The Warmth of a Humble Family

Name: The Warmth of a Humble Family
ISBN: 9787550726086

彭见明Haitian Publishing House · ChinaApr 2020

3.8

Word count: 73K words
Chapters: 9
ISBN: 9787550726086

Report an error Find this book

Summary

A book written in plain words and everyday talk. A book clear, brisk and full of warmth. A book that endures hardship without complaint, bears humiliation quietly, always overcomes difficulties, shows no sharp edges, is cold in circumstances yet never cold in spirit. A book of countless good deeds done without thought of reward. A book about the warmth of a five-generation family living at the very bottom of society. A book finely crafted and full of charm.

Editor's review

The Warmth of a Poor Household is novelist Peng Jianming's latest full-length novel, continuing his creative vein of rooting himself in the countryside and focusing on ordinary people. With delicate, gentle strokes it depicts the life of an ordinary rural family—the Zhou family, a "poor household"—in northern Hunan in the 1970s and 1980s. The novel does not focus on grand historical narrative or dramatic conflicts of fate; through finely carving everyday labor, human dealings and the subtle emotions within the family, it shows the dignity, kindness and resilience ordinary people upheld in an age of material scarcity. Peng Jianming's prose is plain yet poetic; he is good at capturing overlooked details of life and glimmers of human nature, letting a "warmth" rooted in the land and in bloodline flow slowly through seemingly plain narration. This "warmth" is not deliberate sentimentality but comes from an honest portrayal and deep understanding of life; it is a tribute to and elevation of the spiritual core of the "poor household." In today's reading environment of widespread anxiety and pursuit of quick results, this work offers a quiet yet powerful response, reminding us to attend to the enduring values that form the底色 of life.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in rural social change and everyday life in China in the last century
Readers who appreciate plain, profound literary styles rich in the texture of life
Readers hoping to draw spiritual comfort and inner strength from ordinary stories
Literary enthusiasts who study or follow contemporary Chinese rural literature

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking strong plot, fast pace and dramatic conflict
Readers completely unfamiliar with and uninterested in the local customs of a particular region (northern Hunan)

Reading tips

Read in a relatively quiet setting to better immerse yourself in the atmosphere and rhythm the work creates.
Approach it as a "slice-of-life" novel, attending to characters' daily words, deeds and psychological flow rather than expecting one core event running throughout.
As you read, note how the author shapes characters and conveys emotion through extremely subtle dialogue, actions and environmental description.

About the publisher

Haitian Publishing House China · Founded in 1984

Haitian Publishing House publishes in such areas as world history, biography, foreign literature, cultural theory and essays, with a sideline in art documentation. Representative titles held in the collection include Tim Weiner's Legacy of Ashes and The CIA: A History of Sixty Years, Wang Chaozhu's Meritorious Officials and Criminals: The Tragedy of Pan Hannian, a Chinese translation of Marcel Proust's Seventy-Five Pages, the gongbi and comprehensive volumes of The Complete Works of Zou Chuan'an, and A Brief History of the Academy: A Thousand-Year Song. Among the translators and authors associated with these works are Du Mo, Lin Tiangui, Wei Zonglei, Du Qinggang and Cheng Jing. Overall, the press has built up a body of work in historical reportage, biography and the translation of foreign literature, alongside traditional culture and art titles; as public information is limited, this profile is based only on the books held in the collection.

版权信息
一关于幸福
二我的崇拜
三旧梦长绕
四怡然若羽
五天宽地阔
六 “走根笋”源
七足够大写
八如凛如然

FAQ

What story does The Warmth of a Poor Household mainly tell?

The novel centers on the Zhou family in a village in northern Hunan. Through the perspectives of family members (such as the father, Old Zhou, and the son, Zhou Lichun), it depicts their daily life, labor, emotions and choices from the collective-farming era to the early days of reform and opening-up, showing an ordinary family's steadfastness and warmth amid changing times.

What is author Peng Jianming's creative background?

Peng Jianming is a renowned contemporary Chinese writer from Pingjiang, Hunan, long devoted to rural literature. His works are mostly set in northern Hunan villages, with a plain and profound style, and he is skilled at portraying ordinary people's fate and inner world; his representative works include Wan Gu and Da Ze. The Warmth of a Poor Household is another major work from his deep cultivation of rural themes.

What is the book's literary style and reading experience like?

Its literary style is plain, delicate and unhurried, with a strong rural flavor and texture of life. The reading experience is closer to a slowly unfolding scroll of rural life; readers need to quietly savor the undercurrents of emotion and the warmth of human nature between the lines rather than seek plot excitement. It offers a calm, warm and slightly nostalgic reading experience.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

彭见明 Author

Peng Jianming is the author of the work Han Men Zhi Nuan (The Warmth of a Humble Household), the only title by him currently included in this Chinese book database. No further public information is available about his life, nationality, or dates of birth and death, and his work is commonly classified under essays and miscellaneous writings. Based on the limited material available, Peng Jianming writes mainly essays that stay close to everyday human relationships and lived experience. The title The Warmth of a Humble Household suggests a focus on the tenderness found within modest or straitened circumstances, and his style appears plain and restrained, attentive to the warmth and coldness of human feeling in small details. Because public information is limited, a full picture of his writing and literary influence cannot yet be drawn; readers may nevertheless approach this work to understand his orientation in essay writing: depicting ordinary people's situations and emotions in a simple manner, making subtle life experience the center of the text.