Insisting on being stubborn and not understanding

Author: Fang Di
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-05-01
Features: The rapid changes in society have discarded the middle-aged intellectual women, who have been influenced by traditional education, from their usual life. Their proud marriage may disappear instantly, their stable jobs may be lost at any moment, and their long-held sense of dignity and self-respect may be eroded by the changes in life. Even the behavior they despise, such as selling their emotions, may become part of life. Faced with this helpless reality, most of them appear overwhelmed, and their tragic fate becomes inevitable. The novel lacks grand scenes but details the trivialities of life, yet it is rendered in a way that leaves readers sighing repeatedly. The narrative is straightforward and steady, but beneath the calm surface, there are turbulent undercurrents. The more you read, the more it captivates you, much like tea steeped in cold water that gradually becomes strong. The author excels at psychological descriptions, peeling away the layers of the protagonist's inner self—her self-respect, arrogance, vanity, desires, suppression, struggles, contradictions, and pain—until nothing is left. As a result, the protagonist's life tragedy becomes deeply moving.