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爱你就像爱生命

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王小波是一个即浪漫又专情的人,他写给妻子李银河的书信一直以“网络手抄本”的形式在读者中流传,每一篇都像一件艺术品,他的表达除了对李银河个人的感情外,还具有极高的审美意义。但是由于各种原因,这些被收藏的书信数量不多并且比较零散,许多读者引以为憾。《爱你就像爱生命》是国内首次成书的王小波李银河书信独立版本,书中收录的情书篇幅比过去公开过的书信多出一倍。

230 pages, Paperback

Published May 1, 2004

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136 people want to read

About the author

Wang Xiaobo

104 books157 followers
Wang Xiaobo (Chinese: 王小波) was a Chinese writer who became famous after his death.

Wang Xiaobo on paper-republic.org.

Wang was born in an intellectual family in Beijing in 1952. He was sent to a farm in Yunnan province as an "intellectual youth" at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution in 1968. In 1971, he was sent to the countryside of Shandong province, and became a teacher. In 1972, he was allowed to return to Beijing, and he got a job as a working in a local factory. He met Li Yinhe in 1977, who was working as an editor for "Guangming Daily", and she later became his wife. He was accepted by Renmin University of China in 1978 where he studied economics and trade and got his Bachelor's Degree. He received his Master's Degree at the University of Pittsburgh in 1988. After he returned to China, he began to teach at Peking University and Renmin University of China. He quit his job as a college lecturer in 1992, and became a freelance writer. On April 11, 1997 he died suddenly of heart disease at his apartment.

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
Profile Image for 顏.
47 reviews6 followers
March 13, 2022
There is no plot whatsoever. The letters to his wife were beautiful and poetic, yet simplistic. The letters to his friends were boring. Overall, I found most letters to the same receiver repetitive and it quickly got boring.
Profile Image for Léna.
50 reviews10 followers
April 2, 2021
In the era of underdeveloped communications, letters are a necessary way to communicate. However, from today’s point of view, these remaining letters are not only of significance of the times, but also full of romance.
The first half of the book is about love, second half about life. In that era of innocence, there were very few people like Wang Xiaobo who confessed their love this affectionately. There is no gorgeous rhetoric, but all words came from the bottom of his heart. Wang Xiaobo’s love, Li Yinhe’s feminine characteristics, unique and delicate expression, coupled with shared suspicions, are vividly reflected in their love letters.
8 reviews
April 13, 2017
This is one of the best interesting books written by a husband to his wife. He used to say that everyone is a book and we all need to pick up the best one to read. His wife said that he was the most wonderful, interesting and pretty book she had ever seen. I think she is right. If you wanna see how a Chinese husband shows his emotion to his wife in a funny, romantic and meaningful way, you cannot miss it.
Profile Image for Piotrek Machajek.
107 reviews20 followers
November 17, 2019
有人想了解王小波这位作家,则不要从这一本书开始。对本人来说,《爱你像爱生命》有三个不足。
第一,虽然王小波对肉麻的行为猛烈地抨击,可是他每一封信自己的爱情说没玩,有点肉麻。应该说的是,有多封信李银河的想法比王小波尖锐多多。
第二,我之前不知道他是个计算机程序员,但是他提起的软件信息好无聊。
第三,本书信集里作家对文学、艺术的意见比较少,那好可惜;几封表现他的意见非常有意思的。
总的来说,你不是王小波陶醉粉丝的话,别浪费时间。
Profile Image for 胡疾.
30 reviews1 follower
May 3, 2017
看这本书的时候,我正深陷暗恋的漩涡无法自拔。王二比我幸福的是,他可以肆无忌惮的把藏匿在心里的爱说出去写出来,让他爱的人害羞也好幸福也罢。我比王二惨的是,我比他怂。喜欢不敢说,默默惩罚自己。一位足够喜欢,便终究感天动地女娲补天。我真是去他奶奶的大西瓜,真是够幼稚的。
更煞笔的是,“你好啊,李银河”这种非常美丽的酸腐桥段被我上演过了。不过收到的不是女神的娇羞,而是沉默。啊!沉默,沉默,不在沉默中爆发,就在沉默中死掉。所以,我的暗恋在王二你的见证下,在很多个夜晚伏特加的陪伴下,还有蕭敬騰的情歌里面,流眼泪流掉了。我也表白过,一次,那一天我真特么伟大。
像王二你长得这么丑的人,都能找到漂亮的姑娘。这只能证明一个结论了就,我比你还吃藕。
Profile Image for Qiaoyun.Hu.
26 reviews
February 6, 2019
一口气读完了,今天是为甜甜又涩涩的爱情感动的一天。唉,一辈子,能遇到心灵相通的人真的很难得啊。王小波和李银河的通信,有关于生活、情感、思想等的交流与探讨,某些语句真的是甜的可爱,笔墨间能看出二人的坦率与真诚。尤其是读到小波对于身处大学忙着整理实验器材而不能见到银河的烦躁,真的是能感觉到他的生气与郁闷。浪漫骑士·行吟诗人·自由思想者,这是李银河对王小波的总结,感觉从他的系列作品包括此书中也能看出些许来呢。
Profile Image for Chaniya Yang.
111 reviews1 follower
June 28, 2025
“五线谱是偶然来的。你也是偶然来的。但愿我和你是一支唱不完的歌。”在给李银河的信中,王小波这样写道。将文字作为音符,将爱情作为韵律,封存、粘胶、寄送,然后完整地——将“我”这一首歌呈上给你,这也许是偶然得来的最佳仪式感。

《爱你就像爱生命》,是王小波的书信集。前半本写给他的爱人李银河,后半本写给其他人。放在同一本书中,这样的对比愈发鲜明。给他人,是严肃正经、社交辞令;给爱人,是言随意动、撒娇打滚。

王小波和李银河,都是好会表达爱意的人。他们不惮于将爱与想念直白热烈地划入纸页,也不掩饰自己的批评与怨言。与其说他们懂得爱情,不如说,他们懂得如何将爱情嵌入、融入生活的同心圆。

他说:“我会不爱你吗?不爱你?不会。爱你就像爱生命。算了。不胡扯。”

她说:“我们只是两个人,不是两家人,我们是两个在宇宙中游荡的灵魂,我们不愿孤独,走到一起来,别人与我们无关。”

李银河在接受许知远采访时谈及与王小波的分手,说觉得王小波长得太难看了,没别的原因。王小波说,你也不是那么好看。她说得,那行,就接着谈吧。

这个颇为有趣生动的细节,也许正构成了他们爱情中极为重要的一部分:思想的交流与理解。在来往信件中,两人会谈及工作之桎梏、生活之不自由、性情之被束缚。

王小波说,“我也不肯因为什么仪式性的东西去写什么,唱什么,画什么,顶多敷衍它一下”。李银河说,自己的工作“只能一点点前进”,“什么时候我们才能拿出一些无愧于人类智慧也无愧于自己的东西呢?”他们谈论小说、诗歌、伦理学,用现在的流行语来说,更深沉的爱,也许正在这样的Deep Talk里生成。
Profile Image for Ann Wei.
4 reviews
July 27, 2016
I read some of Wang's novels from my dad's bookshelf before reading this book for the first time in high school (around 2005). I borrowed it from a friend, a girl who told me that she just really loved the Wang Xiaobo-Li Yinghe combo (when I asked if she was a fan of Li, because she had most of Li's books including the unpublished ones...). It was such a cute and Romantic book that I still remember passing the book around and discussing about it in class breaks. One of the girls said, seriously, "Wang just makes THE perfect husband!" and most of the class agreed (we only had 5 or 6 guys in class, so almost every girl in the class just loved it. Not surprisingly, many years later, words from the love letters are all over the Internet and Wechat posts(some didn't even acknowledge the author, meh!).

Recently I had another read of the book. It feels slight different from the last time. My impression of Wang Xiaobo (from his novels) were mainly about his black humor, sharp observation on his fellow citizens and put it artfully in the novels. Reading the lover letters gives a pretty much different view of the same person. He was such an "atypical" Chinese (I am being unintentionally mean haha, because it's almost saying most other Chinese are romantically inexpressive and not fun......) and a main reason for it was because he READ intensely and talked about what he read in the letters (which is adorable). I know people usually don't use words like "adorable" reviewing a book, but if you read this collection of letters, you would imagine the witty little boy inside of Wang through his words.

-You are a very adorable person, and you deserve a really great guy. I really hope that I am that guy.


-Would you like to know how I feel for you? It's just simply liking you from the bottom of my heart, seeing that everything you do is just nice, feeling unhappy if you love another guy more than you love me. If you love another guy I would cry, but I would still love you.


-No matter how average I personally am, I always reckon that my love for you is beautiful.


-I'm so scared that you would figure out that I am an idiot.


-I wanted to just keep laughing/joking (at everything) everywhere in this world, include laughing/joking at myself too, and keep doing this until I'm dead. But now I want to be serious, because you are a serious person.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I think the reason that people love these letters is precisely on the fact that we can all relate to his affection for his girl, but few of us are able to express it like him. The title of the book "Loving You is Like Loving Life" comes from this letter as below. I personally also think that it is how Li Yinghe felt about her loving husband when the book was published 7 years after his sudden death.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hi Li Yinghe!


After breaking up last night, I am very sad. I am such a stupid person for getting this disgusting mark (note: I guess, as a 'mark' for meeting Li's mother) that would disgust any living being, how shameful! In addition, you were heartbroken too. So, it makes me much more heartbroken.

I feel that you are struggling over some decisions. It maybe my shameless assumption - like ugly frogs, so if I got it wrong, don't feel bad. I would eat up those ugly frogs if that is the case. But if you really can't make up your mind, let me do it for you then.

Your mom doesn't like me. She is a nice person, so what is the point of making her angry. Additionally, such thing (note: referring to her mom not liking him) is not something you deserve. There are many more good people who don't like me. Why it is you who have to suffer from so much pain!

As for me. I love you. I loved you when I first saw you. I love you that I forget about being selfish. It's just like someone had a pigeon that flew away, and he would still wish it a good journey. So you may just fly away from me too. I will be sad, and I will be happy, but honestly I don't know how it would end.


Let me say a few more sentences to make you angry, so that you would dislike me. Those would be petite bourgeoisie-sh words! You are already 26/27, and can no long be together with a camel (note: I guess, again, referring to himself, lol). If that is the case, it's better to just think for yourself.


[Note: I'm omitting the parts about his own sorrows as a 16 year old and how he thinks about having to give up ideas he valued. Then he suggested blaming himself together so that she could stop feeling sad...]


However, would I stop loving you? No. Loving your is like loving life. Never mind, let's stop talking bullish*t.

An old fellow came to talk me into writing about some anti-Japanese invasion events in Jiaodong, for which he has primary resources. Do you think I would love to write it? If I'd like to write this, I'd also love to hang myself. But if you are unwilling to break up, I'll go and write about it. After all, I don't want you to be bothered any more.

I love you a lot, really. When you want me to do anything, I'd go crazy. Am I a bad person? Should I go and try start over again?

But forget about the later part of this letter, they do not count. Please think about the first part, and reply to me soon. I had very bad handwriting this time, because I wrote it up in the balcony.


And, no matter how you may think about it, we are still friends. There is no reason to change that, isn't it?

Wang Xiaobo,
Friday

132 reviews
June 18, 2021
写给李银河的太腻歪啦,全是呢 呀 呵之类的语气词。五线谱情书好浪漫
【银河,你好!做梦也想不到我把信写到五线谱上吧?五线谱是偶然来的,你也是偶然来的。不过我给你的信值得写在五线谱里呢。但愿我和你,是一支唱不完的歌。】
【我希望我的“自我”永远“滋滋”地响,翻腾不休,就像火炭上的一滴糖。】
后面写给别人的信可以当作杂文看看。
【在我们这里,假如谁要奉献一点可观的东西,就需要冷静而睿智,同时在内心深处彻头彻尾的疯狂。这可不那么容易。】
17 reviews2 followers
April 30, 2019
What a sweet story between Xiaobo and Yinhe. The other surprising thing I just found is that Xiaobo was a coder while he was writing. He even programmed a software to help his typewritings.
Profile Image for kilig.
255 reviews4 followers
February 20, 2020
世界上好人不少,不过你是最重要的一个。你要是愿意,我就永远爱你,你要不愿意,我就永远相思。
Profile Image for ckm.
189 reviews6 followers
January 29, 2021
//我把我整個的靈魂都給你,連同它的怪癖,耍小脾氣,忽明忽暗,一千八百種壞毛病。它真討厭,只有一點好,愛你。
105 reviews21 followers
January 28, 2022
20190217- HK // 20220124-20220128 // 本来怎么也看不下去,三年后不知怎么也就看下去了。肉麻确实还是肉麻得很。信这东西也真的是让现代人感觉有sentimental value. 这么多年坚持写也是相当不易
66 reviews
October 15, 2022
我爱读王小波,并不是他写的多好,这跟文字的优美与否是无关的。而是读他之前我是一个已经像石头一样的中年男人,有自己的位置,有自己的处境,有一些自满和自卑,读了他之后我觉得自己也许可以不用做一块石头,前路还远,我还可以做一片云。
Profile Image for Elaine Liu.
1 review
August 19, 2025
腻歪,有点无聊,热恋中的人大概会觉得读着有劲。
后面摘录的绿发水怪真不错,让我有兴趣买了王小波其他的小说
Profile Image for Jinnn.
11 reviews
April 27, 2014
"我现在已经养成了一种习惯,就是每三二天要找你说几句不想对别人说的话。当然还有更多的话没有说出口来,但是只要我把它带到了你面前,我走开的时候自己就满意了,这些念头就不会再折磨我了。 " 你呐,真是让人爱的要命。
Profile Image for Xialin.
64 reviews
May 11, 2014
情书的部分看着看着就厌倦了。绿毛水怪倒是不错的。
Profile Image for Yin Chen.
5 reviews
October 26, 2015
像一个叛逆但是执着的大男孩在碎碎念 不仅念出他的爱也念出了他的人生哲学 感人 意犹未尽
Profile Image for Hannah.
37 reviews2 followers
June 7, 2017
I can feel the humor, the conflicts, the worries of the author, but more importantly, the true love to his girlfriend.
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