The Vagrants by YiYun Li

In a cold morning in March in Muddy River, and a “counter-revolutionary” – a once fanatical member of Mao’s Red Guard who became a pro-democracy activist – is to be publicly denounced and executed.  Gu Shan is the 28-year-old daughter of teacher Gu and his wife, the parents who questioned themselves the cause that brought her daughter to this tragic end. Is it poor parenting? Is it the curse of literacy that made young Gu Shan drawn to the political cause?

“She is a martyr,” Mrs. Gu said.

“A martyr serves a cause as a puppet serves a show. If you look at history, as no one in this country does anymore, a martyr has always served the purpose of deception on a grand scale, be it a religion or an ideology, “ Teacher G said, surprised by his own eloquent and patient voice. – page 226

For the days leading up to the execution day, we are introduced to several characters in the village (the titular Vagrants) which is directly and indirectly related to Gu Shan. Their lives entwined as they go about their daily lives, impoverish, trying to find the means to settle their next meal.

There is this 19-year old Bashi, an idle young man who thinks he is God’s gift to women, lives with his grandmother and is in search of a girl who would be his wife and takes care of his household. He chanced upon 12-year-old Nini deformed at birth on account of a kicking her pregnant mother received at the hands of the condemned Shan Gu. Nini comes from a large and uncaring family. It is perhaps disturbing to read that there is a seduction of a 12-year-old in the story but here’s YiYun Li writes in her native culture context to inform that child bride was a common practice in rural China.

We are also introduced to the Huas, former beggars, now trash collectors who in their younger years sometimes salvaged and raise abandoned babies, only to be forced to give up all of their adopted children to the state orphanage; which usually are run in an appallingly poor condition.

Gu Shan will be renounced by the public by Kai, a familiar voice as an anchorwoman of the propaganda department’s daily broadcasts, who was Gu Shan’s classmate, marry a State Official, Han and living comfortable life – but puts her privileged life at risk by helping out her ex-lover, Jialin to protest against Gu Shan’s execution.

There are also several minor characters like Tong who owns a dog called “Ear” and several others that became instruments in YiYun Li’s writing to portray the inhumanity and senselessness of Communist China’s policy.

I read YiYun Li’s A Thousand Years of Good Prayers which is a collection of short stories. I thought her first book was superb. This is YiYun Li’s first full length novel. Here are my assumptions of what may have happened that made me feel this novel seems lacklustre than the rave reviews that it received:

1. Suited for the common occurrence of short stories where characters are not fully developed, this seems to be carried over to this long novel. Due to the many characters involved, the book seems to stray between one character to the next without an anchor to a main protagonist.
2. Whatever ideas or incidents that could have been narrated in a few words, this long novel feels rather wordy and longwinded and could have been shorter. It feels like a long litany of this person did this and then this person did that…. and it goes on and on.

I have been in a bad reading slump ever since reading through pages and pages of gruesome descriptions of murdered women in the tome of 2666 by Roberto Bolano and was looking for a book to pick me up. The Vagrants wasn’t the one. In fact it aggravated the effect of my reading slump…. You could say my slump affected my perception of this book but I manage to pick up another book (which I will soon introduce in my next post) and get back to gear again.

The first part of The Vagrants was a drag and things started to pick up when Gu Shan was executed and her corpse desecrated. Quite a surprise for me to discover YiYun Li has a taste for the grotesque.

At times the book was flat and dour, other times it was enticing, I feel a little uneven and disjointed reading the book. The only two stories that held my interest was the story between Bashi and Nini, and Kai’s life.

Several months ago I watched a documentary about an old couple, in their 80’s who lives in the Hui province, and a street sweeper, who go about their daily lives with the very little that they have and gave a home to several street and abandoned children, especially girls. It was one of the most raw and moving account of generosity and love that one stranger could give to another and it was that image of the old couple that I pictured when I read about the Old Huas in this book.

YiYun Li relates and paints the political implications on normal citizen’s lives accurately. Husbands divorce their dissident wives (or vice versa) to avoid from being implicated and arrested by the law. Children are encouraged to denounce their parents, and that your fate and fortune depends how closely related and compliant you are with the party.

Rating: 

Do not expect to lift your spirit with this book. It is miserable and dour, perhaps an apt and true reflection of the life of a group of people who are impoverish and politically oppressed. Otherwise, this is still a very good book to understand the political corruption and the body and soul, family and relative ties corruption that went with it.

Take a look at the Petchary’s review that do a better job than I do in reviewing this book.

Other views:

Petchary: Of course, history tells us that theirs is a lost cause; but the motivation of our young counter-revolutionaries and the origin of their beliefs are never deeply explored, and the occasional discussions between them are flat and unconvincing.

Lotus Reads: So what did I think of the novel? I think Yiyun Li does a splendid job of painting for the reader life in post-Mao China.

Maphead book blog: Li has written an excellent novel. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Did I miss yours? Let me know and I’ll add them in.

This is my first book for Chinese Literature Reading Challenge this year.

Hardback. Publisher: Fourth Estate 2009; Length: 337 pages; Setting:  China 1979.  Source: Library Loot. Finished reading at: 15 May 2010.