Red Sorghum

This a novel centred around a few villages in China, amidst the inhuman atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers, written in a very beautiful language.

I loved the prose in this book, which makes it quite a page turner. Despite its constant bandying from past to present from chapter to chapter, it is the surreal narration and beautiful writing that makes it interesting reading.

I have reviewed Red Sorghum on my blog. Here's the link: [...]

nice novel

Very beautifully written

The product I received appears like a second hand book. It seems that it is either a very old stock or a duplicate copy of the original one. The pages have become brown in color and the fonts are also not like other new books from 'Penguin Books'.

very moving!!

A masterpiece.

Mo Yan is one of the Chinese writers I frequently read, sometimes the descriptions are so accurate and cruel that I can hardly continue without stopping. But the story is amazing, the style is perfect.

Beginning in 2010 with Mario Vargas Llosa, continuing with Tomas Transtromer in 2011, and now reviewing this year's Nobel prize winnter, Mo Yan, I have selected one of their more popular works to determine if they are worthy of such an esteemed award. Up to this point, no one had disappointed, but I was a bit suspicious when a firestorm developed after the Nobel committee announced his award.No one would deny that publicly Mo Yan has not endeared himself to many writers from the west; for example, Salman Rushdie called him a "patsy" of the Chinese Communist government and Herta Muller referred to his nomination as a "catastrophe" since he has been a member of the communist party and has refused to sign a petition to release imprisoned Chinese Nobel peace prize laureate Liu Xiaobo. Not to mention, Mo Yan did himself no favors in the eyes of the west by copying Mao's discussions on the merits of literature. In his acceptance speech, he probably shocked many when he said that some censorship is acceptable if speech maligns a person's good name.Clearly, his views on activism and apparent public inaction bristle the more virtuous appetites of many western writers. However, in his acceptance speech, Mo Yan made an important point: "For a writer, the best way to speak is by writing. You will find everything I need to say in my works." And so I decided to take him at his word by ordering a copy of Red Sorghum, a fictional memoir that captures three generations of Chinese struggling to survive the onslaught of the Japanese invasion right before and during World War II.There is an incredible amount of detail in the novel, but one thing that it's not is the film. To gain some background knowledge, I decided to watch the 90 minute production but was greatly disappointed with it after I finished reading the novel. The film only covers 1/3 of the book--it ends with the nameless narratr's father chanting an anti-Japanese slogan as he stands in front of his dying mother. If people are determining the literary merit of Mo Yan's craft based on this film, then they will be sorely disappointed. The best way to understand the author's views, at least in Mr. Yan's case, is to read his literature.And indeed, once I did that, not only were my eyes opened to a writing style similar to that of William Faulkner's minus a confusing stream of consciousness, I recognized that this author takes the "silent approach" when speaking truth to power. I do not think this is the appropriate venue to rehash every last example, but there is enough anti-communist fervor in this novel that should have had the author locked up long ago in his homeland. There are countless allegories that reference the brutish behavior of both the Nationalist and Communist parties, but there are literal examples that should make a reader's eyeballs pop out!There is the example where the author flash forwards to the tail end of the catastrophic Cultural Revolution in 1973, where literally everyone under the communal system is starving to death. What is even more shocking is that this scene juxtaposes the Chinese during the occupation who, while fighting for their lives, are still self-sufficient enough to provide for themselves. Message: Communism leads to starvation and dependence. The exclamation mark, of course, is the most obvious: The narrator's grandmother and grandfather--the heroes of the rebellion--are NOT communist. In fact, as owners of a profitable winery, our heroes could be considered capitalist!Based on the media backlash, this is not what I expected from Mo Yan, but I now understand why he begged that people read his literature in order to grasp his philosophical outlook. Having done that, I recognize that Mr. Yan's artistry is a silent force in the push for change within Chinese society. Before Mr. Rushdie and Ms. Muller insulted him, had they in fact read any of Mr. Yan's novels? If they had, would they have realized that sometimes change may not need a sword nor a trumpet but rather a pencil?

The book was read in our Book club.It was ineteresting to learn abou events in China dirint the war with Japan, though centered at a narrow area and few persons.The lanuage and imaginery is very powerful, contrasting the human cruelty with the beauty of nature. There is a very subtle humour and criticism of the regime, expressed allegorically.I did not like the detailed and gory descriptions of battles, death, torture - it was too much...

The New York Review of Books, November 2012 asked the question "Does this writer deserve the prize?" referring, of course, to Mo Yan's Nobel Literature Prize awarded 11th October 2012. I asked the same question as I began reading Red Sorghum, the most famous novel by Mo Yan (real name Guam Moye).The epic story spans three generations of a Chinese family fighting to stay alive in the harsh climate of China's northwestern province of Shandong during the 1930s and 40s. The amoral desperation amidst famine, bandit anarchy and almost hopeless resistance of the invading Japanese army is depicted with ruthless clarity. Zhang Yimou made a film of the book in 1987 and it seems that some critics have based their judgement of this novel on the film deeming it unnecessary to read the 359 pages of print. The film has been described as nothing much more than violent pornography depicting wild sexual scenes. The "theme song, 'Sister, be gutsy, go forward,' was an unbridled endorsement of the primitive vitality of lust." ~(Liu Xiaobo).In contrast the book is not especially sexually explicit. An horrendous rape scene is handled very cleverly with oblique description which leaves the reader in no doubt about the cruelty but provides no titillation nor anything which could be mistaken for the vitality of lust.Cruelty is a central theme of this novel. Fathers are cruel to daughters; husbands, to wives; wives, to husbands; bandit to bandit; Japanese soldier, to Chinese soldier; peasant, to mule; dog to corpse and hero to dog. The never ending, ever-revolving carousel of cruelty is at times wearing. But this is not a sugar-coated tale. It needs to shock us. Many images will remain etched on my mind as a result of reading this novel, and that proves it is indeed a fine work of literature.The graphic and honest portrayal of the blood and gore is remarkable. Mo Yan is a member of the People's Liberation Army (Cultural Affairs Department) and yet he does not glamorise the Chinese resistance of the Japanese invasion as other Chinese writers have done. A shocking and vivid scene presents the death by starvation of an old war hero in full view of the political elite who feast behind iron gates.Even so, Perry Link in The New York Review suggests that Mo Yan is an establishment man, who writes from within a corrupt and cruel regime. This is, in part, true because Mo Yan is well respected and honoured in China where he is vice president of the Chinese Writers Association. While other Chinese artists have failed to express themselves and remain in favour, some imprisoned for their art, Mo Yan seems to have got away with it, but it would be quite wrong to claim that this is because he kow-tows to the state in all matters. Red Sorghum is a frank and disturbing history of a period no one else has recorded in such detail and with such brutal non-judgemental honesty. So in my opinion, on the strength a of this one book alone Mo Yan deserves the Nobel Prize for Literature.