兄弟 (上)

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 frightening.

But the pacing was frustrating. Apparently this book was released as a serial, and that makes far more sense than the current form of a book. Many parts remind me of somebody trying to maximize the character count of an essay without adding more content. It seems like whole paragraphs of text were copied and pasted, only changing the name of one person, such as “First, he went to person A with his business proposal. Then he went to person B with his proposal. Then he went to person C with his proposal. Then he went to person D with his proposal.”

Then other parts (i.e. the last few pages) cover what seem to be incredibly important parts to the plot as little more than an afterthought.