Inert Soil

After reading the first four chapters, my most direct feeling was: the first breath of this novel was enough. The beginning of the chapter is about arresting people - a six-year-old child was chained in a cellar and chewing stones. His whole body turned black and he had a fever. The children in the village threw stones at him, and his adoptive mother beat him to death. This kind of "lowest starting point" writing method is not new, but the author pays close attention to details: the feeling of the stone bouncing back, the description of the cracked nails, the cautious "mother" in exchange for a slap. In just a few words, the state of a child who has never been treated well is brought out. He is ruthless but not deliberately inciting, which is quite rare.