Author:Mary Jane Staples
Once they had been called Orrice and Effel, two bedraggled, scruffy waifs who lived rough off the streets of Walworth. Now they were Horrace and Ethel Cooper, grown up - quite respectable really - and living with their adopted parents, Jim and Rebecca Cooper.
When Horrace saw the pretty girl who worked as a shop assistant in Adams (Ladies Fashion Modes) he was quite bowled over and knew he had to meet her. From then on he was in and out of the shop, buying hats and stockings and ribbons, trying desperately to persuade Miss Sally Brown to come out with him. And while he was laying siege to Sally, his sister Ethel was listening to her poet boyfriend spouting forth his romantic verse. But Ethel's involvement with the poet was to end more dangerously and dramatically than either she or Horrace had imagined and several quite startling events were to happen before Horrace and Ethel's affairs were resolved.
Mishima is lucid in the midst of emotional confusion, funny in the midst of despair
—— Christopher IsherwoodNever has a "confession" been freer from self-pity and emotional over-indulgence
—— Sunday TimesA writer of immense energy and ability
—— Time OutA terrific and astringent work of beauty... a work of art
—— Times Literary SupplementThe novel, a parody, sets itself up as a kind of Maoist Anna Karenina . . . At its core, Hard Like Water seeks to make a mockery of claims to political purity. As Hongmei and Aijun arouse each other with propaganda slogans and revolutionary citations, the novel pokes fun at how easily an ideology can be contorted to satisfy individual desires
—— Jennifer Wilson , New York TimesA piercing satire of Communism and the language of revolutions
—— Ángel Gurría-Quitana , Financial Times, *Books of the Year*Yan probes the darkness and absurdity of Chinese society and history with a sexy satirical tale of the Cultural Revolution as wrought in a small village . . . distinctive and punchy. Yan's exuberant and unflinching tragicomedy is undeniably appealing
—— Publishers WeeklySurreal and amusing, biting and fun
—— Caroline Overington , The AustralianA gritty, memorable story . . . Yan's study of power and class struggle becomes, in the end, a near-classic tragedy
—— Kirkus ReviewYan's signature biting wit creates another indelible work of bittersweet humor and socio-political insight
—— BooklistPredicted to become a new future classic . . . this is a powerful, multi-faceted book that questions everything from marriage to sexual desire, power and the dangers of hubris
—— Clara Strunck , BuroGao Aijun, the narrator of this boisterous novel, set during the Cultural Revolution, finds his life charmless: his village is like "a pool of stagnant water," and his wife makes him feel "a clump of cotton" in his throat. Then he meets a beautiful woman, also married, and, to attract her, sets out to lead the "revolution" in their village. In speech larded with Mao quotes and traditional maxims, Gao reveals how their romance, fuelled by the feverish political climate, pitches the village into ever-escalating extremism -- a years-long parade of self-advancing schemes culminating in an unthinkable end
—— New Yorker