Family

This is a great bilingual edition of Ba Jin's classic novel and perfect for those beginning to read Chinese literature and who have about 500-800 characters under their belts. This is a 'graphic novel", sort of a cross between a comic book and an illustrated novel. Written in simplified Chinese characters with the English translation underneath each picture. The story and the pictures especially help give a westerner an idea of how different a world China was on cusp of the Chinese Revolution. I recommend it!

I read this book for a college class on East Asian History. I don't often enjoy required books, but this was an exception. "Family" filled me with many emotions; while reading it I cried (or would have if I hadn't been in a public library), I was overjoyed, hopeful, despondent. Pa Chin is especially good at showing how his characters influence and are influenced by society. He makes you really care about his characters and believe what they believe. "Family" is a good choice if you like novels that focus on society; for example, "Middlemarch","Vanity Fair", "The Jungle", "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn". It is indeed a classic.

Pa Chin's "Family" is an excellent, absorbing account of one family in early 20th century China; through the conflicts between the generations, we see the larger conflicts about to engulf the entire country. The family is the Kao clan, five generations living in one complex headed by the Venerable Master Kao, the ultimate autocrat, monarch of all he surveys within his walls, unwilling and unable to admit that his country and his family are changing before his eyes. The story centers around three brothers in the younger generation; Chueh-Hsin, married against his will to a woman chosen for him by his family, stuck in a job he hates, also chosen by his family, trying to navigate through life with his "compliant bow" philosophy which dictates that he must not oppose his elders under any circumstances; Chueh-Min, the second brother, determined to marry the girl he loves despite his family's opposition, and the youngest brother, Chueh-Hui, who sees his family as a ball and chain, loathes everything they represent, and is chafing to break free and live his own life. Pa Chin clearly identifies with Chueh-Hui; he rails against the stifling conformity of Chinese family life, which determines that everyone subordinate their will to the family elders; but in this reviewer's opinion, he doesn't give enough credit to the strengths in the same family life that held Chinese society together for thousands of years. However, this is a minor caveat. "Family" is a totally absorbing account of a family in crisis; on the one hand we sympathize with the bind Chueh-Hsin is caught up in as the oldest son, able to please neither his elders who demand his total compliance with the family traditions nor his younger brothers who need his assistance in their efforts to break free of the confines of those traditions, and on the other hand we empathize with the youngsters' efforts to live their own lives and realize their own destinies. "Family is the classic struggle of the individual vs. the collective good, and the outcome, as seen in the unfolding story of China, is still in doubt.

Pa Chin's Family is a remarkable portrayal of the inter-generational struggles in pre-Communist China. It is one of the best books that I have ever read. All young people will be able to identify, at least in part, with one of the Kao brothers.A knowledge of the brutal treatment the author received during the Cultural Revolution only serves to deepen the poignance of his work.

This is a wonderful novel read for pleasure, not class. I would recommend it to anyone interested in reading about chinese youth during the cultural revolution, because it is simply a touching story.