Readers' rating:
Published Mar 2018
384 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
Meditating on connection and loneliness, community and family, Someone to Talk To traces the unexpected and far-reaching ramifications of seemingly inconsequential actions, while reminding us all of the importance of communication.
Tofu peddler Yang Baishun is a man of few words and few friends. Unable to find meaningful companionship, he settles for a marriage of convenience. When his wife leaves him for another man he is left to care for his five-year-old stepdaughter Qiaoling, who is subsequently kidnapped, never to be seen by Yang again. Seventy years later we find Niu Aiguo, who, like Yang, struggles to connect with other people. As Niu begins learning about his recently deceased mother's murky past it becomes clear that Qiaoling is the mysterious bond that links Yang and Niu.
Originally published in China in 2009 and appearing in English for the first time, Liu Zhenyun's award-winning Someone to Talk To highlights the contours of everyday life in pre- and post-Mao China, where regular people struggle to make a living and establish homes and families.
"Starred Review. A chronicle of lives of quiet desperation lived half a world away, understated and thoughtful, cheerless without being morose." - Kirkus
"A stunning display of the mimetic power of language and narrative, and through masterful arrangement of sentences seeking and connecting with each other, Someone to Talk To invites all of us to rethink the meaning of realism and, for that matter, of literature as such." - Xudong Zhang, author of The Four Books
"Liu Zhenyun's work enjoys a unique position within the Chinese world, in that not only does he have many, many fans, his works have a distinctive artistic quality that has fascinated and entranced scholars for decades. Beyond their inherent humor and sagacity, his novels also offer a glimpse into the darkness and stillness that characterizes the relationship between humans and the world." - Yan Lianke, author of Postsocialism and Cultural Politics: China in the Last Decade of the Twentieth Century
This information about Someone to Talk To was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Liu Zhenyun is the author of over a dozen novels, including I Did Not Kill My Husband and The Cook, the Crook, and the Real Estate Tycoon.
The House on Biscayne Bay
by Chanel Cleeton
As death stalks a gothic mansion in Miami, the lives of two women intertwine as the past and present collide.
The Flower Sisters
by Michelle Collins Anderson
From the new Fannie Flagg of the Ozarks, a richly-woven story of family, forgiveness, and reinvention.
The Funeral Cryer by Wenyan Lu
Debut novelist Wenyan Lu brings us this witty yet profound story about one woman's midlife reawakening in contemporary rural China.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
