The Vagrants

Yiyun Li

I would classify this as interesting, but not fascinating. Or maybe fascinating, but not engaging. It is the story of life in Muddy River, a northern Chinese town in late 1970's. The four or five main characters are introduced in the context of their lives and roles in Muddy River. Only over time are the connections between them revealed. And while this is nominally a story of a few individuals in a particular town, it is ostensibly about China and the effects of the Cultural Revolution on individuals. The main plot circles around the planned execution of a counter-revolutionary who was a former revolutionary. In both of these lives, she was fully engaged, which led her to extreme interactions with individuals in both of her political lives. Fascinating is the daily life routine of a majority of the Muddy River citizens, the daily interaction with the communist government. The pervasive presence of the central government simultaneous with the irrelevance of the central government. The individual attitudes of parents, kids, city outcasts are all very much about "here is what I need to do today", leaving the societal big picture to the government. I think in the west we have a view that our role in the big picture is more pronounced and important, but I am not sure that we have a realistic view about the impact of our egocentrism. Being drawn into thinking about and comparing cultural roles and norms from east to west is ultimately, for me, the payoff of this novel.
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