
Life
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Narrated by:
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Robert Wu
An essential masterwork from Chinese literary giant Lu Yao - winner of the Mao Dun Literature Prize - available for the first time in English.
Lu Yao published only two novels before his untimely death - but their extraordinary influence catapulted the author to the top tier of Chinese contemporary fiction, establishing him as one of the most widely read and respected figures in Chinese literature.
In this first-ever translation of Lu Yao’s Life, we meet Gao Jialin, a stubborn, idealistic, and ambitious young man from a small country village whose life is upended when corrupt local politics cost him his beloved job as a schoolteacher, prompting him to reject rural life and try to make it in the big city. Against the vivid, gritty backdrop of 1980s China, Lu Yao traces the proud and passionate Gao Jialin’s difficult path to professional, romantic, and personal fulfillment - or at least hard-won acceptance.
With the emotional acuity and narrative mastery that secured his reputation as one of China’s great novelists, Lu Yao paints a vivid, emotional, and unsparing portrait of contemporary Chinese life, seen through the eyes of a working-class man who refuses to be broken.
©1982 Lu Yao (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. Translation © 2019 by Chloe Estep.Listeners also enjoyed...




















Enjoyment of this audiobook is destroyed by Robert Wu's awful characterizations and unnecessary imposition of Chinese tones on the names of all characters. Very distracting and very annoying.
Terrible performance of a 5-stsr story
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Surprised
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I found the narrator Robert Wu to be excellent. At first the tonal Mandarin pronunciation of names was a bit off-putting, but I came to appreciate it. It gives the work a very unique feel. It's true some of the voices are a bit cartoony, but that does a good job of making each character feel unique. And the narrator is still able to convey a great deal of emotion in the characters' words. A few of the scenes were absolutely heart-wrenching and brought tears to my eyes.
Hidden Gem
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Comical narration, but good story
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Good book
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Don’t miss this title
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Read the book. Don’t listen to this recording.
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While the story, characters, and world-building itself were all quite good, and I'm really glad I read this, there are some things that might have gotten lost in translation. There are a couple of clichés that are used, and some of which I do not believe exist in either Mandarin or Cantonese, so I'm not sure if the translator used clichés as an easy way out or as a necessity when there was a Chinese phrase for which there is no real way to translate it into English. Similarly, there was a poem or song or two that were super awkward in English--which I completely understand--but I wish there had been footnotes or a translator's introduction or reading of the original side-by-side or something to help build the intending mood of said poem/song.
Another side note: while I do recommend anyone interested to pick this up, I do NOT recommend the Audible version narrated by Robert Wu. He did ridiculous voices for EVERY character that wasn't the protagonist; it was so frustrating and stupid. Wu made Gao Jialin's father sound like a doofus and his mother sound like Dobby! I have no idea why he chose to narrate this way; was he trying to insert comedy where there was none? Are his over-the-top voices supposed to be making fun of the countryside folk, and if so, isn't that super offensive and exactly NOT what the author is going for here? Wu's horrible narration almost made me want to stop reading, but it isn't a super long book, so I made myself power through. I was just ashamed to have this on while anyone else was in the same room. Read a different narration or get a physical copy, please.
Those snafus aside, this story has heart and realistic characters and good symbolism. I recommend to those who like contemporary fiction, Chinese fiction, Charles Dickens, Emily Bronte, Amy Tan, Lisa See, Pearl S. Buck, historical fiction, 1980's fiction, translated fiction, international fiction, rural vs. city life struggles, love triangles, and open endings.
Moving Contemporary Chinese Fiction
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Not My Cup of Tea
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