There is an unsettling juxtaposition of casual unpredictability and ruthless inevitability in Yan Lianke’s The Family Plot. This slim, yet jaw-dropping novel is, in all likelihood a formidable contender for fiction book of the year. Barely three pages into the book, I was drawn forward with the irresistible force of iron filings to a magnet. Indeed, so immersive is the magic Lianke has conjured I can only fervently hope the author is inspired to produce a sequel, The Family Plot Continues, sooner than later.
Every year, Mr. Yan, a reputed author among other things, returns from Beijing to his ancestral home in a Gaotian village in China’s Central Province. A raucous celebration involving over a hundred relatives sustained by copious amounts of food and drinks invariably culminates in a “new-fangled thing of singing “Happy Birthday”. This year is no different in terms of the usual mode of celebrations. However, Mr. Yan is flummoxed when after the festivities are put to rest, he is approached by three members of the same family each bearing an extraordinary story. Each narrator expresses an interest to sell his/her tale to the writer for publication.
The first storyteller, a college boy, speaks in the evening about an event that unravels at dawn. The second narrator, the boy’s father holds forth at midnight about something that takes place at noon. Finally, the boy’s mother, rounding off the familial triad, elaborates at dawn about an incident that comes to light at sunset. The title is a fantastic take on the core and crux of the story. The Family Plot is a decrepit piece of land upon which it is the unrelenting hope of the father to construct a family home. The Family Plot also represents schemes hatched by each family member to further their own vested interests; Hence the title is at once an innocuous noun emblematic of a decaying property, and an insidious verb symbolic of remorseless manipulation and deceit. In such a sophisticated duality lies Lianke’s prowess with the novel.
Filial relations are put to their sternest test as a shadow of mistrust envelopes the troika. As the family grows impossibly dysfunctional, the external environment does its best to exacerbate the calamity. Lianke brilliantly educates his readers about the cultural, social, and financial cleaves running through the geographies of the second most populous nation on earth. The inhabitants of the Central province look at awe at their Southern counterparts who seems to be enjoying an unrelenting bout of prosperity. A fissiparous mindset takes over the college student as he prepares to make a break for the United States of America to fulfil his aspirations. His father meanwhile scourges and scavenges every inch of land accumulating materials with which to construct his dream house. The brow beaten mother, worn down by the drudgery of maintaining a home, finds herself compelled to supplement the endeavours of her struggling husband by opening a ramshackle bun shop. Faultlines begin to develop in the already fragile relationship between the three members of the family as each one’s ambitions run directly counter to those of the others.
Is there a point of no return for the Family? Have the individual plots gone too far in their execution so as to become irreversible? Will these three individuals, each convinced of the righteousness and purity of their own insane cause, ultimately destroy one another in a mad pursuit of their goals? Can three complicated, chaotic and convoluted means lead to one catastrophic end?
Yan Lianke, known for purveying a style of writing popularly known as “mythorealism”, is an absolute master in exposing societal faults and cultural fissures. He may have attained his apogee as an author with The Family Plot.
The Family Plot is published by Grove Atlantic and will be available on sale beginning January 26 2027.