrennten Familien) in ärmlichen Verhältnissen in der kleinen Stadt Liuzhen auf. Als jeweils ein Elternteil von ihnen stirbt, findet sich wundersamerweise eine neue glückliche Familie zusammen: Glatzkopf Li und seine Mutter, sowie Song Gang und sein Vater. Doch das Glück ist nach kurzer Zeit bedroht, als in der Stadt die Kulturrevolution ausbricht.
Schon in ihrer Jugend stehen die beiden Brüder schließlic...more Glatzkopf-Li und Song Gang haben es von Anfang an nicht leicht - beide wachsen (zunächst in getrennten Familien) in ärmlichen Verhältnissen in der kleinen Stadt Liuzhen auf. Als jeweils ein Elternteil von ihnen stirbt, findet sich wundersamerweise eine neue glückliche Familie zusammen: Glatzkopf Li und seine Mutter, sowie Song Gang und sein Vater. Doch das Glück ist nach kurzer Zeit bedroht, als in der Stadt die Kulturrevolution ausbricht.
Schon in ihrer Jugend stehen die beiden Brüder schließlich als Waisen da und schwören sich für immer zusammen zu halten - komme, was wolle. Denn so unterschiedlich sie auch sind, verstehen sie sich doch prächtig. Bis sie sich eines Tages über der Liebe entzweien - beide haben sich in die Stadtschönheit Lin Hong verliebt. Und während Glatzkopf-Li zunächst noch selbstbewusst daran glaubt, dass Lin ihn liebt, und diese mit seinen Liebesbekundungen regelrecht bombardiert, hat sich Lin im Stillen in den schüchternen Song Gang verliebt... Dieser kann sein Glück zunächst gar nicht glauben, möchte die Liebe sogar seinem Bruder zuliebe aufgeben - bis sogar ihm schließlich eines Tages der Kragen platzt.
So umfangreich wie das Buch ist (immer knapp 770 Seiten), kann man sich vorstellen, dass der Inhalt nur schwer zusammenfassbar ist, zumal ich ja nicht schon alles verraten möchte. Man erfährt jedenfalls das gesamte Freud und Leid, dass die beiden Brüder erfahren müssen - ob nun getrennt oder zusammen. Insgesamt ist es auf jeden Fall sehr emotional geschrieben, an einigen Stellen hätte ich mir fast gewünscht, dass manche Details nicht so genau beschrieben wären (wenn wiedermal jemand brutal zu Tode geschlagen wird). Teilweise habe ich mich auch gefragt, inwiefern das Buch wirklich realistisch das Leben in China beschreibt - ob beispielsweise damals Gewalt wirklich so greifbar und üblich war, wie es in dem Buch zumindest in den Jugendjahren der beiden Brüder beschrieben wird. Aber leider kann man dies ja schlecht nachprüfen.
Ansonsten ist das Buch aber gut geschrieben und regt zum Mitfiebern mit den beiden Hauptpersonen an - das Auf und Ab zweier gegensätzlicher und doch unzertrennlicher Brüder.(less)

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Jul 10, 2011 Melissa rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: the-struggle

Though it is the longest book I have read in a long time (641 pages), this book went by relatively quickly. It is plot-driven and easy to read, but those are not things I necessarily appreciate in books. The novel starts off well. The brothers' childhoods consist of extreme ups and downs, and their bond as well as the horror of the Chinese Cultural Revolution is extremely believable. Other characters are likewise interesting and layered. During the first two hundred pages or so, I felt deeply in...more

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Dec 05, 2010 Craig rated it 4 of 5 stars

A delightfully bawdy read. I'm not sure how much Brothers teaches about contemporary Chinese history other than it's still in the midst of a massive, nearly out-of-control transformation where the progress made equals that still anticipated--but that's pretty evident to anyone with a CNN ticker-bar awareness of recent Chinese history. Potential readers hoping for deeper insight than this are browsing the wrong title.

Brother's achieves some success in putting a face on the people driving the Chin...more

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Nov 01, 2010 Stephen rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I wanted to like this book both because I admire several of Yu Hua's previous novels and because a book this large requires a considerable investment in time. While "Brothers" contains some sections of great humor and others of heart-wrenching tragedy, much of it is like a bande dessinée without pictures: flat, cartoon-like characters of extreme, unbelievable behavior. Moreover, I found the obsession with virginity, hymen-reconstruction surgery, and breast and penis enhancement, well, a bit tire...more

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Feb 21, 2010 Mike rated it 4 of 5 stars

I seem to be immersed (ahem) in a sort of fecal attraction of late. Some strange synchronicity has led me to a small eructation of Body narratives: teaching and re-reading (with enormous pleasure) Katherine Dunn's Geek Love , with its carny carnality, its freak-show delight in the grotesqueries of human bodies, desires, behavior; watching with strange nervous delight as director Nicholas Refn and star Tom Hardy pull off the high-wire-balance of anarchy and aesthetics, of a brutal Punch-and-Judy-...more I seem to be immersed (ahem) in a sort of fecal attraction of late. Some strange synchronicity has led me to a small eructation of Body narratives: teaching and re-reading (with enormous pleasure) Katherine Dunn's Geek Love , with its carny carnality, its freak-show delight in the grotesqueries of human bodies, desires, behavior; watching with strange nervous delight as director Nicholas Refn and star Tom Hardy pull off the high-wire-balance of anarchy and aesthetics, of a brutal Punch-and-Judy-meet-the-Krays commedia dell'arte in Bronson ; watching with queasy wonder as Steve McQueen doesn't just envision but embodies (without romanticizing) the violent politics of the Troubles, Bobby Sands, dirty protests, IRA assassinations in Hunger . And now this novel.

Bodies. Naked, fucking, shitting, dying, bleeding, eating, beating, dwindling, needing, farting, belching. The big-C Comic physicality of self and body politics. This is my kind of politics and my kind of aesthetics: materialist, tonally complex, derisive of Transcendent truths. (Dare I say?: Human.)

Yu's novel Brothers is the carnival history of twentieth-century China, told via the story of two boys and one small town. Carnival not in the sense of whooping silly fun, but in the grand tradition of Mikhail Bakhtin's vision: all of life, horrid then hysterical, cultural blurred into individual and back again, Penal and penile, terribly terribly Serious Comedy. Or comic sobriety.

The first half begins with buttpeeper Baldy Li, yanked out of the outhouse where he spies on the town's maidens, innocently repeating his own father's behavior but avoiding dad's untimely demise (startled in the act, he falls into the muck, and drowns). Baldy Li, on the other hand, prospers. The book quickly shifts earlier in time, and the first 200-some pages follow his engagement with eventual step-brother Song Gang, his mother and stepfather's joyous romance, and the hysteria of the Cultural Revolution. The first part is wildly funny, then horrifying, then horrifyingly funny, then wildly sad, sweepingly Melodramatically Weepy, always prone to fart jokes and penis chatter, lots of slurping of noodles, lots of blood spilled. It is beautiful, and transporting--like the best serious comic art.

Part two is more picaresque, shifts from the tight time-frame following the boys in a specific locale and a specific historical period to a more sweeping, episodic rush through the rest of the 20th-c. It is often funny, and often sharp and challenging, and often repetitive, and rarely as moving or dazzling or horrifying as Part One. So my love faded, 'though I still liked the novel.

But I recommend this very, very highly--Part One is superb, and the rest fades primarily in comparison. A five-star novel and a three-star novel.

(less)

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May 18, 2009 Margot rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: international, translation, fiction

There are bodily fluids and bodily functions galore in this earthy tome of brotherly love, affection and betrayal. Baldi Li and Song Gang are step-brothers, but vow to stick together through any adversity when they are orphaned by the Cultural Revolution and shame brought to their parents. Of course, the town beauty Lin Hong tears the brothers apart, by choosing the one who is not initially interested in her over the one who is pursuing her madly. The resulting pain and sorrow and vengeance is t...more There are bodily fluids and bodily functions galore in this earthy tome of brotherly love, affection and betrayal. Baldi Li and Song Gang are step-brothers, but vow to stick together through any adversity when they are orphaned by the Cultural Revolution and shame brought to their parents. Of course, the town beauty Lin Hong tears the brothers apart, by choosing the one who is not initially interested in her over the one who is pursuing her madly. The resulting pain and sorrow and vengeance is the stuff of legend, and China's growing pains in capitalism and globalism provide an entertaining backdrop to the story.

Here's a taste:
"Eventually the brothers collapsed into a hysterical heap, laughing until tears flower from their eyes and snot from their noses, then both of them doubled up coughing...Baldy Li and Song Gang were like weeds that, despite having been trampled underfoot, had continued to grow vigorously."(216"
"The thirteen loyal minions all rushed forward, the five deaf men in front, the remaining three idiots following confusedly behind, and the two cripples hobbling after them; even the four blind men realized that something had happened and were approaching slowly, tapping their canes."(255)
"'Reading is good, and going a day without reading is even more uncomfortable than going a month without taking a shit.'"(279)
"He fell asleep thirteen times at the factory--five times in a corner of the workshop, twice while eating lunch, three times while playing cards with his workmates, twice while leaning against the machinery, and once while peeing in the bathroom with his head against the wall."(301)
"They all prayed for him to be protected by the gods and not be run over; or, even if he were hit by a car, that it be just a scrape, and please not to let him be severely injured, and especially not to let him be hit so hard that he'd become permanently crippled, idiotic, blind, or deaf."(337)
"Every day she would sit there, holding her baby, sobbing as she told everyone who would listen how Baldy Li's sense of compassion had been snatched by a dog, eaten by a wolf, chewed by a tiger, and shat out by a lion."(450)
"He uttered the word fucking more than twenty times... He wanted the fucking television reporters to broadcast his Hymen Olympics live and also to have it streamed live on the fucking Internet."(475)(less)

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Mar 26, 2009 Diane rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: china-chinese, fiction

This is a funny, sad, bawdy (be patient, it is terribly bawdy towards the end) and compelling book. It is the story of two brothers beginning before the Cultural Revolution and ending in the 21st century and it is the story of China emerging into a modern country with all the good and the bad that comes along with such change. The story is set in a small town and is told in what seems to be a simple, repetitive manner. The characters are merely a way to move the story and they have no particular...more

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Apr 15, 2009 Bookmarks Magazine rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: may-june-2009

Because of its subversive portrait and critique of China's oppression and soul-changing capitalism, Brothers, while a best seller in China, also raised some eyebrows. Critics in the United States, however, embraced Brothers for its enlightening look at the country's social and economic transformation. To be sure, the novel is a ribald satire of both the Cultural Revolution and the distortion of its ideals, and the crude, unsophisticated humor and plot may alienate some readers. Some of this may

...more

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Sep 26, 2011 Maria rated it 4 of 5 stars

this book is a wild ride through china during the cultural revolution & current times. it's disgusting & repulsive, informative, sad, comic, & dark. i'll let you know if i think of any other adjectives. i've never read a book like it before. it's divided into book 1 and 2. i preferred book 1.

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Oct 31, 2012 Jonathan Mckay rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 中文

I read this after reading 活着 thinking that since I liked the former, 兄弟 would also be worth reading, and good Chinese practice. It was good Chinese practice, but not really worth reading.

There were good moments in this book, such the stories of 李光头 (li) as a child that reminded me of Huck Finn or a good episode of the Simpsons. The depiction of the cultural revolution, especially after witnessing red armbands suddenly appear on neighbors during the recent protests against Japan, was vivid and f...more

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Feb 13, 2012 Olduvai rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ebook, 2011, in-translation, library

Yu Hua’s Brothers begins in the toilet. Yes, really.

And there, you will probably know whether you want to read this book or not. Because right from the start, your senses are assaulted with fecal matter and butts in a public toilet in Liu Town, China. Teenaged Baldy Li is the centre of the scandal, after being caught peeping at women in the public toilet. However, our young entrepreneur manages to benefit from this, as he had caught sight of the butt of the town’s beauty.

At this point, I was tem...more Yu Hua’s Brothers begins in the toilet. Yes, really.

And there, you will probably know whether you want to read this book or not. Because right from the start, your senses are assaulted with fecal matter and butts in a public toilet in Liu Town, China. Teenaged Baldy Li is the centre of the scandal, after being caught peeping at women in the public toilet. However, our young entrepreneur manages to benefit from this, as he had caught sight of the butt of the town’s beauty.

At this point, I was tempted to return this book (and how easy that would be, since this was an Overdrive e-book) but there was something about Baldy Li and his gutsy nature that made me curious. And then there is his brother (stepbrother, really, not even related by blood at all) Song Gang, a very different kind of boy, quiet, obedient, earnest, the kind who doesn’t quite make a story. But in this case, he is the brother of Baldy Li, who becomes Liu Town’s tycoon, and Yu alternates between Baldy Li’s rambunctious, wild ride to the top and Song Gang’s more respectable, slow journey towards happiness. Song Gang has, after all, married that very town beauty whom Baldy Li (and every other man) coveted. Baldy Li’s resulting vasectomy is dramatic but illustrates his all-or-nothing attitude that eventually leads him to success. And that’s just the first part of it. Search reviews of this book and you can probably find out how the rest of the story goes.

Brothers takes the reader through the Cultural Revolution to present day China. It is a story of hardship and of love, and also a satire of an ever changing China. It is sweet and harsh, with a lot of bawdy mixed in. It is 640 pages long. And not for everyone. Despite finishing each and every of its 640 pages, I’m still not quite sure it was for me. It is, however, a really popular book in China, and a controversial one at that. Yu, a former dentist, said in an interview with the New York Times: “If the right-wingers hate ‘Brothers’ for its depiction of capitalism in China, the left dislikes it for its depiction of the Cultural Revolution.”

However, I am still interested in checking out some of Yu Hua’s other books, especially To Live which won the Grinzane Cavour Award (check out its great list of books!) in 1998. Zhang Yimou directed the film adaptation, which won the Grand Jury and Best Actor prizes at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival.(less)

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Jul 23, 2011 Matt rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a humorous, satirical and tragic coming of age story about two brothers coming of age during the Cultural Revolution in China. It follows the protagonist from the age of about 5-8 all the way up to their 40s. The book gets 4 stars because it meets my most important criteria in a book. Did I care about what happened to the characters? Yes, I did. The two protagonists are well fleshed-out and the novel does a good job of showing you what motivates them rather than just telling you, somethi...more

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Jun 08, 2013 Kerry rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is undoubtedly one of the best books I have read in recent months. 'Brothers' has been beautifully translated, and is a wonderful story taking us through the tales of two brothers growing up in Liu Town, and the many difficulties that they encounter growing up in reformed China.

I find a lot of similarities in Yu Hua's writing to Mario Puzo's: he has a wonderful capacity for creating really memorable characters, and you feel as the story progresses, that you are growing up right alongside...more

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Aug 24, 2010 Sheila rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm a classic book reader. i like to experiment a little on japanese, chinese and korean authors. so far I have read murakami but I like this book better. I call this an idiotic book, light and comical to the point that you would rather not sleep so you can finish the book. The author is a two thumbs up for me:

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May 20, 2009 Sheehan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Apparently this book was originally released as a serial in China, and then eventually published as two volumes a few years later. The book covers the Cultural Revolution in the first half and describes the transition of China's economy to a market socialism in the second half. The Publishers here in the States, definitely should have marketed the English translation as two books, at almost 700 pages the hardcover was cumbersome to carry around...and really, it reads like two separate books anyh...more Apparently this book was originally released as a serial in China, and then eventually published as two volumes a few years later. The book covers the Cultural Revolution in the first half and describes the transition of China's economy to a market socialism in the second half. The Publishers here in the States, definitely should have marketed the English translation as two books, at almost 700 pages the hardcover was cumbersome to carry around...and really, it reads like two separate books anyhow, so why bundle em?

Publisher's errata aside, the story has high points in both parts, and many parts that drag on in a fashion you would expect from something originally serialized.

The story of two boys brought together through the marriage of their widowed parents prior to the advent of the Cultural Revolution, they are forged in a non-blood brotherly bond by seemingly impossible circumstances forced upon them by the times. The growth of the brothers and their quirky personalities is well investigated in part I, and let loose to develop in the second part.

I loved the view of the Cultural Revolution from the viewpoint of children, very powerful and novel way of dealing with some harsh truths. Really, liked the townspeople of Liu, all or the characterizations, and caricaturization (!) of various personalities makes the first part the victor of the book.

The second Part of the novel drags initially as the boys have grown up and split following a love triangle, and as such the story bogs down for too long in the travails of love among the trinity of lovers. In fact, Part II is only saved by the wonderful chapters of the "event" brother Baldy Li hosts, and the resolution of the fortunes of the various townspeople you will have followed for 600pages.

If you are interested in a popular contemporary Chinese novel, well written about a rural town reflection of China writ large from the period of the mid-40's to present day (mid-2000's), then it is worth reading...

although you may want to wait until the more easily carried edition comes out... (less)

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Mar 10, 2009 andreajulia rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is amazing. It goes from being hilarious, to depressing, to jaw-dropping and back it made me feel like I'm on a roller coaster. This book reads like it has 300 pages - not once did I think something was redundant or drawn out. In fact, I felt it stopped almost too sudden.

The characters are wonderfully drawn out and jump off the page. This despite the fact that the book often reads like a fable.

Most interesting is the cultural revolution and how it affected the town of Liu. It's interes...more

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Mar 09, 2013 Manua rated it 4 of 5 stars

Brothers has been published in two parts in Italy; thus said, my review applies only to the first part of the novel.

I found this novel extremely moving, and I definitely wasn't expecting that, since it began telling how Baldi Li became the most famous young boy in town, after having the chanche to admire the most beautiful (pardon my French xD) ass in town. This novel looks like a pastiche, regarding some characters. But since I know very little about chinese popular culture, I can't be sure thi...more

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Mar 29, 2011 Kathy Chung rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: asian, life

Reviewed at : Mama Kucing Books : Brothers by Yu Hua

A very captivating story. There are parts where the story is rather coarse and seems to be overly exaggerated. I kind of want to vomit when the author describe how Baldy's father died from peeking at women bottom.

The author put the Cultural Revolution in a different perspective. It's very refreshing to see it from the innocents boys eyes who thought nothing much of it while the adults fear for their lives.

However, the part after Baldy got rich...more

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Mar 30, 2009 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is quite a ride. Moving from the Cultural Revolution to the early 2000's, it tells the story of step-brothers Baldy Li and Song Gang. Baldy Li is an ambitious ne'er do well, and Song Gang is a quiet, steadfast man. It's interesting to see a fictional account of China's current economic growth. At around the 500 page mark, the book spins off its prior course for the final 130 pages, becoming pretty sexually explicit (especially for a novel from mainland China). Yu Hua has written anothe...more

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Feb 03, 2011 Caitlin rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was a really good read. Brothers was written in a way that I've never seen before, which I found to be both refreshing and intriguing. I really enjoyed learning about the Chinese culture and feel that I understand so much more than I did before about how different some things are over there, but also how grief, pain, and uncertainty are universal experiences. This book was set during the Chinese Revolution in the late 60's or early 70's. I never knew how terrible it was for a majority of th...more

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Oct 26, 2011 Mary Goodnight rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ce roman-fleuve retrace les trajectoires diamétralement opposées de deux "frères" de la Révolution Culturelle à nos jours. La première partie est la plus réussie, avec ses descriptions très crues des abjections commises par les Gardes Rouges, que les deux bambins vivent aux premières loges. Beaucoup de force dans l'écriture et dans la narration, beaucoup d'émotions aussi. La seconde partie, qui se concentre sur l'ascension de l'un des deux frères, et les malheurs du second, est moins réussie, su...more

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Jul 27, 2011 Stan Murai rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: review

Yu Hua 余华 has written a memorable work Brothers 兄弟 that will captivate reader's with a taste for exotic literary experiences, but it may not meet of the liking of those offended by crude, wanton humor. A wreckless ribald tale of two step-brothers and their unique relationship, it recounts the history of nearly fifty years of changes in Chinese society from the Maoist era to the contemporary 'get rich is glorious' ethos. The story begins with an account of how one of the brothers was nabbed for...more

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Aug 28, 2011 David rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

After finishing the first of the two linked books which make up this sprawling novel, I wrote that "it brought me back to my experiences in China in 1990 and 1992. The book has been thoroughly delightful but I can see where the wide-ranging opinions posted on Goodreads may come from. To someone unfamiliar with Chinese culture, society and history, I suspect it is a much less engrossing - perhaps simply a bizarre - read. There are also many echoes from classic texts (Cao's "Hong Lo Meng" or Wu's...more

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Jul 19, 2009 Meredith rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: asian-literature, china, cultural-revolution, reviewed

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. High comedy, high tragedy. Urban sprawl. The preparation of a city for the National Virgin Beauty Competition (otherwise known as the Hymen Olympics), not dissimilar to the preparation of Beijing for the 2008 Olympics. Scoundrel-turned-tycoon Baldy Li, spectacle-turned-loving-wife-turned-nymphomaniac-turned-madam Lin Hong, and then the faithful, terminally unlucky (and often pathetic) Song Gang. The real "romance" in this novel is the stormy relationship between stepbrothers Baldy Li and Song Ga...more High comedy, high tragedy. Urban sprawl. The preparation of a city for the National Virgin Beauty Competition (otherwise known as the Hymen Olympics), not dissimilar to the preparation of Beijing for the 2008 Olympics. Scoundrel-turned-tycoon Baldy Li, spectacle-turned-loving-wife-turned-nymphomaniac-turned-madam Lin Hong, and then the faithful, terminally unlucky (and often pathetic) Song Gang. The real "romance" in this novel is the stormy relationship between stepbrothers Baldy Li and Song Gang. The center of the love triangle is not ultimately Lin Hong, but Song Gang, who is torn between the two for much of the story.

The deaths of Baldy Li's mother and Song Gang's father set the stage for the rest of the story. On her deathbed, Baldy Li's mother tells Song Gang that he must always take care of his younger brother, and he promises that he will give the last grain of rice in his bowl to Baldy Li. He only breaks this promise once: when he marries Lin Hong, whom Baldy Li has humiliated and stalked for years despite her lack of interest.

Also of interest: the theme of impotence. The brazen Baldy Li undergoes a vasectomy after learning that his beloved Lin Hong, whom he spent years humiliating after peeping her backside in a public bathroom, has married the quiet, sensitive Song Gang. Song Gang himself is impotent, never giving his wife a baby or, as we later find out, much sex at all. His impotence is not just sexual, but universal--he is unable to assert himself in relationships, and unable to provide for himself or his wife.

Moreover, Song Gang is a gender-ambiguous character, more often than not landing in feminine territory. We watch him assemble strands of flowers to sell in a basket to Liu Town women, and even undergo breast augmentation surgery to help sell Wandering Zhao's "Boobs" cream. For several chapters, he walks around town with D-cup breasts, and has moderate success selling the product. It is patently absurd. We, the readers, are embarrassed for him--not to mention irritated that he is so submissive to his wayward business partner Zhao that he would mutilate himself this way.

This story chalks much up to fate, emphasizing several times, "'If you are fated to have only fifteen ounces of rice in this life, then even if you go away to seek your fortune, you still won't end up a with full pound.'" So perhaps Song Gang's tragic fate "est écrit dans les étoiles", as the French would say (my choice of expression here will make sense when you read the last page of the book). Or perhaps he is simply too passive, too self-sacrificing to mirror Baldy Li's rampant material successes. (less)

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Jan 18, 2011 Martin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Long, sprawling, epic, grotesque, funny, sad, political - all these adjectives add up to "Brothers". Something of the essence of the writing is always lost in translation but when there are such cultural disparities, such as those between China and America, it is difficult to fully comprehend what the writer is giving his reader.

The New York Time Book Review by Jess Row, March 2009, put it best:
"Imagine a novel written by William Dean Howells together with D. H. Lawrence, updated by Tom Wolfe a...more

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Mar 15, 2013 Silke rated it 5 of 5 stars

Like any other Yu Hua book I found this one unputdownable. It feels as absurd as The Master and Margarita to begin with but your ironic smile kind of freezes on your lips when you read on and realize that most f the stories here have a root in reality. The brutality of the Cultural Revolution, the fierce loyalty within the Chinese families, the day-to-day machoism and the focus on money-making for any price: just read newspaper articles about modern China and suddenly Brothers doesn't seem too f...more

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Sep 20, 2011 Beverly rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: book-group

I found the tone of this book quite confusing. Early on the book was supposed to be funny and the tone worked for that. After, many awful things happened, but the tone was still identical to the comedic parts. Also, people's motivation didn't make sense to me - perhaps because I don't understand Chinese people. I couldn't understand how one brother could be so selfish or how people were rarely honest with even those closest to them.

I read this in a book group and we couldn't have had a larger di...more

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Aug 04, 2011 Angelle rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Blunt to the point of being brutal at times.
This book is much longer than it seems.

Very rarely does a book pull me at such extremes, it made me shed tears of sadness, anger, and laughter. Very intimate look into the life of those involved in the transition of communist and modern China in several angles and characters.

I am really starting to love this author.

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