Soap Monument

Author: Pei Dan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-08-01
Features: The author shows no intention of playing God or dictating the world, which reassures readers of their natural suspicion about the author altering reality. This attitude of presenting for presentation's sake creates a free space, allowing readers to explore the meaning in their unfamiliar lives. Though the life may be strange, it carries the scent of dreams—not the idealistic dreams of an ivory tower, but the enduring spirit of Shanghai, like the taste of Shanghai tap water. This is a story set in Shanghai in the early 1970s. The author uses language rich in life and historical depth to record "people and events of a bygone era," depicting how they struggled to survive in a somewhat perilous environment, striving for their basic dignity and respect: "Echo Garden" owner Grandma Suzhou brings her granddaughter Qianqian to Shanghai for a "respectable life"; "Wood" in "Twenty Thousand Families" refuses mediocrity and dreams of becoming a "hero"; Yu Qiuyang, despite the culturally barren era, still clings to her pursuit of beauty and refinement. However, when the struggles and struggles of these people clash violently with their environment, destruction follows, and tragedy strikes. This debut novel by Shanghai female writer Pei Dan expresses the author's reflections on history and the future, and is a novel "written for those who are light-hearted about the future."