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Brothers - Yu Hua

**spoiler alert**

High comedy, high tragedy. Urban sprawl. The preparation of a city for the National Virgin Beauty Competition (otherwise known as the Hymen Olympics), not dissimilar to the preparation of Beijing for the 2008 Olympics. Scoundrel-turned-tycoon Baldy Li, spectacle-turned-loving-wife-turned-nymphomaniac-turned-madam Lin Hong, and then the faithful, terminally unlucky (and often pathetic) Song Gang. The real “romance” in this novel is the stormy relationship between stepbrothers Baldy Li and Song Gang. The center of the love triangle is not ultimately Lin Hong, but Song Gang, who is torn between the two for much of the story.

The deaths of Baldy Li’s mother and Song Gang’s father set the stage for the rest of the story. On her deathbed, Baldy Li’s mother tells Song Gang that he must always take care of his younger brother, and he promises that he will give the last grain of rice in his bowl to Baldy Li. He only breaks this promise once: when he marries Lin Hong, whom Baldy Li has humiliated and stalked for years despite her lack of interest.

Also of interest: the theme of impotence. The brazen Baldy Li undergoes a vasectomy after learning that his beloved Lin Hong, whom he spent years humiliating after peeping her backside in a public bathroom, has married the quiet, sensitive Song Gang. Song Gang himself is impotent, never giving his wife a baby or, as we later find out, much sex at all. His impotence is not just sexual, but universal–he is unable to assert himself in relationships, and unable to provide for himself or his wife.

Moreover, Song Gang is a gender-ambiguous character, more often than not landing in feminine territory. We watch him assemble strands of flowers to sell in a basket to Liu Town women, and even undergo breast augmentation surgery to help sell Wandering Zhao’s “Boobs” cream. For several chapters, he walks around town with D-cup breasts, and has moderate success selling the product. It is patently absurd. We, the readers, are embarrassed for him–not to mention irritated that he is so submissive to his wayward business partner Zhao that he would mutilate himself this way.

This story chalks much up to fate, emphasizing several times, “‘If you are fated to have only fifteen ounces of rice in this life, then even if you go away to seek your fortune, you still won’t end up a with full pound.’” So perhaps Song Gang’s tragic fate “est écrit dans les étoiles”, as the French would say (my choice of expression here will make sense when you read the last page of the book). Or perhaps he is simply too passive, too self-sacrificing to mirror Baldy Li’s rampant material successes.