The Years, Months, Days

(Paperback)

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The Years, Months, Days is a profound and moving fable about the deep love between an old man and his blind dog trying to survive in a terrible droughtthere is no food, the villagers have left, but the old man has managed to nurture a corn seed that has germinated on a mountain top. He is devoted to this seedling.

The old man weighs the rays of the sun, working out the arithmetic of starvation and survival. Finally he realises that for his plant to survive, one of them has to be fertiliser. He loses the coin toss, lies in a grave he has dug and asks the dog to bury him.

Rich on so many levels, and not without its flashes of characteristic Yan Lianke humour, this cosmic tale will bring tears to readers eyes. The Years, Months, Days is compulsory reading for many Chinese childrenand adults. You will see why.

Reviews

Yan Lianke is one of the best contemporary Chinese writers. * Independent *
A weirdly intoxicating book that moves from passages of stark realism to the most vivid sort of nightmare fantasyA rather sentimental parable, a tale of suffering and sacrifice, a celebration of companionship and peasant ingenuity.
* Saturday Paper *
A master of imaginative satire. His work is animated by an affectionate loyalty to his peasant origins in the poverty-stricken province of Henan, and fierce anger over the political abuses of the regime. * Guardian *
One of Chinas eminent and most controversial novelists and satirists. * Chicago Tribune *
Yan Lianke well deserves to be in the Pantheon of great writers. He has no equal at attacking societal issues or the great Maoist myths in order to turn them into novels so breathtakingly powerful, shot through with black, often desperate, humor. * Le Monde Diplomatique *
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A moving fable about the love between an old man and his blind dog trying to survive.

* Mindfood *
Yan Lianke creates imaginary wounds in real bloodHis books read like the brutal folklore history couldnt bear to remember, and his characters feel stranded, forgotten by timelike Becketts most memorable charactersDesolation has rarely seemed so sensual, so insistently aliveYans vulgarity is the flip side of his sensuality, and recalls Upton Sinclairs line about aiming for his readers hearts and hitting them in the stomach. * New York Times Book Review *
A pair of shape-shifting novellasfinds the Chinese master at the top of his gameWitty, sardonic, and full of rich ironyLiankes pair of works, while set in rural China, offer a golden opportunity to reflect on our own fraught times. His satirical eye and generous heart are finely rendered in Carlos Rojas superb translation. These are tales to savour. * Toronto Star *
Emotionally loaded storiesIts hard not to be moved by the running theme of self-sacrifice[The Years, Months, Days] pays homage to the fated generation upon whose flesh and bones modern China was built. * Wall Street Journal *
The predicament it depicts is so harrowing, yet its treatment so stark and stately with a luminous beauty that makes it unearthly, that it retains a tragicomic quality that affirms the nature of art as an intimation of truth...What a hopeful book Yan Lianke has made out of the very essence of hopelessness. What a cry for life and human dignity. -- Peter Craven * Sydney Morning Herald *
An accessible and fascinating introduction to the work of this novelist, The Years, Months, Days is a moving fable deserving of a wide readership. * Irish Times *
'It is dark, yes, but there is also something sly and funny in it. It reads like a wink. It feels like a tale being told, like a fable[Liankes] writing, wonderfully translated from the Chinese by Carlos Rojas, feels like a very old, very magical folktale being passed on to you.' * Literary Hub *

Author Bio

Yan Lianke was born in 1958 in Henan Province, China. He is the author of numerous story collections and novels, including The Day the Sun Died; The Years, Months, Days; The Explosion Chronicles, which was longlisted for the Man Booker International and PEN Translation Prize; The Four Books; Lenins Kisses; Serve the People!; and Dream of Ding Village. Among his many accolades, he was awarded the Franz Kafka Prize, was twice a finalist for the Man Booker International Prize, and has been shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, the Man Asian Literary Prize, and the Prix Femina tranger. He has received two of Chinas most prestigious literary honors, the Lu Xun Prize and the Lao She Award. He lives in Bejing.

Carlos Rojas is Associate Professor in the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Duke University. He has translated Yan Liankes five most recent books.