My personal feeling is that the descriptions of Fan Song and Li Lan in the first half are masterpieces, and the two typical characters vividly depict the tyranny given to people by the times, which is the emotional peak of the book. The life changes of Li Guangtou, Song Gang and Lin Hong in the second half highlight people's bizarre life and mental state under the condition of material prosperity, and do not continue the feelings in the first half. At the end of the book, I feel absurd and uninhibited.
Maybe I'm too superficial to understand the author's intention.
The following is the story outline of the book.
The story took place in Jin Ryu, a small town in the south of the Yangtze River in the 1960s. Li Guangtou and Song Gang, two brothers who are neither father nor mother, have embarked on completely different life paths because of their different personalities and choices. In these 40 years, the Cultural Revolution and the reform and opening-up have occurred one after another, affecting the lives of hundreds of millions of people in China. The people of China, represented by Liu Zhen, have experienced the brand of the times of sadness and joy.
Li Guangtou and Song Gang, one died because his biological father peeked at a woman's note in the toilet, and the other died because his biological mother was ill. With the help of adults, the two children became brothers without father and mother. But the happy life of a family of four only lasted for more than a year, and the Cultural Revolution broke out. People in Jin Ryu were constantly being branded as class enemies because of their origins, and Song Fanping, the father of the two brothers, was not spared and was criticized and died. In the next eight years, mother Li Lan supported the family by herself. Li Guangtou died of uremia when he was about to become an adult. The two brothers began to live together.
After the Cultural Revolution, China ushered in a new period of reform and opening up. At the same time, Li Guangtou and Song Gang fell in love with Liu Zhen's flower Lin Hong. As a result, Lin Hong chose honest and honest Song Gang among them. Li Guangtou, who is selfish and hot, immediately chose to sever the relationship with Song Gang, but the brotherhood between the two is still surging. In the following twenty years, Li Guangtou started his own business, and his business grew bigger and bigger, finally becoming the richest man in the county. However, due to the closure of the factory, the relationship between Song Gang and Lin Hong is very bad. He didn't want Lm Hong to be overburdened, and even went out to do a small business that he was not good at. While Song Gang was away, Lin Hong, driven by money and status, became a plaything of Li Guangtou. When Song Gang learned the news, he didn't blame them, but chose to commit suicide. Li Guangtou, Song Gang, Lin Hong, and all the people in Six Towns, under the opportunity of reform and opening up, their lives have undergone tremendous changes, and the stock market has also ended in absurdity.