Rickshaw Boy

Rickshaw Boy by Lao She
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

***Spoiler alert***



One man tries to succeed in life using the only skill he has, only to be thwarted at every turn by circumstances or his own poor choices. This could be a despairing, cynical story, yet it isn't. Partially because of the writing--beautiful descriptions of winter scenes and rainstorms, for instance--and partially because you keep hoping that he'll do better.

At the very conclusion the narrator says that this story proves that individualism doesn't work. It felt a little like propaganda, while also revealing a truth.

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