Cries in the Drizzle by Yu Hua

This is the first novel written by Yu Hua, who has had two other books published. This one first came out in serial form for a literary journal. The events take place in rural China during the 1970’s, during the last years of the Cultural Revolution. The action focuses on a boy and his family, and his tenuous connection with them. His parents give him away to a childless couple when he is six, and he returns to his family at age twelve, after the death of his foster father. The boy, Sun Guanglin, narrates from the first person, as an adult remembering and recreating what he experienced. His father is a ruthless bully who intimidates his sons and wife, carrying on an affair with a widow and making advances to his daughter in law. Yu Hua conveys Sun’s emotional isolation and despair and we see Sun’s attempts to reach out to others to offset his family’s rejection. The book is especially striking showing how the political situation is felt at the village level. Traditional values are scorned by the party line, yet the condemnations and punishments applied for criminal or immoral actions seem rhetorical as well as harsh. The result is a culture in limbo, with the past erased and the future uncertain.