Day Ninety-One

7/1

The Book: Serve the People by Yan Lianke

ISBN: 978-0-8021-7044-6

Suggested By: Sissy Vaughn

Where: WalMart Automotive Dept.

When: 9-10A

Music: None

Company: Alone

Pages: 65-191 (126)

The Lead In: The last couple of days have been incredibly hectic due to job stuff, and I feel I haven’t been fair in the focus on this book. Got a lot of reading done today, while waiting on my car’s oil to get changed.

The 411 on the 55: OK, quick buzz through this as I am almost done with the book. Wu is a young man who is trying to get promoted within the political system in China, he does this by working in the military. As a chance to move up, he takes a position working in the house of the commander. When the commander leaves town for a bit, the wife of the commander, Liu, decides to seduce him.

He is reluctant at first, but eventually gives in. The rebellion of this relationship extends beyonds the simple bonds of marriage that both of them are breaking. It is also an issue of class difference, military protocol and political viewpoints. They find love in the most complicated of situation.

After several months of awesomeness, the commander returns and Wu is sent off to the village where his family lives. He is cold to his wife and gives up on trying to make it work, returning to his army base. When he arrives, he discovers the entire regiment has been broken up and disbanded. He, unlike the other soldiers, has been given a nice office job in the city, just as Liu had promised him.

Line of the Day: “‘Serve the People,’ she said, ‘take it off.” pg 87

Fact on the Fiction: “Mao’s two most famous essays, both from 1937, 'On Contradiction' and 'On Practice', are concerned with the practical strategies of a revolutionary movement and stress the importance of practical, grassroots knowledge, obtained through experience. Both essays reflect the guerrilla roots of Maoism in the need to build up support in the countryside against a Japanese occupying force and emphasise the need to win over 'hearts and minds' through 'education'.” Wikipedia