The Double

Name: The Double
ISBN: 9787559490865

黄不会Jun 2026

2.6

Word count: 138K words
Chapters: 16
ISBN: 9787559490865

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Summary

This is a short story collection featuring stories the author wrote between 2019 and 2022. The collection ranges widely and brims with imagination, with the author turning his pen to the strange and wondrous people and stories of the world: a man travels repeatedly through time to find his beloved, only to discover that cause and effect keep looping; a mysterious twelfth-floor elevator suddenly appears in a six-story residential complex; a "double-speed" boy whose body and age mature and age faster than his peers; a down-and-out songwriter who suddenly receives an invitation from a famous musician... Across these wildly varied and imaginative stories, the author expresses his observations and reflections on the survival circumstances of contemporary young people.

Editor's review

Partition is a short story collection that maintains tension between imagination and real-world concern. Huang Buhui turns his pen to subjects such as time loops, a mysterious elevator, a speeded-up youth, and a down-and-out musician; these seemingly independent whimsical ideas all point to the predicaments of contemporary young people in time, identity, and the pressure to survive. The book's readability comes from its clever premises and brisk narrative pace, while what lingers is that beneath the absurd shell there are always concrete human emotions: obsession with love, unease about spatial alienation, anxiety over the mismatch between body and age, and doubt about the relationship between talent and opportunity. These stories suit piecemeal reading during commutes or before sleep, and also serve as samples for aspiring writers to observe short-story conception. If you prefer short fiction that is wildly imaginative yet never loses its realistic texture, this collection offers a reading experience that is both light and prickly.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Ordinary readers who enjoy short stories and read them piece by piece
Readers interested in light speculative themes such as time loops and urban oddities
Readers concerned with the survival conditions and emotional predicaments of contemporary young people
Aspiring writers who want to observe short-story conception and how subjects are handled

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer long continuous narratives and need a fully developed worldview
Science fiction fans expecting hard SF premises to be strictly self-consistent
Readers with low tolerance for absurd or jumpy plotting

Reading tips

Read piece by piece following the table of contents; pause after each story and reflect on the real-world reference behind its premise.
Start with the time-loop and elevator stories to see how the author handles whimsy and the everyday in different ways.
Keep a pen handy to mark plot turns that surprise you, then look back after finishing to see whether these turns serve the characters.
If using the book for writing study, try distilling a one-sentence core conflict for each story and compare the differences between subjects.

版权信息
总序行业文学的“电力样本”
烟雾弥漫
烫
困
迷魂记
早熟
打回原形
出生入死
松子
在十二楼的升降梯上
蒙太奇受害
分身术
伴郎
五禽戏
后记在开始之前或者结束之后

FAQ

Is this book a novel or a short story collection?

It is a short story collection featuring several stories the author wrote between 2019 and 2022. Each story has its own subject and can be read separately; you need not finish them all in order at once.

Are the stories more science fiction or more realistic?

Most stories have light speculative or absurd premises, such as time loops, a mysterious elevator, and a speeded-up youth, but they land on realistic emotions and observations of young people's survival. This is not hard science fiction in the strict sense.

Is it suitable for reading in one sitting?

The subjects vary widely, and reading them all at once can make the premises blur together. Reading in several sessions with space between stories is better, so you can better appreciate the author's shared concerns across different subjects.

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About the author

黄不会 Author

Huang Buhui is an author about whom limited public information is available; little can be confirmed, and details such as dates of birth and death, nationality, and educational background have not been clearly recorded. One work by this author is held in the collection, the social novel The Double, which currently serves as the main basis for understanding their writing. Judging from this single work, Huang Buhui writes in the field of social fiction, focusing on realistic subjects and using the novel form to present social life and the circumstances of characters. Because the author has disclosed very little personal information, it is difficult to make a fuller judgment about their writing career, the formation of their style, or their overall achievements. Readers who wish to learn more about this author may begin with The Double and consider its narrative orientation and choice of subject matter. Further public information would be welcome to complete the picture of Huang Buhui and their work.