House Number Nine

A collection of sketches based on the author's memories of childhood in China during the "Cultural Revolution": first as a small boy in Beijing, and then as a teenager exiled to a village.

In the first part, the narrator depicts scenes from his childhood in the Chinese capital, starting from 1966. Together with friends, he sets the goal of obtaining pieces of red fabric to tie to their arms and create their own Red Guard unit. The tragedies of many people who became victims of the regime appear less dramatic through the eyes of a child, more concerned with his own experiences.

The second half of the book covers the years 1969–1977, when the hero, along with a group of boys, is sent to the Great Northern Wilderness for re-education through labor. Death becomes part of everyday life, and no one pays attention to it anymore. Is there a way out of this vicious circle?

Zou poetically describes that aspect of the "Cultural Revolution" that is least talked about: the routine of sorrow and the pointless wasting of youth, as well as the black humor, the inevitable companion of desperate situations.

Longlist of the International Booker Prize (2023)

Translation: Olga Kozlova