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The Vagrants: A Novel Paperback – Deckle Edge, February 16, 2010

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Yiyun Li (Author)
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4.1 out of 5 stars 51 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 368 pages
  • Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks; First Edition edition (February 16, 2010)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0812973348
  • ISBN-13: 978-0812973341
  • Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.8 x 8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #447,331 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsA Captivating Ensemble Tale of the Cultural Revolution
By Steve Koss VINE VOICE on February 16, 2009
Format: Hardcover
Yiyun Li's first full-length novel, THE VAGRANTS, is another in a steadily growing line of Chinese tales, in both fictional and memoir forms, from the terrifying, chaotic years of China's Cultural Revolution. That dark period, running roughly from 1966 to Mao's death in 1976, is fast becoming the Chinese literary equivalent of the Holocaust, a source for reflection on China's cultural mores, the power of one man and his misshapen ideas, and the brutal potential of conformity and mass behavior. Interestingly, however, no Chinese author of whom I'm aware has attempted to address the longer term impact of those years on the present-day lives of the young Red Guard participants, people now in their sixties and seventies, nor how they might be regarded by the younger generations who followed them. What must one think to look at one's parents or grandparents in China and wonder about their behavior (and fearful acceptance of others' behavior) during that time?

Regardless, with so many predecessor books, one might well wonder whether there were any more stories left to tell set in those specific years. Yiyun Li answers that proposition in THE VAGRANTS brilliantly, with a resounding "yes." Her story, set in the small town of Muddy River, employs what amounts to an ensemble cast. There's aging Teacher Gu, his wife, and their counterrevolutionary daughter Gu Sha. There's old Mr. and Mrs. Hua, itinerant and childless garbage scavengers who've finally settled in Muddy River after dedicating much of their lives to saving and raising abandoned baby girls. There's the congenitally deformed Nini, at twelve years of age the oldest of six girls in her family and a pariah even to her own parents. There's Bashi, a young man but regarded by the townspeople as an undesirable pervert.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsthe best book about modern China
By Beijing Loafer on October 19, 2009
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
I've been an avid fan of Ha Jin until Yiyun Li came along. For writings on modern China, Yiyun is simply the best. After A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, I was afraid that any follow-up act would disappoint. Instead, The Vagrants shone brilliantly.

For anyone interested in modern China, I would say this is a must-read. It's not a political novel, though it's about a political time. Above all, it's a beautifully written human story about a group of characters of no particular importance in a small town; through them, we saw China and its scars and flickers of hope.

For someone who grew up in China during the time in the book, I marveled at Yiyun's capability to create so many characters, in such a short space, who felt real. I could almost hear the chatters and gossips of my relatives and the uncles and the aunties of my work unit though the pages.

Go get the book. It'd be a tough heartbreaking journey, yet it would be all worth it.
3 Comments 28 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
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5.0 out of 5 starsGrim, bleak -- and a masterful novel
By S. McGee TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on February 23, 2009
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
"The date set for his daughter to die was as arbitrary as her crime." So muses Teacher Gu as he wakens before dawn on the spring equinox, a day "when neither the sun nor its shadow reigned."

Gu Shan's crime -- she has been judged to be a counterrevolutionary for her writings, the nature of which the author never discloses in detail (deliberately) -- is one that she must pay for with her life, her nameless and faceless judges have concluded. Set in the China of 1979 - in the wake of Mao's death, but before Deng Xiaoping opened the door to free enterprise and prosperity - the novel has at its core the events that follow inexorably from Shan's execution. At the time, no one can anticipate what will follow; Shan, her vocal cords severed so she can't scream out at the crowds, is dragged before a stadium full of workers and schoolchildren who have been given a holiday in order to denounce her. Hauled off for execution, her kidneys are removed for transplant into (presumably) an aging Party official, a service for which local bigwigs receive coveted television sets. Then her body is brutalized by the man paid to bury her.

But Shan's fate, however horrific, is just the starting point for a tale of betrayals large and small that take place in the city of Muddy River after she is gone. Her execution brings together a host of unexpected and vividly drawn characters and sets them on a collision course with each other and with the officialdom that rules the smallest detail of their lives (such as whether a dead grandmother can be buried or cremated.) Wu Kai will prove an unlikely catalyst for the events that follow.Read more ›
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3.0 out of 5 starsBleak, depressing, yet enlightening
By The Furious One on April 25, 2010
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
A novel of abject misery and the horrible things that desperate people do to each other when they're pushed. Is it one of the works of Cormac McCarthy? Perhaps Faulkner?

Nope! It's "The Vagrants" by Yiyun Li. Take nearly enough characters to stack a George RR Martin epic, put them in rural China shortly after the Cultural Revolution, sprinkle liberally with poisoned dogs, tattletale neighbors, guilt, repression, and pure asininity and you get The Vagrants.

I'm sure it paints a realistic picture of how horrible things really were (are?) in that part of the world. But I think I'd rather read it in a history book or perhaps a magazine feature than a 300+ page novel. There really is no gleam of hope for these people. Their pathetic circumstances and the authoritarian government turn them on each other repeatedly. There are only a few redeemable characters and they are mostly sidelined.

What's more, the main thread of the plot winds thinly through a myriad of vignettes and tangents. Many of the characters are poorly developed and serve only to confuse the casual reader. Li has a background as an author of short stories and it shows here.

It certainly was interesting to read about this time and place; the presentation was simply lacking. I give it three stars because even though I found it tedious and not to my taste I am glad that it was written, I learned something from it, and I certainly think others should read it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsThe ties that bind

Set in 1979, at the close of the Cultural Revolution and a few years after the death of Mao, “The Vagrants” explores a time when one could turn one’s back on injustice, speak out... Read more

Published 2 months ago by M. Feldman
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat Story Narration.

A Master of Storytelling. The writer makes you live the lack of freedom and other civil and basic human rights in Communist China. A Must read.

Published 7 months ago by Victor H Fisher
3.0 out of 5 starsNot easily digested, but worth a try...

I read this book much later than the other reviewers, and only because I bought this book as "discarded" from the local library. Read more

Published 10 months ago by Lupus
4.0 out of 5 starsInsightful window into post-revolutionary China. Artfully written....

Insightful window into post-revolutionary China. Artfully written. Engaging and somewhat strange cast of characters. The book has a somewhat surreal feel.

Published 11 months ago by Wayne Triner
5.0 out of 5 starsOur book club liked it.

Characters and plot very interesting. We read it in our book club and everyone really liked it. Would definitely recommend.

Published 14 months ago by Barry L. Steely
4.0 out of 5 starsA Cultural Revolution Creates Pain and Suffering

Muddy River is a small town with regular everyday folks until a series of events lead to neighbors turning against each other, families ripped apart, and leaders being turned... Read more

Published 15 months ago by Debrashemesh
4.0 out of 5 starsLife in a Chinese Village

Sad and interesting story with unique characters. Brings home the tragedy of the oppressive Chinese government.

Published 16 months ago by Mothlove
5.0 out of 5 starsbrilliant novel capturing with great depth the effects of a ...

Superbly written, brilliant novel capturing with great depth the effects of a very brutal Communist China on the lives of its citizens.

Published 18 months ago by Niessie
5.0 out of 5 starsbut painful to read

Fabulous novel, but painful to read. Such misery, betrayal and heartache visited on the Chinese by the Cultural Revolution. Read more

Published 20 months ago by Prairiefemme
5.0 out of 5 starsfantastic

I loved this book. The author put the reader in the very time and place that she was writing about and, even though there were a number of main characters in the story, each one... Read more

Published 23 months ago by corinne d clark

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