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WINNER OF THE 2012 NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE
Today’s most revered, feared, and controversial Chinese novelist offers a tour de force in which the real, the absurd, the comical, and the tragic are blended into a fascinating read. The hero—or antihero—of Mo Yan’s new novel is Ximen Nao, a landowner known for his benevolence to his peasants. His story is a deliriously unique journey and absolutely riveting tale that reveals the author’s love of a homeland beset by ills inevitable, political, and traditional.
Mo Yan's (Big Breasts & Wide Hips) latest epic novel spans the years 1950-2000 and opens with landowner Ximen Nao, executed in Mao's Land Reform Movement of 1948, being fried to a crisp in hell. After negotiating with the king of the underworld, Nao returns to his village reincarnated in turn as a donkey, an ox, a pig, a dog, a monkey, and, finally, a big-headed boy. Though the concept is intriguing, the existence of multiple narrators often makes the story difficult to follow (the list of some dozen characters in the opening does, at least, help readers keep track of who's who). Also, the author liberally references a character sharing his own name who is very similar to himself throughout the story. These references seem unnecessary, narcissistic, and annoyingly disruptive to the narrative flow. Yan does manage to convey the difficulties of village life, complex character relationships, and occasional humor. But his work is not for the average reader and requires immense patience to follow through to the end. Academic and large public libraries with collections of translated works by Chinese authors will probably want to consider.
—Shirley N. Quan
TeechTX
Posted Sat Jan 26 00:00:00 EST 2013
This is not an easy read, but it is a worthwhile one. Mo draws on Chinese legends about reincarnation, without rooting them deeply in any religious conviction, to look at one man's afterlife through the perceptions of the various animals into which he is reincarnated. This can make it tricky to keep track of the narrative voices in some places, but it is worth the effort. We follow reincarnations from the protagonist's execution as a landowner at the beginning of the revolution through the Cultural Revolution and the Gang of Four to the present. As a result we get a view of 20th century Chinese culture as interpreted by controversial (in China) author, Mo Yan. The Chinese are rightly quite proud of Mr. Mo's Nobel Prize in Literature, and his literary merit has been recognized in China for years even though his books are hardly politically correct. A Nobel Peace Prize might have landed him in prison! This book is long but very entertaining. Apart from the difficult narrative structure, it readily commanded my attention, especially with its asides about Mo's other writings (he is a minor character in the novel). Anyone who wishes to know more about contemporary Chinese life and thought at the level of ordinary people rather than academics must read this book.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Tue Dec 11 00:00:00 EST 2012
A story that stays with you. Unique, funny, sad, I just loved this book. I wanted continue following the main character through even more lives.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Sun Sep 16 00:00:00 EDT 2012
One of the great geniuses of modern literature...to be ranked with Saramago, Grass, and Garcia-Marquez.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Tue Mar 26 00:00:00 EDT 2013
A fantastic span across decades of Chinese history, from the point of view of several incarnations. Aside from atrocious copy mistakes riddled throughout my Nook version, and the confusion of keeping track of some of the secondary characters, the story themes stick with you. Tidily concluded.
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Posted Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 EDT 2012
With the unfamiliar grammar use and structure, most readers will immediately realize the book was not originally written in English. Mix that effect in with ample amounts of humor, unique characters, and a moderately controversial political backdrop, and you have a read that's an enjoyable path outside of the rest of today's homogeneous English literature.
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Posted Thu Mar 07 00:00:00 EST 2013
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Posted Mon Nov 19 00:00:00 EST 2012
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Posted Sun Jan 20 00:00:00 EST 2013
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Posted Wed Mar 03 00:00:00 EST 2010
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Overview
WINNER OF THE 2012 NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE
Today’s most revered, feared, and controversial Chinese novelist offers a tour de force in which the real, the absurd, the comical, and the tragic are blended into a fascinating read. The hero—or antihero—of Mo Yan’s new novel is Ximen Nao, a landowner known for his benevolence to his peasants. His story is a deliriously unique journey and absolutely riveting tale ...