Marrow by Yan Lianke [Book Review]

Marrow is not a new book: the original was written by Yan Lianke in 1999. But, with Penguin China’s new translation of Marrow by Carlos Rojas, this short novella with its rural Chinese setting and its themes of sacrifice is finally available to an English-speaking audience.

Marrow is set in the Balou Mountains, a remote region in China’s Henan Province. Fourth Wife You is trying to find a husband for her third daughter, who suffers from mental illness. All of Fourth Wife’s children are mentally disabled, which has made finding spouses difficult. The first half of the novella concerns Fourth Wife’s visit to her first two daughters and to nearby villages in order to find another husband to take care of her children. Along this journey, she hears of a potential cure for her children’s mental illness.

This is an excerpt from a book review of Marrow published in the Asian Review of Books on April 11th, 2016. The review can be found here.