Tension after forbearance, human nature under the ice mountain —— Reading Shan Yan's No Way Out

On May 24th, 2020, the Canadian Women Writers Association invited Shan Yan, who is also a powerful writer in Canada, to share her experience in writing the novella "Can't escape", so she was lucky enough to read the novel.

Shan Yan said at the sharing meeting that he hoped to write an ambiguous novel. Novel is a form of expression of art, so he tried to walk around the beam for three days so that readers could enjoy it after reading it for three days. I read this novel as early as May 2020. I reread it several times this time to write a book review. Every rereading is a surprise. Once again, I feel the tension after forbearance in writing, the humanity under the ice mountain and the hidden line of architectural design are just right. "Grass snakes spread dust, thousands of miles away" almost turned a novel with a female theme into a suspense film. It can be seen that the author has unique intentions and profound skills!

Nowhere to Run describes the life tragedy of Yali, a sexually assaulted woman. The general context of the story is as follows:

Elegant, comely and beautiful, with eyes like a deep pool and beauty like Joey Wong, Hotan Yong is a friend in love.

After graduating from Yali University, she became an advertising designer. Unfortunately, she was ravaged by customer boss Wu, and her health was damaged, which may affect her fertility. Yali called the police and the police perfunctory. Tian Yong knew the inside story and chose to break up. Yali also lost her job, fell into a survival dilemma, and chose to flee and immigrate to Vancouver.

Karen, a single woman in Vancouver, met Jia Yonghang, a real estate agent, at a blind date, and then visited the mansion with Jia Yonghang. She was surprised to find that the owner of the house was Wu, only in the name of a distant cousin, Lang Jun. Wu lives with his wife and daughter Scarlett. After Wu's mysterious murder, the suspect locked Lang Jun.

Karen decided to move to Toronto.

Two places and two women are related to a wealthy businessman. What is the relationship between them?

Let's analyze the characteristics of this novel:

First, the narrative style is affectionate.

The author cherishes words like gold, his writing is restrained, and his face is calm. Seemingly dull, it makes readers think deeply. The emotions of the characters are presented with calm strokes through scenes, dialogues and actions, without exaggerated adjectives. Deep humanity is hidden under the iceberg.

For example, after the sexual assault, Yali's pain, Tian Yong's retreat and Tian Yong's mother's contempt have not been fully revealed, but readers have deeply felt that the weakness of human nature is gradually emerging.

This simple and emotionless narrative style is similar to that of American writer Hemingway and Canadian writer Alice Munro. According to Shan Yan, Alice Munro is her favorite, so it seems that she should get this biography.

Second, the structure of the novel is chaotic and the dark lines are hidden.

Many famous writers have mentioned that you should not underestimate the IQ of readers, and you don't have to say everything thoroughly. Shan Yan should know this well and make good use of it.

The novel structure of this book feels that the author is like a clever and naughty child, who plays the past and present stories into balls and then scatters them at will, forming a chaotic and confusing time and space, full of reading tension and interest.

Frankly speaking, I was really confused at first, but I didn't fully understand it when I first read it. After all, there are readers with lower IQ like me.

I didn't fully understand it until the second time I saw it. I want to say that the author is so smart and looks a bit messy. In fact, the dark line is deep and the internal logic is clear. If readers want to read fast food, they are likely to ignore key details and then ignore them.

So Karin and Yali are the same person. If I were allowed to write it, I would probably add that when Yali arrived in Vancouver, she was given a foreign name called Karen. )

It turns out that "it exudes a strange perfume, a little sweet, but also very strong, even bitter and inexplicable Chili flavor". This is Scarlett I saw in a mansion some time ago. If I were to write it, it might be like this: this perfume, so strange and deja vu, turned out to be the Scarlett I saw in the mansion last time. I'm afraid readers will forget that Scarlett is Lang Jun's daughter ... Alas, look at my long-winded aunt! )

At the end of the novel, Lin Kai wrote a letter to Lang Jun, a brilliant Canadian family business development company, with only a few words printed on white printing paper. This is an open ending full of suspense, which makes people puzzled. What does this letter have to do with Wu's death? Until I noticed the first sentence of this paragraph, "It was still spring", and Wu was killed on a day in mid-July. It was only after I understood the time difference that I began to have an epiphany. The brief content of this letter should be related to Wu's murder, and then I can understand why I moved to Toronto.

So the author is really smart and naughty, constantly stimulating readers' interest in reading, forcing you to read carefully and take the initiative to participate in exploration. On the contrary, if I want to explain everything thoroughly, readers' reading pleasure will be much reduced.

Third, the novel has multidimensional significance and profound core.

As a realistic novel, this book reflects a multidimensional reality. For example, the rich have unclear financial paths and luxurious lives; Skilled immigrants are in trouble; Single men and women are embarrassed to choose a spouse, which naturally causes karma, sexual assault tragedy and so on.

There are two main analysis points here. Let's talk about karma again

In the summer after graduation, Yali got pregnant before marriage, and Tian Yong was sent to Africa, so she took abortion pills. It is said that infant spirits, who had an abortion, wandered around and would retaliate against her parents. She will have bad luck, such as losing money, getting sick and not having children. Yali got what she deserved. Once there is a mistake, everything is wrong and you can never escape.

Wu was a romantic before his death and did all kinds of heinous things. Although his wealth rolled in, he died in the end. What goes around comes around!

The novel reveals cause and effect, or "fate". There is no way to escape, nor can we escape from the invisible hand of fate.

Further thinking, I think it's not just that simple, this is the second point to be analyzed below.

Yali, a simple and beautiful college student, was unfortunately raped. Choose silence or call the police?

If he is silent and swallows the bitter water himself, Tian Yong may not choose to leave, but he will connive at the villain to continue to do evil.

Choosing to call the police has a bad reputation. In this novel, the villain is not punished by law, which is a loophole in the system. Money talks. I was really angry when I called the police, but I still couldn't stay in love and lost my job. The ending seems worse.

What kind of life should a woman who has been deprived of her virginity by the devil choose? How to protect it in the legal system? How to treat it ethically?

Teacher Yu Hua said: "The writer's mission is not to vent, blame and expose, but to show nobility. This nobility is not pure beauty, but detachment after understanding everything. Life must go through hardships, pains, joys and sorrows. This is life. "

The author's description of Yali's tragic life of sexual assault should be to awaken the public and society's attention and attention to sexual assault. In the novel, Yali once again chooses to flee to Toronto for development. It is the pursuit of a new life, a tenacious survival posture and a hope for life!

According to Shan Yan, the prototype of this novel is based on the dismemberment of a wealthy China businessman in Vancouver. The author's originality is unique, and this murder case is seamlessly grafted with sexual assault. Writing is a psychological process of dialogue with oneself and the world, and works are the display of every writer's spiritual world. It can be seen that the author not only has a keen sense of smell for social problems, but also has a considerable sense of social responsibility.

Finally, I want to discuss a problem. Personally, the description of sex in this book is debatable.

In today's more enlightened era, the description of sex is no longer a taboo topic. Unlike earlier works, such as Lady Chatterley's Lover by D·H· Lawrence, it will be sealed as a pornographic book. Nowadays, Junichi Watanabe's erotic novels have become bestsellers and even textbooks for young people's sexual enlightenment.

I think, of course, novel art can write about sex, and sex is an indispensable factor in life growth. An important mission of the novel is to portray the personalities of different characters. Therefore, for different individuals, young people's brave nature, demon-martial nature and the nature of Jia Qinglin, a single man on blind date, should not be relatively similar and naked and vulgar, but should reflect certain differences to enrich their different personalities.

In a word, my intuition is not comfortable with the neutral description in this book. Or does the author want to express a point that Yali is just a bad person and all the men she meets are birds of a feather?

The above is just my humble opinion for exchange and discussion.

Shan Yan has a full-time job as a power project manager, taking care of his family, but he has been writing and creating a lot, which is admirable. In 2020, Shan Yan's new book The Practitioner made its debut, which is a documentary literature. Described the earliest female students in China, Kang Cheng and Shi Meiyu, who were born in the late Qing Dynasty when people's livelihood was depressed. They are taboo to western medicine, and their health knowledge is extremely poor. They built hospitals, orphanages, nursing schools, primary schools and middle schools ... and became pioneers in medical care, women's education and missionary work, emitting unfortunate light in turbulent times. This book will be explained in the next issue.

With the author's brief introduction: