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The vagrants: a novel

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Language:
English
Description
In luminous prose, award-winning author Yiyun Li weaves together the lives of unforgettable characters who are forced to make moral choices, and choices for survival, in China in the late 1970s. 
Shortlisted for the 2011 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award 
Morning dawns on the provincial city of Muddy River. A young woman, Gu Shan, a bold spirit and a follower of Chairman Mao, has renounced her faith in Communism. Now a political prisoner, she is to be executed for her dissent. Her distraught mother, determined to follow the custom of burning her only child’s clothing to ease her journey into the next world, is about to make another bold decision. Shan’s father, Teacher Gu, who has already, in his heart and mind, buried his rebellious daughter, begins to retreat into memories. Neither of them imagines that their daughter’s death will have profound and far-reaching effects, in Muddy River and beyond.
In luminous prose, Yiyun Li weaves together the lives of these and other unforgettable characters, including a serious seven-year-old boy, Tong; a 
crippled girl named Nini; the sinister idler Bashi; and Kai, a beautiful radio news announcer who is married to a man from a powerful family. Life in a world of oppression and pain is portrayed through stories of resilience, sacrifice, perversion, courage, and belief. We read of delicate moments and acts of violence by mothers, sons, husbands, neighbors, wives, lovers, and more, as Gu Shan’s execution spurs a brutal government reaction.
Writing with profound emotion, and in the superb tradition of fiction by such writers as Orhan Pamuk and J. M. Coetzee, Yiyun Li gives us a stunning novel that is at once a picture of life in a special part of the world during a historic period, a universal portrait of human frailty and courage, and a mesmerizing work of art.
Praise for The Vagrants
“She bridges our world to the Chinese world with a mind that is incredibly supple and subtle.”W Magazine
“A Balzacian look at one community’s suppressed loves and betrayals.”—Vogue
“A sweeping novel of struggle, survival, and love in the time of oppression. . . . [an] illuminating, morally complex, and symphonic novel.”O Magazine
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ISBN:
9781400063130
9781456111564
9781588367730
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Grouping Information

Grouped Work ID916d2314-bca5-7698-b4a4-4d067e814367
Grouping Titlevagrants
Grouping Authoryiyun li
Grouping Categorybook
Grouping LanguageEnglish (eng)
Last Grouping Update2024-03-28 02:11:39AM
Last Indexed2024-03-28 02:24:37AM

Solr Fields

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0
accelerated_reader_reading_level
0
auth_author2
Chung, Jackie
author
Li, Yiyun, 1972-
author2-role
Chung, Jackie,reader
hoopla digital
author_display
Li, Yiyun
detailed_location_catalog
North Natomas
display_description
In luminous prose, award-winning author Yiyun Li weaves together the lives of unforgettable characters who are forced to make moral choices, and choices for survival, in China in the late 1970s. 
Shortlisted for the 2011 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award 
Morning dawns on the provincial city of Muddy River. A young woman, Gu Shan, a bold spirit and a follower of Chairman Mao, has renounced her faith in Communism. Now a political prisoner, she is to be executed for her dissent. Her distraught mother, determined to follow the custom of burning her only child’s clothing to ease her journey into the next world, is about to make another bold decision. Shan’s father, Teacher Gu, who has already, in his heart and mind, buried his rebellious daughter, begins to retreat into memories. Neither of them imagines that their daughter’s death will have profound and far-reaching effects, in Muddy River and beyond.
In luminous prose, Yiyun Li weaves together the lives of these and other unforgettable characters, including a serious seven-year-old boy, Tong; a 
crippled girl named Nini; the sinister idler Bashi; and Kai, a beautiful radio news announcer who is married to a man from a powerful family. Life in a world of oppression and pain is portrayed through stories of resilience, sacrifice, perversion, courage, and belief. We read of delicate moments and acts of violence by mothers, sons, husbands, neighbors, wives, lovers, and more, as Gu Shan’s execution spurs a brutal government reaction.
Writing with profound emotion, and in the superb tradition of fiction by such writers as Orhan Pamuk and J. M. Coetzee, Yiyun Li gives us a stunning novel that is at once a picture of life in a special part of the world during a historic period, a universal portrait of human frailty and courage, and a mesmerizing work of art.
Praise for The Vagrants
“She bridges our world to the Chinese world with a mind that is incredibly supple and subtle.”W Magazine
“A Balzacian look at one community’s suppressed loves and betrayals.”—Vogue
“A sweeping novel of struggle, survival, and love in the time of oppression. . . . [an] illuminating, morally complex, and symphonic novel.”O Magazine
format_catalog
Book
eAudiobook
eBook
format_category_catalog
Audio Books
Books
eBook
id
916d2314-bca5-7698-b4a4-4d067e814367
isbn
9781400063130
9781456111564
9781588367730
itype_catalog
Adult Fiction
last_indexed
2024-03-28T09:24:37.294Z
lexile_score
-1
literary_form
Fiction
literary_form_full
Fiction
Novels
local_callnumber_catalog
FICTION Li, Y.
owning_library_catalog
Sacramento Public Library
owning_location_catalog
North Natomas
primary_isbn
9781400063130
publishDate
2009
publisher
Random House
Random House Publishing Group
Recorded Books, Inc
Recorded Books, Inc.
recordtype
grouped_work
subject_facet
China -- History -- 20th century -- Fiction
China -- Politics and government -- 20th century -- Fiction
China -- Social conditions -- 20th century -- Fiction
City and town life -- China -- Fiction
Fiction
Historical fiction
Literature -- Fiction
Metaphysics -- Fiction
Sagas -- Fiction
title_display
The vagrants : a novel
title_full
The Vagrants
The Vagrants A Novel
The Vagrants [electronic resource] / Yiyun Li
The vagrants : a novel / Yiyun Li
title_short
The vagrants
title_sub
a novel
topic_facet
City and town life
Fiction
History
Literature
Metaphysics
Politics and government
Sagas
Social conditions

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