"Sitting Temporarily", written by Jia Ping'ao, published by Writers Press, 217,000 words.
The first novel I read by Jia was "Impetuous", and later "Abandoned Capital", "Remembering the Wolf" and "Qin Opera". The most recent book I read about Jia was "With Lamp", which I read the year before last; I also heard about his "Yamamoto", but I didn't have a great desire for it, so I didn't buy it. A friend bought this book. I felt sorry for not reading it, so I read it.
The technique is proficient, so the reading is smooth. Five years after returning to China, the Russian woman Eva returned to Xijing and became an employee of the female boss of the "temporary teahouse". The story revolves around the teahouse owner Hairuo and her nine close sisters, and arranges the sisters to *** A close confidant of the same family, the writer and calligrapher Yi Guang, wrote about their respective stories and relationships over the years. When Eva left Xijing with a down-and-out girl she just met through a teahouse, the story Finish.
Jia Pingwa wrote in the book: "Life is a temporary sitting, and everyone comes to the world to sit temporarily. What the novel wants to express is the whole society and the meaning of human life. This group of women also What kind of living and mental state they have, how they pursue freedom, chicness, fashion and artistic style after becoming financially independent, and how hard, confused, helpless and even depraved they are, this is also the state of everyone. "
< p>Yes, the "Ten Pieces of Jade in Xijing" and the Eva, Xin Qi, Xiao Tang, Sister Zhang and even Xia Zihua's mother around them constitute the complicated and trivial relationships and intertwined emotions in the world of women. Single, they built their own "Grand View Garden" with Hairuo as the center, taking care of and helping each other. In addition to each having financial strength, living a free and easy life, and maintaining a high quality of life, whether they are introducing men or helping each other in business, they all show the independence of women in the new era, and even have the characteristics of men in traditional society. They took turns accompanying one of the seriously ill sisters, Xia Zihua, and took meticulous care of Xia's mother and son, from birth to death, from the hospital to choosing the cemetery to arranging the future of the young and old, all showing admirable affection.But they are confused: Hairuo is troubled by the affairs of the tea house and the numerous sisters, and often suffers from insomnia. Her son's failure makes her even more anxious; Supported by her father's faith; the fierce Si Yinan, who runs a mahogany furniture business, cannot live without Xu Qi, a former actor in the county town, and their same-sex relationship is her weakness; The other party ran away, and she was extorted another 300,000 yuan by a debt collection company; Yan Nianchu, who made medical equipment, hid a disgraceful marriage and worried about his little daughter; Xi Lishui, who opened a car store, was busy asking Yi Guang to give her money after the divorce. The person to be introduced... The model Xia Zihua became a mistress, became seriously ill, and eventually died. Another sister, the calligrapher and painter Feng Ying, visited Southeast Asia and disappeared from the world with the Malaysia Airlines. All these make them uneasy and find it difficult to truly be at peace. Therefore, at the beginning of the story, they have the idea of ??welcoming the "Living Buddha", but it is not until the end that Hairuo is taken away for investigation because of his relationship with the Secretary-General of the Municipal Party Committee, and the teahouse explodes. , in this chicken-feathered life, the Living Buddha did not come either. This may just indicate the Zen and Buddhist principles of life: Buddha does not save people, people must save themselves.
It is conceivable that the gathering of sisters will be followed by the arrest of Hai Ruo, the collapse of the tea house, the deaths of Xia Zihua and Feng Ying, the return of Eva, the rift between Ying Li and Yan Nianchu, etc. Changes due to events, or even falling into a trough, may start a new reincarnation, or may remain a rhesus monkey forever. The impermanence and hope of life are always there.
Yi Guang is Jia Baoyu in the Grand View Garden. He enjoys them and is used by them. It can be seen that he admires them, but he cannot get rid of his desire as a man and as an artist collector, so he laughs at himself, "What worries me the most is that I can't get what I want." But he is obviously more transparent than them. He is the listener of their thoughts and often their leader. He said, "That's why I won't take refuge." He knew how to reconcile with himself. I vaguely read a bit of the writer's male perspective from the article. Looking at the postscript, writer Jia said that he wrote this subject because he was "unconfident." Is it because of "unconfidence" that I write about women? In this way, it seems that I really have a sense of superiority.
Jia is a prolific writer, but this should be his first novel based on the life of urban women. In this sense, it is a breakthrough. In addition, the sex here is much more hidden. Except for the time between Yi Guang and Eva, the depth of his friendship with the sisters can only be inferred from very small details. I personally feel that he has some relationship with them. past that level of relationship.
The language is also in the state of a world-view novel, which is relatively precise, but some people may find it trivial.
If we talk about the limitations, firstly, the time period is very concentrated, it is a very short cross-section, and it is not heavy; secondly, most of the ten sisters are businessmen, with similar identities, and the differences in the sisters’ personalities are still not the same. high.
Also, regarding the elegiac couplet, I checked it and made a note of it.
Yi Guang wrote two elegiac couplets for Xia Zihua for the first time. But the first couplet is not a couplet, and it is not a couplet in the strict sense:
The sky and the earth are in a sudden state, and life and death are still at dusk;
This body is not mine, and Yi Xi waits for the morning light.
The first sentence comes from the poem "Book Seat Left" by Song Boren in the Song Dynasty:
Book Seat Left
The sky and the earth are in a sudden hut, and my body is curled up.
The old man can lose his horse, but the son does not know how to fish.
I would like to live alone, be poor and have little food.
Yesterday was not the same as today, so I would rather not return home.
But the upper and lower couplets come from Ni Zan, a calligrapher and painter of the Yuan Dynasty. Ni Zan once said: "The heaven and the earth are like a sudden house, and life and death are like twilight. However, people in the world chase each other without looking back. This body is not mine, and it is easy to change." "Xi waits for the morning dew." He also said, "In the state of life and death, the place of prosperous and ruinous reputation, if you look at it from the perspective of restraint, you will be extremely sad. If you look at it from the perspective of success, it is almost impossible to smile. Why is this?" My body is not my own. What’s more, there are things outside my body!” “It’s a pity that living people can’t be full, and they can only be lonely when they are older than fifty.”
The second couplet is very neat, and it fits the explanation of Yi Guang in the article that it can express the love between sisters:
I am happy to talk about birds and birds, and the fragrance will continue to grow among trees and flowers.
From "Jinxiang Zhang's Garden Pavilion" written by Shi Yannian in the Song Dynasty:
The pavilion is connected to the city and rivals the Xie family, and the garden colors compete with the bright clouds at four seasons.
The window welcomes the West Wei Fenghou Bamboo, and the ground meets the Dongling Hermit Melon.
The birds are happy to talk to each other, and the fragrance is constantly growing among the trees and flowers.
There is nothing left to do when traveling and meeting, and you will be drunk until the moon sets.
Sister-in-law Zhang burned the elegiac couplets according to her family custom. Hairuo and the others chose a cemetery and prepared to engrave a monument. Yiguang wrote another one for the second time:
Feeling the light of rebirth Show, the fragrant sound of silence;
Sighing that Shuangtong is half alive and dead, two swords fly and sink.
He said that Xia Zihua understood. I was a little confused. I secretly felt that this was evidence that he had an affair with Xia. It might also be possible to write about the initial relationship between Xia and Hairuo and him. The source of the sentence cannot be found. It seems to be a self-created one. It is still a bit far-fetched to say it is a couplet.