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A review by yongxiang
The Years, Months, Days: Two Novellas by Yan Lianke
3.0
The novellas have a fairytale-like quality to them.
Part of which is because the stories are about quirky characters going on singular quests in the mountains (an old man growing a corn stalk during a drought, an old woman finding a husband for her "idiot" daughter).
Part of which has to do with the fantastical writing style, which uses unexpected metaphors and frequently mixes the senses. From Marrow:
She got up and rolled up the mat, put it next to the wall, then looked around the room before slowly lying down again on the hard wooden bed frame. She slammed her eyelids shut like a pair of city gates.
Time rumbled forward like a flour mill.
The sound of footsteps drifted into her room like a specter.
Eventually, a shout in the front room was violently suppressed - like a leaf that had just been picked up by the wind, only to run into the wall or a closed door. The courtyard, village, and the entire mountain ridge suddenly became as peaceful as a lake after a boat has sunk beneath the surface. The entire world seemed to go back into a dream.
In Years, Months, Days especially, everything seems to make its own sound - Mr Lianke mentions the sound of the corn stalk growing, the sound of the sunlight... These were interesting to read but sometimes a bit difficult to imagine, which took me out of it. Example:
He proceeded to throw the coin into the air. The sun's rays were as dense as trees in a forest, and the coin bumped against one ray after another, producing a bright clinking sound.
I liked Years, Months, Days more. The old man's perseverence and desire to find meaning and routine in the midst of an impossible situation. Think The Old Man and the Land. Also liked the fact that he had a blind dog that seemed to understand human language. Cutes
Part of which is because the stories are about quirky characters going on singular quests in the mountains (an old man growing a corn stalk during a drought, an old woman finding a husband for her "idiot" daughter).
Part of which has to do with the fantastical writing style, which uses unexpected metaphors and frequently mixes the senses. From Marrow:
She got up and rolled up the mat, put it next to the wall, then looked around the room before slowly lying down again on the hard wooden bed frame. She slammed her eyelids shut like a pair of city gates.
Time rumbled forward like a flour mill.
The sound of footsteps drifted into her room like a specter.
Eventually, a shout in the front room was violently suppressed - like a leaf that had just been picked up by the wind, only to run into the wall or a closed door. The courtyard, village, and the entire mountain ridge suddenly became as peaceful as a lake after a boat has sunk beneath the surface. The entire world seemed to go back into a dream.
In Years, Months, Days especially, everything seems to make its own sound - Mr Lianke mentions the sound of the corn stalk growing, the sound of the sunlight... These were interesting to read but sometimes a bit difficult to imagine, which took me out of it. Example:
He proceeded to throw the coin into the air. The sun's rays were as dense as trees in a forest, and the coin bumped against one ray after another, producing a bright clinking sound.
I liked Years, Months, Days more. The old man's perseverence and desire to find meaning and routine in the midst of an impossible situation. Think The Old Man and the Land. Also liked the fact that he had a blind dog that seemed to understand human language. Cutes