Our Family

Name: Our Family
ISBN: 9787559800848

颜歌Guangxi Normal University Press · ChinaOct 2020

4.1

Word count: 135K words
Chapters: 11
ISBN: 9787559800848

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Summary

This is the second volume of Yan Ge's ongoing "Pingle Town Trilogy." The protagonist, Duan Yixing—the narrator "I"—never appears in the novel and never advances the plot. Through the innocent voice of this mad daughter, the author recounts the household's preparations for Grandmother's eightieth birthday banquet, especially those of her father, Xue Shengqiang, manager of the Chunjuan Doubanjiang factory in Pingle Town. Family members scattered far and wide return to the town, stirring up old grievances and bittersweet memories; as the banquet draws near, old and new secrets surface and, like time bombs, all explode at once. Comic, vivid, uninhibited, and sharp-tongued, the overlapping montage passages weave past and present seamlessly together, like a lively genre painting of a small town in western Sichuan, and also like a word adventure that plunges into the Sichuan dialect. For this book, Yan Ge received the Chinese Literature Media Award for Best New Writer (2013), the Sichuan Literature Award (2015), and the Mao Dun Literature Newcomer Award (2016), among others.

Editor's review

Yan Ge's *Our Family* uses the innocent perspective of the mad daughter Duan Yixing to tell of the family undercurrents behind an eightieth birthday banquet for Grandmother in a small town in western Sichuan. The narrator never appears in the novel, yet with her pure voice she links together the ways of the world in Pingle Town; this structure is itself a bold literary experiment. The use of Sichuan dialect in the book is lively and sharp, and the banquet preparations act like a fuse, step by step detonating the family's old grievances and secrets; comedy and gravity alternate, making it both funny and bittersweet to read. Against the backdrop of a genre painting, it embarks on a word adventure, turning everyday trivialities into a family farce, yet through the laughter it reveals a complex understanding of kinship and memory. It is suitable for reading in one sitting in one's spare time, to enjoy the rhythmic pleasure brought by dialect narrative; it is also suitable as a research sample for dialect writing and family narrative in contemporary Chinese-language novels, to be savored repeatedly for its montage-like overlapping passages and handling of time.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy contemporary Chinese-language novels and prefer dialect narrative and family themes
Literary researchers or writing enthusiasts interested in dialect writing and experiments with narrative perspective
Readers who want to experience the customs and street life of a small town in western Sichuan through fiction
Readers following Yan Ge's creative trajectory and hoping to understand her Pingle Town series

Not a good fit for

Readers who find extensive Sichuan dialect expressions an obstacle to reading and prefer standard written Chinese
Traditional story readers who expect linear plot progression and a clear protagonist growth arc
Readers with little interest in everyday matters such as family disputes and banquet preparations

Reading tips

It is advisable first to accept the feel of the dialect without looking up every word, and to read on along the narrative rhythm
Note how the mad daughter's voice links the characters while absent, and appreciate the brilliance of the perspective experiment
After finishing the book, revisit the passages where secrets explode around the banquet to sort out the structure of overlapping time
If reading the Pingle Town series, compare this book with the first volume to observe different facets of the same small town

About the publisher

Guangxi Normal University Press China · Founded in 1986

Guangxi Normal University Press is a publisher known for literature, foreign literature and history titles. Its 1,175 books in the database show a solid accumulation in classics and prose collections, including foreign literary works such as Les Fleurs du mal: Annotated Poems of Baudelaire, Snow Country, Dubliners and The Wild Palms, as well as modern prose compilations like The Complete Prose of Zhou Zuoren. History and philosophy also hold a notable share, with titles such as Running Dogs: Clerks and Runners in Qing County Yamen and The History and Thought of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom reflecting attention to Qing local administration and modern history. In art literature there is the 16-volume Ten Bamboo Studio Painting and Calligraphy Manual. Its author resources include foreign writers Charles Baudelaire and Yasunari Kawabata, translators and annotators Liu Nanqi and Zou Bo, and scholars such as Zhong Shuhe, Bradly W. Reed and You Chenjun. As public information is limited, this characterization is based only on the books in the database, which together present a profile balancing Chinese and foreign literary classics with academic works in the humanities and social sciences.

版权信息
第一章
第二章
第三章
第四章
第五章
第六章
第七章
第八章
第九章
第十章

FAQ

Which volume of the Pingle Town trilogy is this book?

*Our Family* is the second volume of Yan Ge's "Pingle Town Trilogy." It continues the same small-town setting, but the story is relatively independent; reading this book first and then the others will not affect comprehension.

Why does the narrator "I" never appear in the novel?

Duan Yixing is the family's mad daughter; the author has her tell family matters in an innocent voice but does not let her appear to advance the plot. This treatment makes the narrative like a floating observation, both close and detached, enhancing the text's experimental feel.

Can it be understood without any foundation in Sichuan dialect?

Yes. The dialect in the book mainly creates a sense of language and local atmosphere; the key plot and relationships do not depend on knowledge of the dialect. On first reading, simply follow the context; individual words and phrases can be inferred from the surrounding text.

Is this book suitable as material for understanding western Sichuan customs?

It is more like a lively genre painting of small-town customs. Details such as the birthday banquet, the doubanjiang factory, and family interactions have a texture of real life, but it is, after all, a novel rather than a folklore study; it is best read as a literary experience of customs.

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About the author

颜歌 Author

Yan Ge is a Chinese-language fiction writer whose four works are included in this collection, with representative titles such as The Queen of May, Collected Sad Stories of Pingle Town, and Our Family. Public information about her nationality, dates of birth and death, and educational background is limited, so no inferences are made here. Judging from the available works, her writing often centers on family relationships and local human ties within social life, and is commonly categorized as social fiction and classic works. Collected Sad Stories of Pingle Town uses a small town as its narrative space, gathering multiple stories that present the joys and sorrows and changes in ordinary people's daily lives; The Queen of May and Our Family likewise focus on individuals' situations within family and society. Her narration emphasizes detail and character psychology, with plain language carrying a local flavor, and she is skilled at drawing emotional tension from ordinary life. These works offer readable examples for understanding the small-town writing in contemporary Chinese fiction.