Brother. Downwards

Author: Yu Hua
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-03-01
Features: As last year's Chinese novelist known for "creating suspense"—Yu Hua, after publishing the first part of Brothers, a 180,000-word novel, in July last year, he completed the second part of the novel, which is 330,000 words long, in late February this year. Brothers thus becomes Yu Hua's longest work to date. Brothers is also the first time Yu Hua has used an "epilogue" in his writing. The second part, including the epilogue, consists of 51 chapters. The first two or three chapters describe the happy and peaceful life of the two brothers after they start earning salaries. Next, seven chapters detail the "triangle relationship" between the brothers and Lin Hong, spanning over 60,000 words.
As last year's Chinese novelist known for "creating suspense"—Yu Hua, after publishing the first part of Brothers, a 180,000-word novel, in July last year, he completed the second part of the novel, which is 330,000 words long, in late February this year. Brothers thus becomes Yu Hua's longest work to date. Brothers is also the first time Yu Hua has used an "epilogue" in his writing. The second part, including the epilogue, consists of 51 chapters. The first two or three chapters describe the happy and peaceful life of the two brothers after they start earning salaries. Next, seven chapters detail the "triangle relationship" between the brothers and Lin Hong, spanning over 60,000 words.
In the first part of Brothers, some have said that Yu Hua began "cooking a feast of death" with the death of Song Gang's father, Song Fanping. In the second part, he will not continue "cooking the feast of death"—except for Song Gang's suicide, which was an unnatural death. Others, such as Song Gang's grandfather, Old Guan the scissors maker, and Zhang the tailor, all experience the natural cycle of life and death. In the second part, Song Gang faces the fate of his factory's bankruptcy and gradually descends into poverty. Later, due to various complex reasons, he commits suicide in his 40s. When he died, Lin Hong and Li Guangtou were on the same bed. Before his death, Song Gang wrote letters to both Lin Hong and Li Guangtou.
Lin Hong is a typical woman who connects the present with the past, unlike those born after the 1980s. Song Gang's death makes her highly successful in business, much like the former Li Guangtou, while Li Guangtou loses all desires and becomes uninterested in making money. His only wish is to go to space and take his brother Song Gang's ashes with him.
In the epilogue, Yu Hua reveals Li Guangtou's fate. "He is going to space. He has even hired two Russian students to teach him Russian and has been doing physical training. This is because Li Guangtou saw on TV that in space, the orbit allows one to witness 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets every day. Li Guangtou wants to place Song Gang's ashes in orbit, letting Song Gang float between the moon and the stars. Finally, Li Guangtou says in Russian, 'My brother Song Gang is an alien.'"