Recently published by Guangxi Normal University Press, the new book includes five essays and a short story that Yu wrote in the past eight years, since her first essay collection, Wuduan Huanxi (Joy Without Cause), was published in 2018.
The essay Mother on the Tip of the Grass is a recollection narrated through the significant moments of Yu's life. Diary of Illness records the thoughts and feelings she experienced during a period of illness. The work Though a Person of Grass and Trees, Without the Heart of Grass and Trees offers glimpses of life throughout the seasons in Yu's home village of Hengdian in Hubei province. I Once Visited Xutu Village explores her personal emotions, her perception of her disabilities, the nature of love, and the meaning of life. The last piece, My Hengdian Village, My Michael (possibly paying salute to Amos Oz 1968 novel My Michael), is a personal narrative that blends elements of essays and fiction.
