Between The Covers :: 'The Seventh Day' Yu Hua

The Seventh Day is a vision of a novel that has struck me quite unexpectedly as I searched through my reading pile at the beginning of 2015... 

Typically the new year is a time of reflection, resolution and promises of renewal. Even the best of us; those who cynically deny the tricolon and maintain that the new year is simply another day (albeit with more dehydration and nausia). Instead my faux-contemplation was interrupted by musings on life and death far more poignant than promises to eat less and read more.

The Seventh Day follows the recently deceased Yang Fei as he struggles to negotiate his world and the spiritual realm of 'The Land of the Unburied'. Yang Fei wanders for seven days throughout his own life and the lives of his fellow travelers amongst the recently deceased.

Throughout these wanderings Yu Hua does not seek to evoke an all-encompassing vision for the life beyond, nor does he attempt to reconcile spiritual faith(s). Yang Fei's journey feels both incredibly personal and strangely universal. It's a death I'd happily claim as my own.

I am unabashedly a fan of this novel and of Yu Hua's writing, via translator Allan H. Barr. Of course the book I have read is the work of both writers and the issue of translation is one I've enjoyed revisiting on Final Draft. That I found common themes in a work ostensibly foreign to my experience is testament to the power and paradox of the translators work.

In a recent interview Yu Hua reflected on the absurd realities of modern China and their reflections in The Seventh Day's 'The Land of the Unburied'. While these elements are undoubtedly integral to the novel I could only fully appreciate them after having my attention drawn to them through this interview. Instead I found in the land of the unburied immensely entertaining as a conceit examining our lifelong quest to acquire, achieve, and belong. Through Mouse Girl and Wu Chao we vicariously enjoy a bitter requiem to the modern malaise of FOMO.

In short The Seventh Day is a discovery; a book that rewards in the story it tells and the thoughts it provokes. Well worth your time...

For the past eighteen months I have been a producer and presenter on 'Final Draft', 2SER 107.3FM's flagship literature program. Between the Covers is my attempt to share some of this wonderful world of books and writing...

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