Jerusalem

by Xu Zechen

In his early age, Chu Pingyang hears an illiterate old lady saying Jerusalem again and again outside an old church just along the canal. Before he gets his doctor degree, only inquired by a Jewish Professor from Israel, did he find that his dream of Jerusalem not only comes from its Chinese pronunciation but years of confession and atonement…少年时代，初平阳和小伙伴们在运河边一座摇摇欲坠的斜教堂外，听见一个文盲老太太独自在里面一遍遍地念叨：耶路撒冷。直到博士毕业前夕，在一个从以色列来的犹太教授的追问下，他才发现，自己对耶路撒冷的想往，不仅源于汉语发音的诱惑，更是内心里隐秘多年的忏悔和赎罪之结……

610 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2014

About the author

Xu Zechen (Chinese: simplified, 徐则臣; traditional, 徐則臣) was born in Northern China in 1978 and studied Chinese Language and Literature at Peking University. He is considered to be a leading member of China’s post-70’s generation of writers: his best-known works include the novels Jerusalem, The Deep Imperial City and Running Through Beijing, as well as a children’s book, Fairy Tale of the Green Clouds Valley. Jerusalem was awarded the Laoshe Literature Prize, the Feng Mu Prize for Literature, the Chinese Literature Media Award, the Annual Novelist Award, the Dream of Red Mansion Award in Hong Kong, the Jury Award, and the Tencent Academy Literature Award, and has sold 200,000 copies. The Imperial City was named Top Ten Chinese Novels of 2017 by Hong Kong Asia Weekly and “Top Ten Good Chinese Books of 2017” by Taiwan’s Mirror Weekly. In 2019, he was awarded the prestigious Mao Dun literary prize for his most recent novel, Northwards. He is currently deputy editor in chief of China’s most important literary magazine, People’s Literature.

Reviews

[Yen-chun Chen · Rating 4 out of 5]

明明描寫的是我的年代, 但因為一個在大陸, 一個在台灣, 我感覺我在讀我父母親那個年代的故事.

故鄉裡面, 一塊長大的鄰居/同學/朋友, 即使到後來個飛前程, 但互相的牽絆卻是斷不了的.

"鳳凰男" “門當戶對" 的問題, 在城市和鄉村差距越大的時候, 越是明顯. 另一半不是要找和你一樣有錢, 或是和你有一樣學位, 或是和你能有共同話題. 有很多時候, 要考慮的是自己是否能夠和另一半的家庭相處. 戀愛是兩個人的事, 但婚姻很多時候是兩個家庭的事.

"領導的決策我們一定認真執行... 是大家共同的智慧." "只要領導看上了, 拆也得拆, 不拆也得拆" - 市井小民的無奈, 在無論是那種政權下似乎都是一樣的, 除非你有關係.

[IRIS XIE · Rating 3 out of 5]

冗長且乏味

[楠楠 吕 · Rating 2 out of 5]

勉强读完了36%，实在看不下去了

[Misty · Rating 2 out of 5]

看到中间的时候确实觉得很拖沓，取个耶路撒冷的书名也很牵强和无厘头。可到了结尾看完了还是很惆怅。