Breathing (Contemporary Writers)

This Chinese novel is set in Shanghai in the late 1980s. Luo Ke, the protagonist, works as a part-time shop window painter. He once served in the army for several years and fought in the Vietnam War at the close of the 60s, when he was still young. The plot unfolds in his relationships with five women—Yin Mang, a college student; Yin Chu, her sister; Ou Xiaolin, an actress; Liu Yazhi, an art teacher; and Xiang An, a worker. The past, the present, and the future overlap when the writer narrates their complicated family histories, mutual dependence and betrayal, eccentric and introspective way of living, excessive thinking and obsession with eternity as a result of previous traumas. It is a tale of love and desire filled with resounding reminiscence. When people start to waver and hesitate, their present desire ends, and a new episode of life begins, with signs of the changing times waiting for the readers to find out.