One Kind of Reality

by Yu Hua

English translation of a Chinese avant garde novella.

A detached and indifferent narrator describes the terrible series of events that befalls a family. One day Shangang's son, a very young boy named Pipi, is left alone and accidentally causes the death of his infantile cousin. The father of the deceased child, Shanfeng, demands retribution for his loss. A series of sad events follows.

Genres: China, Chinese Literature, Fiction

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Yu Hua (simplified Chinese: 余华; traditional Chinese: 余華; pinyin: Yú Huá) is a Chinese author, born April 3, 1960 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. He practiced dentistry for five years and later turned to fiction writing in 1983 because he didn't like "looking into people’s mouths the whole day." Writing allowed him to be more creative and flexible.[citation needed] He grew up during the Cultural Revolution and many of his stories and novels are marked by this experience. One of the distinctive characteristics of his work is his penchant for detailed descriptions of brutal violence.

Yu Hua has written four novels, six collections of stories, and three collections of essays. His most important novels are Chronicle of a Blood Merchant and To Live. The latter novel was adapted for film by Zhang Yimou. Because the film was banned in China, it instantly made the novel a bestseller and Yu Hua a worldwide celebrity. His novels have been translated into English, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Persian, Polish, Spanish, Swedish, Hungarian, Serbian, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean, Malayalam and Turkish.

(from Wikipedia)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yu_Hua_...

Reviews

[Tobias Cramer · Rating 4 out of 5]

En virkelighed er en modbydelig bog. Den er kvalmende tæt på den dumpe afstumpede vold. En vold der udspringer af afmægtig hævn - nyttes- og meningsløs. Det er en destruktiv novella, der straffer sine karakterer ved at leve.
Det er en historie, der gør ondt at læse. Det er en historie, der kalder på tilgivelse og trøst, men den findes ikke, og som læser er man utrøstelig. Jeg var således efterladt med én klar følelse i kroppen efter endt læsning: afmagt.
Det er en svær følelse at være i, det er ubehageligt. Ikke desto mindre er det evigt prisværdigt, når forfattere formår at destillere følelserne i skriften, så kan vi drikke deres skål - også af afmagtens bæger.

[K's Bognoter · Rating 5 out of 5]

EN VIRKELIGHED af kinesiske YU HUA er en almindelig hård og brutal, men ikke desto mindre fremragende kortroman om manglende social empati og indbygget vold i det kinesiske samfund. Stærkt anbefalet – til alle, der kan klare kosten.
Læs min anmeldelse på K's bognoter: https://bognoter.dk/2019/12/16/yu-hua...

[Jemma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Idek where to start...wtf? Yu Hua is certainly a genius writer, the way he creates a sense of uneasiness and makes you doubt your own judgement is expertly done. I don't think I've ever read such an insane story (probably because I read this for class and wouldn't have picked it up). Again thanks to discussing in class I picked up on so many themes. You end up wondering if everything is on purpose - the focus on the most mundane of things when something incredibly worrying occurs at the same time is something I haven't experienced before in a book. A 3* because I can respect the literary genius but it's not typically the story I'd go for. It certainly isn't enjoyable, but rather repulsive.

[Anetq · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bloody mess. A child killing another child set off the mayhem that leaves most dead. It's over the top and a bit crazy, but for such a short story there are quite a few angles, and different POVs.

[meow meow · Rating 3 out of 5]

dont know if i would recommend this short read and interesting but a bit strange

[Henriette Terkelsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fuldstændig brutal og ubehagelig på den allerværste-bedste måde.

[kellydianyu · Rating 5 out of 5]

小孩子的意外过失到兄弟残杀，读完觉得喘不过来气。看过活着 许三观 没想到余华可以这么狠 冷冰冰的让人觉得窒息

[Rana]

To sarcasm life and living.
The realistic way of each action happen and the character's act to every incident is way above expectations.
I never thought this dark, cruel and sad before.
Humans can really block any way of reasonable thinking whenever they want to do something.

[Vivien · Rating 2 out of 5]

Absolutely bonkers, bananas, and wild.

[Amalie Bonde · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uhyggelig tankevækkende

[Annie Lu · Rating 1 out of 5]

In every scene, the most fucked up thing possible happens. I hated it. It annoys me that this is the perfect level for my Chinese reading comprehension.

[Xin · Rating 4 out of 5]

剧烈又丑陋。

[Tony Wang · Rating 3 out of 5]

我不太喜欢这部作品，荒诞、冷漠、没有感情，并且也没有一个好故事。这种感觉和阅读 韩江 有些类似。

虽然可以看做是一种对传统写作的挑战和实验，但没有什么普遍性意义，除非你特意往深处和普遍处想象，这种想象本身就很牵强。

[Miranda · Rating 1 out of 5]

Had to read this for class was absolutely awful with tons of senseless violence. Would not recommend.

[Kath · Rating 3 out of 5]

虽然能揣测余华用完全冷血，完全无情的态度来讲这个故事，是为了构建非常primitive的世界，但真的有点做作了。看完了非常乏味，像是没劲儿的b级片，像是作者发掘到一个很震撼他自己的故事，然后用非常staged的方式讲了，大家感觉啊也就还好，不用这么故弄玄虚。

[Thomas Stærmose · Rating 4 out of 5]

En ganske grum lille historie om to brødre, der bor tæt sammen med deres koner, deres børn og deres mor. Og derfra går det helt forfærdeligt galt.

[Howard Wong · Rating 4 out of 5]

所以疯的到底是人还是时代？

[vicalicalic]

Gentle, detached violence. Yay!