The April 3rd Incident

by Yu Hua, Allan H. Barr (Translator)

From one of China's most famous contemporary writers, who celebrated novel To Live catapulted him to international fame, here is a stunning collection of stories, selected from the best of Yu Hua's early work, that shows his far-reaching influence on a pivotal period in Chinese literature.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Yu Hua and other young Chinese writers began to reimagine their national literature. Departing from conventional realism in favor of a more surreal and subjective approach inspired by Kafka, Faulkner, and Borges, the boundary-pushing fiction of this period reflected the momentous cultural changes sweeping the world's most populous nation.

The stories collected here show Yu Hua masterfully guiding us from one fractured reality to another. "A History of Two People" traces the paths of a man and a woman who dream in parallel throughout their lives. "In Memory of Miss Willow Yang" weaves a spellbinding web of signs and symbols. "As the North Wind Howled" carries a case of mistaken identity to absurd and hilarious conclusions. And the title story follows an unforgettable narrator determined to unearth a conspiracy against him that may not exist. By turns daring, darkly comic, thought-provoking, and profound, The April 3rd Incident is an extraordinary record of a singular moment in Chinese letters.

Genres: Short Stories, China, Fiction, Chinese Literature, Audiobook, Collections, Asian Literature

224 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2010

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

[Respectful Zebra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the seven stories in The April 3rd Incident. I'm not sure I understood a single one.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a mostly interesting collection of stories from the early 80s, it seems-- the intro kind of crosses its eyes a little, but the impression I get is that the seven stories here weren't initially published together, that this is an attempt to pull something together with a specific, post facto remit. And what here are two different kinds of stories-- ones that are mostly closely-observed realistic things (with ruptures) and then really internal, almost solipsistic stories about that interior state. There are three that are approximately novella length (50 pages) and fur that are much shorter, though you can find both kinds at either length.

I wasn't crazy about the solipsistic, internal stories-- I felt like I was reading about a sidescrolling video game from a not-very-observant narrator. There was not enough tension for me to know what I was looking for, so they never quite worked for me, though there were moments of interest. The other kind of stories, which read as village domestic dramas, mostly, worked better, and in a good way, they incorporate a couple disruptive techniques that Yu uses in multiple stories. First, he likes to have characters slip into reverie imagining what will happen next, let the fantasy play, and then rewind to where the fantasy started. In this edition, those fantasies are all in italics, so you can sort of see them coming. In other stories, and this is a common trope, you encounter this kind of mobius strip where someone will do something to himself-- Yu likes to have one character following, or being followed by, another character, and then switching between their POV in different sections. Then, he'll confuse you further by having a character see himself doing something-- so, chasing a figure, he'll enter a room and then see himself leaving the room just as he arrives, that kind of thing (it's always a man, sorry to say). The story "In Memory of Miss Willow Yang" does some amazing things in laying out all of these different, contradictory stories that land together. It's very disconcerting, in a Lynchian way.

I don't think I loved any single story here (though Memory and the last story, "Summer Typhoon" are good) but it's an interesting experience to read this collection.

[ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's something hypnotic about Yu Hua's writing-- the mix of dream and reality in a straightforward but visceral prose. Excellent at creating an unsettling and uncertain atmosphere, as well as interestingly unwell protagonists to inhabit them, like the one from "In Memory of Miss Willow Yang", who believes that those who smile at him wish to come into his life and take it over. A paranoid belief that may not be unfounded, given the twisting, inconsistent narration and doubling of his experience with that of another. Unfortunately, characters outside the all-male protagonists are much more cardboard cutouts than characters, especially the women, who fall into the standard stock roles of wife/mother/object of desire. Leaves me interested in reading more of Yu Hua's work for the vibes, but not too interested.

[anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t write reviews very often but this was a confusing book. Yu Hua has a writing style that is kind of dream like, but also felt like it was leading me to something that was not there. It wasn’t that the writing was really bad necessarily, just that when I finished the book I felt sort of a brain fog.

[Alan M · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of early stories from one of China's most exciting contemporary writers is a challenging but rewarding read. Think Kafka, Beckett or Camus and you get the idea. These are enigmatic, elusive tales of almost surreal moments in the lives of characters, who inhabit worlds where footsteps echo, shadows lurk and strangers may or may not be conspiring against them. Read against the history of China since the 1940s these are tales of isolation and the state control of individual subjects, where blossoming individuality becomes fantastical and threatening. Profound and fractured, this is a wonderful collection. Definitely recommended.

(With thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss+ for an ARC in return for an honest and unbiased review.)

[Stitching Ghost · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up.

Some stories seemed unfinished not in the sense that they were incomplete but in the sense that they did not feel like a final draft. There is something anxious, tense and sad floating about every story. I would say it was split almost evenly between stories that I liked and stories that had me scratching my head wondering what the heck did I just read.

[Jules ✨ librarian_finds · Rating 4 out of 5]

Taking influence from writers such as Kafka and Borges, Yu Hua was China's first writer to experiment in avant-garde (sur)realism. The April 3rd Incident is a collection of stories from Yu Hua's earlier works written in the late 1980s and into the early 90s. The writing style is something that I'm still dipping my toes into, and fans of contemporary fiction may not be enthusiastic about it, but it worked for me and I found myself enjoying each story. I recommend readers willing to dabble to give it a try, even if they don’t quite understand every word or sentence that they’re reading.

[Gavin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I especially enjoyed the first couple of stories. The stories seem to raise the question of where the self leaves off with society and who decides our actions: the self or society? The mismatch between our sense of self and society's influence over our lives seems enough to drive some of the characters crazy.

The writing style is novel to me, which I enjoyed. I felt that although the story followed along clearly enough within each scene, the scenes were patched together in a disorienting way, so you really need to pay attention as a reader, and I think my attention lagged at times.

[Marcus · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's something unpolished and hasty that hovers over all of the stories, but the flashes of brilliance shine through very strongly. These are early stories, as I understand it, and especially in the light of his later masterpieces, for me these early stories cement Yu Hua's standing as a high-quality writer with a superlative grasp of post-realist world building. These stories show how he got there, for good and bad.

[Grey · Rating 3 out of 5]

“When it's raining, flute music always has a link to sunshine. The sky should be blue; in the northlands, the earth and the sunshine are much the same color. He had once hiked there for a day, the notes of his flute resounding on the sunbaked earth. A boy appeared between some leafless trees, his skin at one moment as yellow as the earth and the next moment as yellow as the sunlight, or perhaps it was both at the same time.”

3.5

[Kirtney-Robin Kiefer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really lovely collection of stories. I will warn that listening to the audio book version of this novel is near impossible for some of the stories due to the writing style. I would reread the sections I listened to on my drive a lot just to fully understand the passages. I would not reccommend using only an audio book for reading this piece.

[Madelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Has some great moments here and there, a few good stories and is decently written all throughout, but the stories overall just seem a bit too incoherent to me. Maybe I’ll be able to understand them better if I re-read them but on one read through they fall a bit short for me.

[Desiree · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in the 80s/90s of post-Maoist China, Yu Hua's stories will make you feel all the surreal, sad tension that still isn't really talked about openly there.

[Beckyt · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of early stories.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review forthcoming at Spectrum Culture.

[A G · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m too spoiled by later works of Yu Hua, but this is a nice collection of his earlier short stories.

[Rene · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is clear (transparently) what the author is trying for, but these stories seem like first drafts. Kind of painful.

[Jolie · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 - Despair in 200 pages

[Alyssa]

DNF - No rating

I don't know if the translation made this confusing, or if there was something missing. I got about halfway through it.

[Wan Ling · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5/5, read for ogp book club
Was confused throughout, although I think that was perhaps the point. Not a pleasant read but a memorable one

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't engage me as much as some of his novels.

[Caroline Valencia Dalisay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only liked one of the stories: In Memory of Miss Willow Yang. All others went over my head. The 3 stars are for that story.

[Kevin S · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title story was my favorite of this collection.

[DeadWeight · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of early short stories by Yu Hua, penned primarily in the late 80s, the writer solidly marks his place alongside such luminaries as Kafka and Calvino. These stories are strange and uproariously funny, well worth checking out.

[k10 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every story is a trip. Dark suspicion, paranoia, like trying to escape a bad dream. A plane tree is otherwise known as an Old World Sycamore.

[Izabela]

12/27/18

DNF @ 30%