Book of the Month Oct. 2005: 兄弟 (Brothers) by 余华 (Yu Hua)

[Qinmengzhu]

In chapter 13, there is a word I don't understand: 郎当. I didn't find it in the dictionary, too.

Here is the context in which the word is used:

李光头扑哧一声笑出来了。这时候仓库里的哭喊声和叫骂声越来越响亮，从门缝里源源不断地传出来，里面还有阵阵呻吟声，听起来象是青蛙在叫。李光头害怕了，他和宋钢哆嗦着站在宋凡平的身旁，宋凡平好像什么都没听到，他高兴地和两个孩子说着话。他的左胳膊奇怪地郎当起来了，李光头和宋钢不知道他的左胳膊被打成脱臼了，他们觉得看上去很奇怪，像是一条假胳膊挂在肩膀上。他们问宋凡平，为什么左胳膊在郎当？宋凡平轻轻晃了晃自己的左胳膊，对两个孩子说：“它累了，我让它休息几天。”

I look forward to any ideas, what this word could mean. Thanks in advance!

[wushijiao]

I think his shoulder is somewhat disconnected (from the beatings), and is thus swinging about by his side in an unnatural way (郎当). That prompts the kids to ask why that is. And he replies that it’s just “resting” for a few days.

At least I think that's the gist of it.

[roddy]

Yeah, something like 'his arm hung strangely limp . . .'

[tuxoar]

Thanks to all for submitting the vocab and stuff that was in this post.. I plan on reading this book next. I just started reading "To Live" and really like it. It is the first Chinese book I have ever attempted to read so that makes it even better!

I have found several versions of all these books online, but I really want to get a copy of XiongDi and HuoZhe in either simp or trad charachters (or both maybe). Since they are my first real Chinese books aside from dry John Defrancis textbooks, I want to get the real thing. Is there any easy way to get these books and have them shipped to the US short of having a friend in Taiwan on or the Mainland? Is there anyone who would be will to help an eager learner out? Thanks in advance!

SN

[roddy]

Anyone tackling the second part? It's in the shops now, not sure if it's online yet.

[skylee]

I couldn't even finish Chapter 1. All those bottoms are not my cup of tea.

[wushijiao]

Anyone tackling the second part? It's in the shops now, not sure if it's online yet

My wife already read it, saying it was pretty good as far as pure entertainment, but not great literature.

I'm about 70 pages in so far, and I would agree that it's pretty funny. Maybe I'm just more crass than Skylee.

[gato]

An article about the book:

http://www.pkucn.com/viewthread.php?tid=171278&extra=page%3D1

[gougou]

Done!

I picked the book up again about two weeks ago, and made a more determined effort to read through it. The two year delay made quite a difference; for once my Chinese improved significantly and made it a more enjoyable experience (rather than having to look up a word or two on every page, I could read through it without the help of a dictionary now). Also, I have seen more of China and more readily accepted some of the things I would have thought completely fictional two years ago (e.g. the lack of an encompassing community spirit).

As to the book, I was quite disappointed. I liked 活着 a lot (although I only read it in French), and also found Yu Hua a very interesting person when I heard him speak at a reading, but this book couldn't live up to my expectations. I found Yu's way of writing incredibly verbose, a bit like bad online fiction. After having read 250 pages, I feel like all I've read is the story of two children playing in the streets, with some person or other dying every couple of pages.

What I did like was a couple of short episodes, e.g. when Song Gang is trying to pass candy to Li Guangtou through the door crack. When they don't succeed, Song Gang lets Li Guangtou smell the candy, which leads him to cry. This (流口水 and 流泪) seems to be a recurring theme in Yu Hua's work; if I recall correctly, a prominent scene in 许三观卖血记 is a father telling his hungry children of a fantastic banquet to calm their hunger.

Despite having not really liked the first part, I will still tackle the second. Mostly because I already bought it and I wanna get my 14 kuai's worth - but also to see whether it is going to stay just an idle story, or whether Yu Hua will actually wrap it up eventually.

[wushijiao]

Congrats Gougou!

I understand your feelings about the book. The second book is even more crass, but it's not bad if you see it as an over-the-top satire of Mainland life and history.

[roddy]

So what's the next Book of the Decade?

[gougou]

I decided to read more books (but won't mention it in the 2008 resolutions thread until I'm sure that I succeeded ), so from now on, it should go faster. Will do the second part of Brothers first, and after that maybe join a book of the month again.

Even though that's quite a lot of commitments in one sentence, what am I getting myself into again...

[wushijiao]

If you do go through with part two (which is a big "if" because you may not like it), I bet you'll find that you can breeze through it fairly quickly, after doing part 1.

[gougou]

Finished the second part yesterday. It was fairly easy to read after the first part, as wushijiao predicted, which might be one of the reasons I liked it better. Maybe it's also that the plot itself was moving along faster than in the first part. Still, I don't think it's too great a book; it often seems written like it's targeted at the kind of people that buy their books off trolleys next to bus stops.

Any thoughts about the last sentence? 宋刚，你现在是外星人了。 (or something like this)

[wushijiao]

Congrats gougou!

Finished the second part yesterday. It was fairly easy to read after the first part, as wushijiao predicted

I think that helps proves my theory that although books are long, they can be good learning aids for reading. After you know the plot, characters, and you are used to the author vocab and style, you can actually read faster and easier than you can when you are reading short stories, magazine articles, or newspaper articles.

As to the ending, I don't remember the wording at the end, but I think it shows that the materialistic, crass, and confident Chinese is the type who won out. I think Wang Shuo said something to the effect of, "the winners in Chinese society in the 1980's were all former hooligans". 李光頭 was that type. A former hooligan, bad boy, who had the balls to start his own business in the most unprestigious industry after they had finished 30 years of killing capitalists. Compare his personality and character to his brother's, who was soft and weak, and was also willing to scam people in order to provide for his family. From what I've seen in China and from the people I've met, his portrayal of that particular generation of people whose formative teenage years were in the CR is a bit accurate in their sense of morals and values.

I think Yu Hua also doesn't have any huge structural critiques of the way China has developed in the last few decades (unlike the Mao era), as people have generally gotten better off (as shown in the book). It's just that things are really over the top, and everybody's willing to do anything to get rich. At the same time, I think that the CR generation, even though they have experienced a lot of political and material progress recently, still feels lonely and a bit distant from other human beings. So, even though the space flight at the end was a bit cheasy, I saw it as a decent metaphor for that loneliness and separation that the CR generation still has, even in what should be their moments of personal and financial glory.

[rob07]

I think that helps proves my theory that although books are long, they can be good learning aids for reading. After you know the plot, characters, and you are used to the author vocab and style, you can actually read faster and easier than you can when you are reading short stories, magazine articles, or newspaper articles.

I strongly agree with this. Although to some extent it also works for short stories that are more than 4 or 5 pages long.

[gougou]

Interesting points, wushijiao.

I think it shows that the materialistic, crass, and confident Chinese is the type who won out.

A taxi driver who saw me reading the book asked me what it was about, I summed it up as "A bad brother who gets rich, and a good brother who stays poor", to which he emphatically said "Yes, good people can't get rich in this society." Him saying this is probably what I'll remember about this book for the longest time.

[wushijiao]

"A bad brother who gets rich, and a good brother who stays poor"

Interesting that you would frame it that way. I think that's actually what Yu Hua intended, in part. Personally, I felt for 宋鋼 and also felt he was a good man at heart. But notice, from an objective viewpoint, he's also a con-man doing horrible things! Somehow, Yu Hua has the ability to write simple characters that you can sympathize with who also do horrible things, and yet you don't notice. He writes with no moral blame being put on people, and he lets readers fill in those blanks as to why that is. (The same can be said in 許三觀賣血記).

I think that's actually one of the underestimated strengths of the book. 李光頭 slowly goes from being a hooligan to a better human being (or at least a more productive member for society), while you might argue that 宋鋼 does the opposite. And yet, those changes really aren't noticable. But then again, it was a long time ago that I read the book, and I don't remember the details.

[gougou]

I think that's actually one of the underestimated strengths of the book.

Yeah, now that you say it, there are a lot of characters that are not just black and white - the poet that beats up smaller children, the husband who goes to whorehouses but his wife ends up happier than before... Maybe Yu Hua is trying to put the atrocities committed during the CR into perspective, to show that the people committing them were not bad as such. Rather weak people that could be manipulated to do bad deeds - just as Song Gang is.

I wouldn't agree with Li Guangtou becoming a better person, but for the rest agree with how you depict their developments. In this respect, I found it interesting to see the influence of a strong father figure (or lack thereof) on the children's future.

[wushijiao]

he poet that beats up smaller children, the husband who goes to whorehouses but his wife ends up happier than before... Maybe Yu Hua is trying to put the atrocities committed during the CR into perspective, to show that the people committing them were not bad as such. Rather weak people that could be manipulated to do bad deeds - just as Song Gang is.

Exactly!