This book was on Obama's summer book list. It was the only book about China on the list. Even if it was a fictional short story, it really made Land of Big Numbers catch the attention of the public. This is my first time to buy a fictional novel about China, and I want to see how a Chinese who writes in English constructs those silhouette stories in her eyes, especially as a reader who usually gets news through Chinese The importance is reflected in whether each story has the "things" I expect her to say.

If you own this book and remember those passengers who were trapped in the Zhengzhou subway in summer, please read from the last story. This story reminds me of a word commonly used by Freud, "unheimlich", and "uncanny" is often used in later English studies. It seems to be a strange feeling that is difficult to describe in words, especially when there are very similar, almost In predictive events, for example, it is used as a metaphor for an unspeakable, almost bizarre coincidence. Like this story - "The Spirit of Gu Bei Kou". The people in the story are also trapped on the underground platform for months because of a train error at the station. During these months of being trapped, they did not see a single train coming in, and the train station did not let anyone out of the platform due to various artificial or bureaucratic problems. During the period of being trapped, the railway station provided them with a relatively complete set of supporting services for eating, drinking, drinking, sleeping, and sleeping, so that the people trapped under the platform gradually got used to the life during the period of being trapped, and few people wanted to think about the train that never came .

There are only one or two people in the story who think about escaping this trapped "dungeon". However, the trapped masses, well-fed and clothed, persuade them not to escape, and even in the end, when the train finally pulled into the platform, Everyone was stunned, except for the two people who wanted to escape, and the teenagers jumped on the train that was about to close in time, and no one got on the train.

There are metaphors in the story that don't need to be explained. Everyone who has ever escaped from a cage understands the gradual devouring feeling of a frog boiled in warm water, and even a frog that can jump up will remember it from time to time after escaping. The comfortable warm water that used to be, maybe, it will take a long, long time to forget, or it may never be forgotten...

Of the several versions of the book cover, the one I got is the least favorite. The book cover is the same illustrator Yue Minjun as the illustration of "The Kingdom of Giant Babies". This style can't be said, but it makes me very uncomfortable. However, it is uncomfortable. I have to admit that if such an illustration can bring such The reaction, it seems that something implicit in the illustration also came into my mind strangely, perhaps touched on something?

Other short stories also have a bit of a fantasy or surreal feel. The author mentions events such as the "Cultural Revolution", "June 4th Student Movement", "Anti-Rightist Movement", etc. in her story. These events unfold on the protagonist of the story, appear in a very brief manner, and then quickly cover up. Every event mentioned has a feeling of "it's not what I expected", there are no surprises, which also greatly reduces the sense of plot of each story. I don't know if other readers feel the same way, but for me the story wasn't brilliant, it was predictably boring. And each story seems to have only a far-fetched connection to the title of the book, and the other stories are not that impressive...

Writing short stories does require a very high level, and it is not an easy task to complete within a few thousand words. Maybe the marketing of this book is well done. My personal experience is that professional journalists will always have a shrivelled sense of documentary literature, occupational disease?

Expectations are a bit disappointing, is Obama to blame? I don't know if he has finished reading the book.

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