Read this when
To Live
He lost his fortune, his family and nearly everything else. He's still ploughing the field, telling the story to anyone who'll listen. What does it mean just to live?
Who it's for
An old farmer, Fugui, tells a young folk-song collector his life: how he gambled away his family's fortune, was conscripted into the civil war, and then lost, one by one, nearly everyone he loved through war, famine, political campaigns and accident.
Feelings it meets
What it is
Yu Hua's 1993 novel, translated into English by Michael Berry (2003), is framed by a folk-song collector who meets an elderly peasant, Xu Fugui, in the countryside and hears his life story. Fugui, once the dissolute son of a wealthy landlord, gambles away the family fortune, becomes a tenant farmer and is forcibly conscripted during the Chinese Civil War.
Where to find it
In print (Anchor Books); available from libraries (Libby/Hoopla). Not public domain. Check for audiobook availability. The film adaptation To Live (1994) is also available.
Before you start
Heads up: Suicide and the deaths of children.
Age: Ages 16+
Life has become richer by the love that has been lost.Rabindranath Tagore, Stray Birds, no. 223
