Boy in the Twilight

How much happiness should one expect? How much security? How much adventure? What sorts of kitchen appliances, what kind of husband? . . . The stories in this collection . . . deal with the treachery latent in ordinary human relationships: marriages, friendships, professional contacts, and the bonds between parents and children. Living at a time when competition, consumerism, and global youth culture challenged traditional morals, Yu's characters find themselves caught between obsolete codes for proper behavior and novel modes of being. . . . Hua's 'hidden' China . . . is one of regular people: not allegorical caricatures or media archetypes, but men and women struggling to sort out their lives in the early years of reform. --Drew Calvert, Boston Review The prolific Yu's stories tease the reader to expect some epiphany, but the real payoff lies subtly within. . . . A series of quirky folktales cast in a modern-day setting. . . . He uses the soft patter of language to wash away at least some of the hardened surface, and enduring mystery, of human behavior. . . . Demonstrates Yu's strength as a writer. --Jonathan Liebson, Time Out New York A Chinese writer noted for his 'popular realism' sketches a portrait of his country through fictional vignettes of everyday life. -- O, the Oprah Magazine, Ten Titles That Will Broaden Your Point of View The stories in Yu Hua's Boy in the Twilight mine the lives of ordinary folks in small-town China. --Elissa Schappell, Vanity Fair Boy in the Twilight: Stories of the Hidden China, written in the 1990s and newly translated into English, showcased this acclaimed writer's mastery of the popular realism that was in vogue during China's reform era, with mesmerizing tales on subjects ranging from generational conflict to childhood poverty to a notorious village bully. --Lisa Shea, Elle Yu's clear-eyed voice perfectly suits the lives of his characters, whose hu