Core theme: Taking the Jiangnan town in the late 1990s as the background, through the changes in fate of an ordinary family, it shows the struggle and pursuit of individuals in the period of social transformation between tradition and modernity, ideals and reality, and explores the themes of memory, time and identity.
Narrative style: Continuing Bi Feiyu's delicate psychological description, poetic image creation and slightly alienated observation perspective, the language is sharp in the plain, and the details hide deep meaning.
Structural features: It adopts a two-line narrative. The main line is the growth experience of young Lu Xiaoyang, and the secondary line intersperses the past events of mother Shen Yuehua when she was young. The two timelines intersect in Chapter 16.
Purpose: Through the changes in fate of an ordinary family, it shows the struggle and pursuit of individuals in the period of social transformation between tradition and modernity, ideals and reality, and explores the themes of memory, time and identity.