BL Novel Review/Recommendation - Run Wild: Sa Ye by Wu Zhe
(Starting with my favourite novel)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
tl;dr: sweet, emotional, hilarious portrayal of two teens learning to build a lasting relationship and a better life for themselves, against the backdrop of a rundown, post-industrialised city.
It's rare for me to like a long coming-of-age novel so much. Usually told from the perspectives of teens, they tend to be too juvenile to be tolerable, or too mature to be realistic, or too depressing to be read for long without impact on my mental health. By some miracle, Run Wild: Sa Ye manages to avoid all three; its narrative is charming, silly, and altogether quite touching—and hopeful.
We follow the story of Jiang Cheng, a seventeen-year-old boy who discovers he is adopted, and whose adopted family "returns" him to birth father in northern China. He soon discovers that this father is a vulgar gambling addict with very little interest in building a relationship with his newfound son. At the same time, he is drawn to his classmate and neighbour, Gu Fei. Despite Gu Fei's violent reputation, a bond forms between the two boys, who find in each other someone finally willing to make room in their lives for them, to build a home with them.
The writing paints a realistic picture of everyday life in a Northeast Chinese city still scarred by the economic reforms that hollowed their industry. For all that many are impoverished and have given up hope of anything better, life goes on—people get by entertaining themselves and eking out a living.
But Jiang Cheng has greater hopes and dreams, and he pursues them just as fervently as Gu Fei fears the thought of them.
If you focus a lot on dialogue when you read (as I sometimes do), it's an absolute riot. I've never laughed so much over such a heart-wrenching novel, and I'm glad it's being translated into English so I can foist it upon my best friends too. (Volume 1 will be out 21 January 2025)
