The Morgue Keeper hit me harder than I expected. It’s not a loud or flashy book it’s quiet, grim, and precise but it gets under your skin in this slow, deliberate way. At first, I wasn’t sure what I was getting into. The opening is emotionally cold, kind of clinical, with Qing Yuan just doing his job, methodically logging the dead. But that coldness makes sense. It mirrors the numbness he has to live with just to survive. Once the story shifts and he’s arrested and thrown into that coal room, everything tightens. I found myself holding my breath during those parts. The fear and paranoia are suffocating, but not in a melodramatic way. It just feels real, like you’re in there with him and there’s no way out.

What I loved most was how restrained the writing is. It doesn’t rely on shock value or overly emotional language to make its point. It just tells the truth of what it was like to live through that time. Qing Yuan isn’t a big hero or a rebel he’s just a man trying to stay human in a world trying to erase humanity. That made him incredibly compelling to me. The strength of this book is in the way it shows quiet resistance just existing, remembering, telling the truth when you can. That hit deep. It’s not always an easy book to sit with, and honestly, it left me drained in the best way. I felt like I’d been trusted with something important by the time I finished.

This was a very difficult book to read. Very heavy, tragic, sad, etc. I did not know about the events that take place in this book before reading it and it's just awful.

THE MORGUE KEEPER REVIEW
RATING: 5
GENRE: Literary fiction, Historical fiction

The Morgue Keeper is a hauntingly beautiful book written by Ruyan Meng. Though the synopsis hints at a mystery that our protagonist tries to solve, this book is much more than that. It takes place in China during the Cultural Revolution where communism has begun to take over. The shift in how the country is run is apparent as we follow Qing Yuan through his daily live as a morgue keeper and someone who is considered a member of the proletariat.

I believe everyone should read this book - this is eye-opening on the commentary of the treatment of human kind. What makes us human and how do humans quickly turn on each other? The book delves into the mindset of a broken man who continues to live through many atrocities while attempting to maintain a shred of human empathy.

Though it is a relatively short read, the topic is heavy and at times, there are events that occur that can be considered grotesque. However, I highly urge everyone to take a chance and read this book. It was eye-opening and made me curious to spend some time researching into more details about those who were considered counterrevolutionary during this period.

Thank you 7.13 Books, Leland Chuck, and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book. For those who enjoyed the focus on the human experience during historical periods, such as Han Kang’s Human Acts, please pick up this book on 10/15/25.

"When you tend the dead, you leave the weight of your own life behind and see the truth of everything. That is the nature of death."

Thank you, NetGalley, for supplying me with this book in exchange for an honest review

I'm not sure what I expected upon receiving the approval for this eArc. It's a small book (only 200 pages) but it packs a big and intense punch! I was definitely expecting something haunting, which exceeded my expectations, but I also learned a lot more about a topic I hadn't really considered before.
Some of the prose from this book was written with such clarity and vividity that I doubt my mind will rid of them any time soon.

"But take it from me, kid, there are no ghosts. These lads here are still humans, and they are at peace. It's we who suffer, and who'll go on suffering till our own times come."

This book follows Qing Yuan, a gracious man who has already faced incredible injustice by the Maoist government that ruled China in 1966. He is set up to toil away in the silence of the hospital morgue, cleaning the bodies of the dead before their incineration.
When one day, an especially gruesome cadaver arrives on his slab. He only knows this woman as "#19" as her body is too brutalised to positively identify. This leaves Qing Yuan with questions as to this woman's identity and leads him down a path that gives the audience a glimpse into the sense of reality these people faced at this era in history.

"How could he not lament that despite all its accomplishments humanity was still doomed to fall by its own devices."

As I mentioned previously, this book definitely checked the box on haunting and eerie. It provided a unique perspective into a part of history I know little about through characters that I couldn't help but feel so heartbroken for. This book was very well written and thought out. If you're looking for something that provides that unique historical fiction perspective on a dark part of history, this would be a good and quick book!

In this 200-page novel, Ruyan Meng presents a grisly and raw depiction of the violence of the Cultural Revolution and eloquently captures the resilience of the human spirit in the midst of authoritarianism and unthinkable violence. Meng writes in beautiful, almost lyrical, but easily comprehensible prose. The descriptions of violence and peace, loss and love are incredibly vivid and poignant. Having studied this period of history, I can attest that the details are historically and culturally accurate.
The novel follows Qing Yuan, a deeply empathetic and compassionate morgue keeper through the trials of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Qing Yuan is dealt injustice after injustice. He's forced to spend years as a lowly morgue keeper with barely enough to get by. He's arrested and tortured; publicly humiliated and spat upon; stripped of people he holds dear. But he stands strong. He does not break.
I have two minor criticisms. First, the ending felt quite abrupt (which often reflects reality), but I was looking for a bit more closure. Meng introduces lots of open questions and narrative threads throughout the work that aren't tied up or resolved in the end, which again, often reflects reality, but I think a smidge more closure would still enhance the story. Second, the character of Qing Yuan seemed unnaturally flat. Don't get me wrong, there's great depth and character growth - Qing Yuan just seems unrealistically nice/righteous, more like a caricature than a real person.
Still, I can confidently say is that this book was truly special - graphic, emotionally resonant, and inspiring. Some might draw parallels to current geopolitical events, but I choose to appreciate this as a portrait piece. We must not forget the tragedies of the Cultural Revolution and the heroes that emerged in quiet resistance.
Definitely worth a read.
4.25/5 stars

Thanks to NetGalley for providing eARC.

I just finished Han King’s masterpiece Human Acts, so my headspace was acclimated to the grisly content, but this book still hit me very hard; I felt like I was there next to Qing Yuan trying to preserve my humanity and sanity while slowly losing (almost) everything.

Some images that will stay with me: morgues as gateways to cosmos, mosquitoes in the coal room, the beautiful and evil Red Guard lieutenant, the wonderful Lio Jia singing “The Internationale” while dressing corpses in circus costumes and “entertaining the cosmos with his slapdash song”, ghosts in hallucinations….

This book is especially timely being published in 2025 as the US becomes ever more authoritarian with each day. History shows us how this experiment works out: people turning on each other, the “struggle sessions” and “dazibao” (big character signs, see China in Ten Words for an excellent summary), which reminiscent of the vitriol spewed on social media, cable news, and from Trump’s mouth.

As a cat mom, I was holding my breath rooting for little Xi’er.

Favorite quote:

“He thought at times he could hear the earthworms crying”

The Morgue Keeper is a haunting, elegant, and deeply atmospheric debut that completely consumed me. Ruyan Meng crafts a story that pulses with quiet dread, where the dead don’t just linger—they speak, and not always in words. This is horror at its most poetic and philosophical, rooted in grief, memory, and the eerie weight of unspoken truths.

From the opening pages, I was drawn to the stillness of the morgue, the loneliness of the keeper, and the creeping sense that something wasn’t quite right. But rather than jump scares or gore, Meng builds her horror slowly—like fog curling around your ankles—until you’re fully immersed in a world where life and death blur, and the past refuses to stay buried.

The prose is spare and lyrical, each sentence deliberate, each image etched with precision. There’s a melancholy beauty to it all, and the emotional resonance hit me harder than I expected. It’s not just about the bodies—it’s about the stories they leave behind, and the weight the living must carry.

If you’re drawn to quiet, character-driven horror with a literary sensibility and emotional depth, The Morgue Keeper is a stunning, unforgettable read. It left me chilled, but also strangely comforted—like I’d been allowed to witness something sacred and strange.

If you read just one book in 2025, make it this one!
In The Morgue Keeper, author Ruyan Meng crafts a brilliant, timeless, and perspective-shifting cultural commentary. In precisely 200 pages, Meng holds a torch to the most severe flaws of mankind and then sets them aflame with hope. Thus, The Morgue Keeper is essential reading for anyone who feels hopeless, numb, or desensitized in the face of current affairs. The book’s length and language make this story accessible to even the most casual of readers.

The Morgue Keeper follows Qing Yuan, a man who has little to his name but compassion to spare, during China’s Cultural Revolution. In many ways, he exists on the fringes of society, sleeping through his neighbors’ waking hours in order to work the night shift cleaning corpses at the local hospital. Despite the dismal circumstances of his life and the grotesque realities he is exposed to daily, Qing Yuan has not been hardened by his physical and emotional toils. His story reminds us that these are precedented times we are living in.

I don’t often read historical fiction in its purest form, but I am so glad I picked this book up. As soon as I finished reading it, I wanted to turn back to page one and begin again. This book has every element of a modern classic. I sincerely hope it gets the recognition it deserves come publishing day.

Thank you to NetGalley and 7.13 Books for the arc in exchange for an honest review :)

This story, based on real events during the Mao Zedong era in China, was shocking in its detail, but beautiful in the way it portrayed human resilience in the harshest of environments. I didn't know much about this part of history so I went in blind. While it was an emotionally challenging read, I really appreciated the way the author was able to take events that are so remote from my reality and make them relatable and relevant in our shared human experience. It was a short read, and I highly recommend it.

This book had a somber tone but the main character tries to find light in the situation. This book is harrowing and the main character looks to kindness. The writing was brutal and the story is one not to forget. I also love the cover for it. This is a tragic story with real life connections. Terryfying and a book that you won’t be able to put down.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book!

I breezed through it, utterly intrigued just as much by the mystery of #19 as the circumstances that Qing Yuan found himself within throughout the narrative. Don't let me saying I breezed through it take away how difficult of a read this turned out to be. I was intrigued by #19 as the narrator, but I was more intrigued by the circumstances, the events playing out, and it drove me into research.

Like most of this type of literature, it has both an ethereal and haunting narrative to it of a time and a place that most people are unfamiliar with. If you would have told me this book was written in the 1960s, I whole heartedly would have believed you. It had the old feel of writing, something that is not found in modern literature as it leaves much sort of up for interpretation. I will say though, that aspect of it did make certain parts a bit confusing (or possibly it had to do with the formatting of the earc, as I couldn't decipher when one scene ended and another began)

I just finished this book in one sitting omg and I honestly don’t think I’ll forget it anytime soon.

Set in 1966 during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, the story follows Qing Yuan, a morgue keeper who spends his nights cleaning bodies in silence; until the arrival of one particularly brutal case, a woman known only as “#19.” From there, the book unravels into something much deeper than a murder mystery. It becomes a journey into truth, memory, and what it means to survive in a world that wants to erase both.

This book was very chilling but not just because of the violence, but because of how quiet that violence becomes and that was what got to me. Especially the way cruelty blends into the daily routine and how people turn away from it because they’re scared or helpless or just trying to survive. It’s heartbreaking.

What really stuck with me is how relevant the book feels right now. Even though it’s set in the 1960's, I couldn’t stop thinking about how much of what’s described is happening again, RIGHT NOW. The rise of authoritarianism, the distortion of truth, the silencing of dissent; it’s not just history, it’s current reality in so many places, including here in America. That’s what made it hit so hard. It felt less like reading fiction and more like staring into a warning we keep ignoring.

The protagonist Qing Yuan isn’t some revolutionary hero. He doesn’t fight back with fire. He just refuses to let the system take his humanity. He chooses kindness. He chooses to see people as people, even when the world tells him not to. And honestly, that quiet resistance hit me harder than any dramatic rebellion ever could.

This book was so painful to read but necessary. It’s a reminder of what happens when fear rules, when truth is buried, when we look away and stay silent. And it’s also a reminder that even in the darkest systems, human decency can survive. Sometimes barely, but it survives.

I’m still sitting with this one. If you’re looking for something beautifully written, emotionally devastating, and deeply relevant to our time, this absolutely worth reading.

Thank you 713Books for my personal copy.

This was beautiful written story. I couldn't put it down. It was tragic, eye opening, and heartbreaking but also talked of hope and human resilience. I don't typically read historical fiction but I'm so glad I was able to read this ARC. This is a book that will stick with you after you read it.

Thank you to NetGalley and 7.13 Books for the ARC!

This review is honest and voluntary

Ruyan Meng’s "The Morgue Keeper" is not a novel for the faint of heart, indeed the novel at its core is an affirmation of the human spirit’s ability to persevere even after everything has been taken, after every imaginable torture and loss has been inflicted, after the world and country one knew has been completely erased. I would be remiss to open this review without a significant content warning. This book portrays the worst of humanity, the lowest depths of depravity, the most unspeakable acts we can commit against each other. Non-exhaustively, this books includes discussion or descriptions of: starvation, torture, violence, sexual assault, suicide, the abuse of animals, and many other sensitive topics. However, it is important to note that none of these descriptions or portrayals are gratuitous. The Morgue Keeper, for all the macabre imagery implied in the title alone, is not a piece of “grimdark” fiction nor does it participate in what is often termed “misery porn”. Instead this novel (which is based on true events), attempts to communicate the desolation experienced by the characters (and by extension the real people they portray) with absolute honesty, without softening the blow or turning its gaze away from their suffering.

Qing Yuan is a morgue keeper in Chairman Mao’s Revolutionary China. In June of 1966, a brutally mutilated body is delivered into his care— unrecognizable as human, still breathing her last breaths. With no name, and no cause of death listed besides “Trauma”, Qing Yuan files her into cabinet #19. From that day #19 haunts the morgue keeper, begging him to discover the cause of her death. What follows is a journey through the depths, illuminated by beautiful, restrained prose and punctuated with flourishes of magical realism and dream-like descriptions.

It is difficult to say that one might “enjoy” reading The Morgue Keeper, but as I flipped through its pages it wasn’t the violence or the horror that struck me most deeply— it was the constant assertions of hope, the never ending search for something to buoy one’s spirit above the water even as each new life-preserver was snatched away or sucked under. I kept reading because I had to know if such hope was possible, if it could be sustained into some kind of conclusion, and I did not come away empty handed.

Thank you Leland Cheuk and NetGalley for the ARC!