This is a work of nonfiction recording the author's firsthand experience over eighty-eight days at a nursing home in Shanghai. It is no pastoral idyll, but a portrait of the myriad faces of old age and the undercurrents of human nature.
Here, she witnesses the cruelty of aging and the struggle to preserve dignity: an old woman with dementia calling for "Mom" all night, her body covered in shocking bedsores; Xiao Yang, once stunningly beautiful but now with the mind of a child, whose story conceals a family tragedy shaped by the times; "Brother Yao," for whom a screen is his only comfort; and "Brother Wei," with no visitors, struggling through vomiting and loneliness... Every elderly resident is a history book worn down by time.
She also experiences the infighting and scheming among the staff: the rigid hierarchy and "privileged" dining table built by the powerful "Auntie Qiuqiu"; the "temporary couple" of a security guard and a dishwasher, endlessly gossiped about; and the scapegoating, buck-passing, and exploitation of the "newcomer rules" among coworkers. From the "dumpling dispute" to the "foot-care scandal," from withheld wages to the exploitation behind "blood donation," the small nursing home is a microcosmic "Rashomon," where everyday dramas about self-interest, survival, and human nature play out.
Eighty-eight days offer a stark look at aging, loneliness, and the value of life. With delicate, perceptive prose, the author leads us through that heavy soundproof door to see a corner of the world we will all face one day. This is not only an account of what goes on behind the scenes at a nursing home, but also a mirror reflecting the complexity of human nature and the resilience of life, forcing us to ask: As life enters its twilight, how can we preserve our last measure of dignity and warmth?
Because I read the author's book "My White Moonlight is Lost in Troubled Times and Desperate Times", and I think the author's writing style is good. I clicked on another book by the author, "88 Days in a Nursing Home", which was full of zeroes! I am the first reader! But this book is a relic that I discovered. This book is particularly suitable for listening to, it makes me feel the same as when I listened to "The Ordinary World".