chronicles the vicissitudes of the “brothers” Baldi Li and Song Gang, the book follows them in epic style over the course of four tumultuous decades. Some of the more interesting characters are less prominent figures, like swindler Wandering Zhou, and Song Gang’s biological father (Baldi Li’s step-father), Song Fanping. He is perhaps the most sympathetically and roundly portrayed individual in the book, and is the victim of unspeakable violence during the Cultural Revolution.
Brothers is not recommended for the secondary classroom because of graphic violence and frequent sexually explicit language, though it may be appropriate for university courses dealing with modern China in the second half of the twentieth century up to the present. I would recommend that instructors who wish to use Yu Hua’s novel include ample secondary historical and or sociological sources to provide context, as well as, if possible, non-fiction chronicles or autobiographical writings, to create as wide and as broad a perspective as possible on China in the past half century.