Farewell
Tags
Summary
Some feeling surges up from the bottom of Xiao Zhe's heart—perhaps sadness, perhaps a fear of impermanence.
This is the "Human Subject" Research Institute, devoted to the most cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology, a place where a chosen few are allowed to live. Xiao Zhe lives here with his father, a researcher. Things one does not wish to see can be casually discarded, and no one cares where those things go.
Until one day, Xiao Zhe is taken away. The destination is the Abandoned Robot Shelter.
The world burns away redundancy in the name of efficiency: scrapped robots, eliminated genes, useless memories, humans whose abilities are destined to have limits... When all life falls silent, with no death pressing from behind, eternity flowing through the body—can one still believe? Believe in stories, believe that consciousness can exist apart from the flesh, believe that love can be born from a chip, believe that farewell, even if it must pass through billions of kalpas, will still meet with reunion?
"You will see and feel all the beautiful things in the world. Don't worry."
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Readers who enjoy soft science fiction with humanistic and ethical themes
- Reflective readers concerned with artificial intelligence, memory, and consciousness
- Literary readers comfortable with a slow pace and emotionally restrained narration
- Those looking for a contemporary novel suitable for book-club discussion
Not a good fit for
- Readers seeking strong plot and fast-paced technological adventure
- Hard science fiction fans hoping for explicit explanations of the technology
- Readers impatient with a child's perspective and philosophical narration
Reading tips
- Read slowly, chapter by chapter, and note Xiao Zhe's every reaction to discarding and farewell, piecing together the emotional thread.
- Don't rush to understand every detail of the institute's setting; focus instead on the characters' feelings and choices.
- After finishing, spend ten minutes writing down your own understanding of farewell and memory, then revisit the ending.
- If reading with friends, hold a discussion on whether efficiency and emotion must conflict.
About the publisher
Guowen Runhua Culture Media (Beijing) Co., Ltd. is a book planning organization whose main publishing areas are foreign literature, science fiction and social novels, with 34 titles in its catalogue. Its representative list combines Korean and French literature, ranging from Choi Eun-young's Even with the Faintest Light and Kim Cho-yeop's The World Just Left Behind to Georges Perec's W: My Private Auschwitz; works such as Hwang Sok-yong's The Familiar World and Welcome to the Bookshop in Hyunam-dong reflect an attention to social reality and everyday experience. Its translators and authors include Xu Lihong, Xue Zhou, Fan Yanmei and Wang Jin, indicating a stable translator base for introducing contemporary foreign fiction. Because public information is limited, other publishing areas are not described here.
Contents
- 版权信息
- 埋葬栗耳鹎的那天
- 你得和我们一起走
- 原来有外面
- 生而为人
- 使用感
- 购物失败的证据
- 逃脱
- 梦中的风景
- 冬日的湖水和鱼鹰
- 达摩
- 审判
- 事到尽头方知晓
- 体内的开关
- 机器的时间
- 变成猫
- 纯粹的意识
- 平静来到爸爸的心里
- 神仙
- 最后的人
- 作家的话
FAQ
Is this book hard science fiction?
Why does the story begin with burying a small animal?
Does the ending give a clear answer?
Comments
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About the author
Kim Young-ha is an author about whom limited public information is available. The library currently holds only one work by this author, Farewell, commonly classified as science fiction. Because reliable information on nationality, dates of birth and death, and English name is lacking, no speculation is made here; instead, a brief note is offered on what the available work suggests. Farewell is categorized as science fiction, indicating that the author works within this genre, using imaginative premises to explore characters' situations and emotional relationships. The title itself carries a sense of parting, hinting that beneath the science-fictional surface the work may focus on separations, reunions, and memory between people. The available information is not enough to trace the author's full body of work or literary standing. Readers wishing to learn about Kim Young-ha may begin with Farewell and consider its narrative orientation and stylistic features within science fiction.
Xu Lihong is a Chinese-language book author about whom relatively limited information is publicly available; her nationality, dates of birth and death, and English name are not clearly recorded in accessible sources. The library holds seven of her works, including Even with the Faintest Light, Please Take Good Care of My Mother, The Choe Eun-young Classic Works Collection: Women's Friendship Collector's Edition (Three Volumes), Farewell, At Dusk, Someone Harmless to Me, and Even So, I Still Want to Live Passionately. These titles are mostly classified as foreign literature, with some also falling under science fiction and inspirational growth. The titles and the collection's theme suggest an interest in women's friendships, family ties, and everyday emotional experience, with a gentle and delicate narrative tendency and reflections on perseverance and self-healing in life. Because public information is limited, further details of her life and writing background cannot be introduced here, and readers may learn about her work through the books themselves.
