Left Ear

Rao XuemanJun 2024

3.9

Word count: 89K words
Chapters: 5

Summary

A seventeen-year-old girl wants to be bad. Her left ear is poor—if you speak on her left side, she can't hear you. This unremarkable, introverted "I" suddenly falls for a boy named Xu Yi, while Xu Yi is pursued and won over by Li Bala, a wild girl in a long dress and green eye shadow. Heartbroken, "I" happens to become friends with Bala and meets the boy Bala truly loves: Zhang Yang. Then Bala dies in an accident. Xiao Erduo and Xu Yi date but eventually break up. Zhang and Jiang Jiao go to Beijing and live a thoroughly decadent life. When Jiang Jiao changes her name to Jiang Yaxi and steps onto the stage, Zhang Yang finally breaks up with her.

Editor's review

As the opening of the whole story, Left Ear builds an unbright adolescent world through the eyes of a seventeen-year-old girl, "I." The premise—poor hearing in the left ear, so that speaking on her left goes unheard—hints from the start at misaligned communication and missed feeling. Rao Xueman does not write secret love as a sweet secret; she braids it with Li Bala's flamboyance, Xu Yi's wavering, and Zhang Yang's silence into a group portrait of youth with a sting. The descriptions of the wild girl in green eye shadow and a long dress, and the honest rendering of the wish to "be bad," restore the adolescent contradiction of wanting to be seen and fearing to be seen through. As the first in the series, it lays out the relationships and emotional key; Bala's accidental death is the heaviest stroke and sets up the finale. Read it as a gritty record of youth rather than a beautified schoolyard fairy tale; its passages on liking, jealousy, and loss deserve slow attention.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers new to Rao Xueman's youth novels
Teen readers who resonate with secret love and friendship
Readers who enjoy ensemble youth narratives
Readers curious about emotional expression in early youth literature

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer light, healing stories without painful turns
Adult readers with little interest in adolescent emotional tangles
Readers expecting strong suspense or fast-paced plotting

Reading tips

Notice how "can't hear on the left" recurs in dialogue scenes; it is a key to the relationships.
Don't rush to judge Li Bala when she appears; follow Xiao Erduo's perspective first.
After finishing, read it against Left Ear: The Finale to see the echoes in the characters' fates more clearly.

版权信息
1 木子耳
2 吧啦吧啦
3 张漾
4 李珥

FAQ

How does this book relate to Left Ear: The Finale?

Left Ear is the series opening, establishing the relationships and emotional key among Xiao Erduo, Xu Yi, Li Bala, and Zhang Yang; Left Ear: The Finale is the later close, following each character after Bala's death. Read them in order.

What does "wanting to be bad" mean here?

It is a seventeen-year-old girl's honest description of her state, pointing more to adolescent rebellion against rules and the longing to be seen than to real degradation. Understand it alongside Xiao Erduo's introverted, unremarkable situation.

Why is Li Bala important?

She is the key figure who breaks into Xiao Erduo's quiet life—both Xu Yi's pursuer and the girl Zhang Yang truly loves. Her flamboyance and later accidental death directly change several characters' emotional trajectories and are a major turning point in the work.

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About the author

Rao Xueman Author · China · 1972

Rao Xueman, born in 1972 in Zigong, Sichuan, is a Chinese writer, screenwriter and lyricist. She graduated from Sichuan University of Science and Engineering and once served as editor-in-chief of the magazine Man Nüsheng. She has long devoted herself to youth literature, focusing on young people's confusion and choices in growth, relationships and family life. Her writing is delicate and close to reality, and she is good at capturing the sensitive and stubborn feelings of adolescents. Her representative works include Left Ear, Hourglass, Li Ge and Secret Fruit, many of which have been adapted into films and television series. She has had a broad influence in the field of youth literature and is known as the "leading figure of youth literature." The library holds 35 of her works, including Yi Ai, Left Wing and Betta, commonly categorized as youth literature, social fiction and modern romance.