Chronicle of a Blood Merchant (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781400031856)

From the acclaimed author of Brothers and China in Ten Words here is Yu Hua's unflinching portrait of life under Chairman Mao. A cart-pusher in a silk mill, Xu Sanguan augments his meager salary with regular visits to the local blood chief. His visits become lethally frequent as he struggles to provide for his wife and three sons at the height of the Cultural Revolution. Shattered to discover that his favorite son was actually born of a liaison between his wife and a neighbor, he suffers his greatest indignity, while his wife is publicly scorned as a prostitute. Although the poverty and betrayals of Mao's regime have drained him, Xu Sanguan ultimately finds strength in the blood ties of his family. With rare emotional intensity, grippingly raw descriptions of place and time, and clear-eyed compassion, Yu Hua gives us a stunning tapestry of human life in the grave particulars of one man's days.

Author: Yu Hua
ISBN-10: 1400031850
ISBN-13: 9781400031856
Publisher: Anchor Books
Language: English
Published: 11/09/2004
Pages: 272
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.46lbs
Size: 8.06h x 5.24w x 0.57d

Review Citation(s):
Kliatt 05/01/2005 pg. 26
New York Review of Books 10/11/2012 pg. 47