The Afterglow Is Cold

"The Afterglow is Cold" is a documentary novel focusing on the life dilemma of ordinary individuals. Taking Chen Jianguo, who was born in 1969, as the core perspective, it connects the life trajectories of three generations of him, his wife Lin Xiuying, and his son Chen Yuanhang - from state-owned factory technicians to laid-off self-employed people, from female textile workers to domestic servants, from Internet practitioners to drifters in the gig economy. Ordinary people in three different eras were repeatedly moved by the waves of society. The novel is based on the three seasons of autumn, winter and spring. It uses a three-line intertwined narrative structure, interspersed with non-fiction documents such as family account books, job search records, WeChat chats, etc., To calmly present the "afterglow dilemma" of the middle-aged group aged 45-55: declining physical strength, dilution of sense of value, invalidation of experience of the times, and the anxiety and confusion inherited by the younger generation. There is no pathos and no standard answers. It only measures the gap between individual expectations and social reality through countless daily details and silent moments, and records the subtle struggles of ordinary people to maintain dignity and find the meaning of existence in a "weightless" life.