The Day the Sun Died

Yan Lianke has secured his place as contemporary China’s most essential and daring novelist, with his superlative gifts for storytelling and penetrating eye for truth ( *New York Times Book Review* ). His newest novel, *The Day the Sun Died* –winner of the Dream of the Red Chamber Award, one of the most prestigious honors for Chinese-language novels–is a haunting story of a town caught in a waking nightmare. In a little village nestled in the Balou mountains, fourteen-year-old Li Niannian and his parents run a funeral parlor. One evening, he notices a strange occurrence. Instead of preparing for bed, more and more neighbors appear in the streets and fields, carrying on with their daily business as if the sun hadn’t already set. Li Niannian watches, mystified. As hundreds of residents are found dreamwalking, they act out the desires they’ve suppressed during waking hours. Before long, the community devolves into chaos, and it’s up to Li Niannian and his parents to save the town before sunrise. Set over the course of one increasingly bizarre night, *The Day the Sun Died* is a propulsive, darkly sinister tale from a world-class writer.

Author	Carlos Rojas (translator), Yan Lianke
Format	Ebook
ISBN	9780802147738
Language	English
Pages	248
Publication Date	11-18-2019
Publisher	Grove Press

1 review for The Day the Sun Died

Rated 5 out of 5

mainlinebooker (verified owner) – 04-30-2025

Yan Lianke is known for creating works of fiction that have their basis in a kernel of truth that colors Chinese society. In this allegory he focuses on China’s policy of forced cremation by inventing an uncle of a young teenage boy who is getting rich off of the new policy. Niannian loves his uncle but is aware that he profits from people’s grief and need for cremation. Niannian’s mother and father own a funerary shop selling paper money, paper cutouts, and wreathes that are placed with the dead for their future life. When Tianbao, Niannian’s father, finds out that his brother-in-law is taking corpse oil from the cremated bodies and trying to sell it at a profit ,he convinces his brother- in- law to sell all future barrels to him, but instead hides them in a cave.
All changes when one night people started dream walking and committing crimes which seemed to escalate as time marched on. Eventually the sun refused to shine as murder and mayhem ensued with an ending that sends goosebumps to the reader. Filled with unforgettable imagery this poetic rendering looks at a political policy that sharply diverges from the wishes of the people

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