A review by smokeyshouse
The Last Quarter of the Moon by Chi Zijian

emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

A beautiful tale of the Evenki, that reads like a memoir.  The writing is very descriptive and totally evocative, as the nameless narrator details a lifetime of births, deaths, arrivals and departures with a kind of serenity and detachment that sees the impermanence of the world as natural and inevitable.  The last sentence of the book is perfection.  
I found this documentary website that seems like a real-life rendition of the novel:  https://interaction.sixthtone.com/feature/2018/Melting-Away/index.html.