Novels by Yi can't simply be categorized by comedy or tragedy. They do have a happy ending. But it does not help soothe readers or draw them back from the disappointments and sorrows in life and love.Because the characters' ups and downs, and vivid comings and goings all along the story are so impressive that readers have been deeply trapped in the sorrow and disappointment, leaving no strengh to enjoy the seemingly happy ending.
Men and women under her pen are corrupted, which is not terrible at all. At most, it's woeful. But the terrible thing is that they keep perfectly conscious while they are sinking, and they can do nothing to stop it. They give up all their hope to live better but don't really abandon themselves. They are mean to themselves, and to people around them.
Yi Shu likes to cast a strong shade of gray in all her fiction, leaving readers with the suspicion that she is a cynic who hates the world and scorns it. In reality, she has a great love for society and dreams of gaining warm and true love. But truth turns out to fail her and drives her to be hysterical despairing of the world. InXibao, one of her stories, she took down a love-and-hate attitude: "I want loads of love. If love is absent, I want health. If health is beyond my reach, I want plenty of money."
Calculating and Independent
Men in Yi's stories are usually disappointing. Just have a look at the characters inMy Early Life. The hardworking and honest husband seems to find his true self and the long lost passion all of a sudden, and is determined to live a new life with the pretty actress, abandoning his wife and children; the ambitious colleague working in the company for half of his life, without any chance to be promoted, complains his wife doesn't understand him and chases pretty girl colleagues; the fresh college graduate in his early 20s wants to have an affair with a married woman; and the handsome and gentle and thoughtful man who has a good taste in art turns out to be a gay… They are not bad guys. Just ordinary men.
Most of the women in her stories are wise, diligent white-collar workers who experience hard time in their love affairs and find it too difficult to find their Mr. Right. They have a clear view of the relations between lovers, and do not hold impractical dreams of their future and lives. Love and marriage in their mind are just something that is impossible to be perfect. They are independent and calculating. They are lonely, but do not complain. Even some lucky girls among them find their Mr. Right, they get married through deliberate calculation rather than their emotion and passion.
Cold and Contradictory
It's impressive that most of Yi's novels are set in a cold metropolis where men women are under great pressure in their psyche and character building.
"Yi was brought up in Hong Kong and her stories are Hong Kong in character, keeping the same pace with the vibration of Hong Kong people," says Yi's brother, well known Hong Kong science fiction writer Ni Kuang. "You won't find her stories affected or unnatural. They stand for Hong Kong people's character."
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