Why is Yu Hua's "Living" rated as a difficult classic? Okay, where is it?

Living is one of the representative works of writer Yu Hua. In the background of the great era, with the social changes such as the civil war, the three evils against five evils, the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, Xu Fugui's life and family suffered constantly. Finally, all his relatives left him one after another, leaving only the old man and an old cow.

Personally, I think that Yu Hua's Living is the most tragic book among the famous books I have ever read, and its tragic degree even exceeds Les Miserables and Muslim Funeral. Fu Gui is a cynical young master of a rich family. After all kinds of things, he established an honest man who lived honestly. However, the world did not treat him well because of this. Finally, his son, daughter, wife, son-in-law and even finally, his only relative, his grandson, died of eating edamame. The whole world left him alone in this world after such painful abuse. At the end of the day, when the young man described in the article went to see the old Fu Gui, the old man who suffered the most in the world was struggling to plow the field with a cow named Fu Gui, which was as old as the one he bought. But you listen to him and watch him do things, but there is no resentment or pessimism. He is still sticking to his life. Yu Hua later said in his preface, "In fact, I think the meaning of living may be living itself." In fact, after so many years, I finally understand that the meaning of life is really the process of life itself. I think this may be the reason why living is so valued, because it reveals the purest meaning of life.

In addition, in Zhang Yimou's film based on this book, Fu Gui's ultimate dilemma is far from so great. If I remember correctly, he finally lived with his wife and grandson. Personally, I feel that the meaning to be conveyed in the book has been weakened by this change. However, it may also be because I read the book first and formed a preconceived idea.