A Little Too Far Apart

This is a medical drama drawn from real life.

The serious blurb: Through the stories of several female doctors just beginning their clinical careers, especially the female surgeon Li Min, this novel offers a detailed and realistic account of the everyday lives of clinical doctors from three generations at a provincial hospital in northern China in the early 1990s, during a special period of historic upheaval.

It follows their conflicts, cooperation, and mutual support, as well as their marriages and their efforts to build happy lives.

The blurb sponsored by my best friend: After reading this, you'll meet dozens of vividly drawn doctors and nurses, each with a distinct personality. Their laughter and scolding, their joys and sorrows, and the rights and wrongs of life are all distilled into these several million words. A labor of love, polished over many years. Read it closely and you'll find a web novel unlike any other, and a romance unlike any other.

Reader comment: Special cases, surgical accidents, malpractice, disputes with patients, investigations by superiors; feuds with neighbors, parent-child relationships, marital troubles, teachers, students, and alumni; housing projects, loans, urban expansion and relocation, pharmaceutical companies, ties between hospitals and schools, personnel transfers... These all run through the story.

Reader comment: You can read it as a serious realist novel or literary reportage, as a romance or an inspirational story, and even as a classic work of popular science... Definitely one of Jinjiang's best novels! I never expected Jinjiang to surprise me like this! (Chapter 170)

Reader comment: It's not a story held together by the passionate romance between a male and female lead. But it has even better emotional threads: friendship, family, bonds between teachers and students, and sweet romances, with several different kinds of romantic treats. I personally love them. But the heart of this story lies more in its plot. Like life, it has the daily routine of meals and chores, as well as the bittersweetness of love. Romance isn't the main focus. (Chapter 1)

Reader comment (Chapter 702): When I first started reading, I thought it was just an old-fashioned period romance. But as I followed Li Min and the other medical staff through their lives, I gradually felt the full range of human experience. No one's life is perfect, but that makes it more real. This isn't just one person's life or one love story. It's like a portrait of an entire generation. Everyone struggles through life, some breaking free, others sinking deeper. All we can do is sincerely wish that everyone...

finds happiness. But the road is long and difficult, and happiness still seems far away!

I've written this as a reading guide for future readers. I hope you enjoy this medical drama about everyday life.

Thank you for reading!

Thank you for leaving your valuable feedback.

Thank you!

Recommendations

My "Flowers on the Other Shore [Dream of the Red Chamber Ensemble]" is complete at 3.08 million words. It spent over six consecutive months on the bestseller list and was featured on the homepage. It's a wonderful read.

This novel won me the New Author Award at the 2018 Year-End Feast, placing 1st out of 12.

To quote a reader: “This is a leisurely novel worth reading in a quiet moment, and a good novel worth reading among leisurely reads.”

Completed novels

"A Hundred Beauties"

"Sweet Dew on Willow Branches"

Waiting to be written

"Hand in Hand"

Theme: The daily lives of clinical doctors from three generations in the early 1990s: striving for happy lives, clashing, cooperating, supporting one another, and navigating their marriages