The Chronicles of Xu Sixiang Selling Blood

Author: Yu Hua
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-05-01
Features: A national bestseller that caused a huge sensation both domestically and internationally, and has been translated into Korean, German, Italian, and other languages for publication abroad. Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out portrays life's hardships with profound warmth and expresses the desire for survival when facing adversity through intense storytelling. It is a continuous road, an ancient river, a rainbow after rain, an endless memory, an unfinished folk song, and a person's life. All of this is like a bundle of ropes coiled together, gradually pulled out by Yu Hua's narration to the end of the road. In fact, it is a very long folk song, its rhythm is the speed of memory, and its melody gently leaps, with rests hidden by rhymes. The history of two people is thus awakened in more people's memories with a spirited song.
Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out tells a heartbreaking story. The book repeatedly depicts the protagonist Xu Shuang's experience of selling blood, for his wife, his children, and his mistress, time and time again. In the end, when he considers selling blood for himself, the blood bank no longer accepts his blood, leaving only tears streaming down his face. The story takes place in the 1950s and 1960s after the liberation, when the protagonist Xu Shuang was still young. He was constantly oppressed by his surroundings and had to work tirelessly for a living, yet it was still not enough. He could only maintain his life by selling blood, and whenever he felt helpless, he would think of selling blood as a solution.
As the years passed, Xu Shuang's health deteriorated day by day. To pay for his son's treatment, he persistently sold blood every 15 days to repay his debts, ultimately leading to a serious illness. The novel revolves around his experience of selling blood, unfolding the trivialities of his life and reflecting the responsibilities a man should bear—perhaps this is also a kind of helplessness in life. The novel is filled with bitter experiences but also lacks humor, such as drinking eight bowls of water before selling blood to increase the amount of blood in his body, and such strange ideas are plentiful.