To Live written by Yu Hua is a passionate story of a troubled man's life, country and his family. The film and novel follow Xu Fugui, who begins as an impulsive teenage parent who transforms into a sensitive, elderly grandfather. There are some similar aspects in the film and the novel, however there are also some climatic differences. A rather big difference between the film and the novel is the emotion that the viewer or reader feels. The film evokes anger, while the novel evokes passion. The novel allows the reader to see Fugui, what kind of person he is, his thoughts and emotions, and consequently, the resolution of all this. The reader is able to see his loss after losing everything to gambling, the loss of his family, and all the hardships of constant harm. The film is also sad in a different way. The film is set up to make the viewer both angry and sympathetic. The film and the novel have differences but share one important common factor, Fugui. Fugui, in both stories is portrayed as a naive young man consumed by gambling and prostitutes. Due to his lack of concern for family and future, his wife Jiazhen returns home to her father after failing to stop his catastrophic path. The novel shows a vibrant picture of Fugui's bad ways. This involves his demeaning view of his “fat prostitute” of a wife. Fugui wanted her to carry him on her back like a horse, stopping at her father's shop every time to mock him (Hua 14). After losing everything due to his obsession with gambling, the father-in-law took his daughter and unborn son away from Fugui, while she “cried in pain” (Hua 42). Exposed to poverty, Fugui has no choice but to move to the countryside with his parents and daughter. The decision to settle in the countryside......middle of paper......which leaves room for change and growth. The novel shows Fugui as an older and wiser man, without relatives but with hope shining in his heart. I neither approve nor disapprove of the changes made by the director. I feel like both stories are meaningful in their own way, I would say the film was easier to deal with than the constant loss and torture Fugui went through in the novel. However, both had great meaning and conveyed the same message in different ways. To Live is a significant and influential novel and film. It is known to the public eye that in almost every story the film departs from a different path than the novel. There are things left unsaid and deleted. That said, both remain inspiring and powerful. Even though the differences in the stories were so big and could stand alone, one big commonality remains, the main character, Xu Fugui.