Red Sorghum: A Novel of China

by Mo Yan

Book Overview

The acclaimed novel of love and resistance during late 1930s China by Mo Yan, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature

Spanning three generations, this novel of family and myth is told through a series of flashbacks that depict events of staggering horror set against a landscape of gemlike beauty, as the Chinese battle both Japanese invaders and each other in the turbulent 1930s.

A legend in China, where it won major literary...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140168540
• ISBN13: 9780140168549
• Release Date: April 1994
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.0" x 7.7"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Horrific atrocities, magic realism and love -- an incredible work of art!

Written in 1987, Red Sorghum received critical acclaim in China and was made into a movie in 1988. It was not until 1993, however, that this novel was translated into English. I sure am glad it was because it is an incredibly powerful book that presents a genuine Chinese viewpoint. Most of the story takes place in the 1930s, when the Japanese invaded China and it is full of scenes of horrific atrocities. But along with the brutality and violence, the book is clearly a work of art as the author blurs the boundaries between past and present and creates a disturbing kaleidoscopic vision of the world he describes. The story is complex and tinged with magic realism and it takes concentration to keep the characters straight. Sometimes it felt like the story were a myth, but then there are the gruesome details of reality which made me cringe but kept my eyes glued to the page. There are details here about Chinese life which I have never heard of before. To give you a mild example, when the young woman who becomes the narrator's grandmother was to be married, she was carried to her wedding in a sedan chair. I've heard about this practice before, but never like this. The sedan-chair bearers, who are all young men, like to make sure the ride is so bumpy that the bride will throw up. In is in this scene when we are introduced to one of the sedan chair bearers, who later becomes the narrator's grandfather as well as a well known warlord. Bloodshed is constant. There are the Japanese invaders, of course. But there are also the bandits and warlords and packs of raging feral dogs. Though it all there is love. And there are also myths and legends which cross the line of the real and unreal. Taken together, this is an amazing book. I have never read anything quite like it before. I loved it all and highly recommend it for those who are adventurous in nature and who are not afraid of the graphic details haunting their dreams.

a painted book

i felt as though reading a painting. the contents are so narrative and graphic it will make you think all over again after you read one scene. though some contents are quite morbid nevertheless it is a good book for booklovers all over the world. you will feel the pain of each character and become attached to them. one of the many good books in chinese literature translated.

brutal, real

I have never read such a brutal, graphic novel. It is truly rare for an author to capture the horror of evil so clearly or powerfully. Reading this book is like being beaten up.At the same time, it is about life. Within the tragedy is a story about people facing and overcoming evil. Because it does not look away from the horror, the hope it implies is authentic. Thus this book distinguishes itself.I recommend this book for a mature reader because of its powerful content. It will not leave you unchanged. You will shiver, and think.It is an allegory for the communist takeover of China, and the film that this book inspired won the "Golden Bear" award. An old, leprous landlord represents the corruption of the Guomingdan period. But his murder enables a young woman to take over, and clean up the winery, representing China. The book shows peasants glorified, a new role for women, the breaking down of class barriers, and a brave struggle against Japanese invaders. All of this must have made it dear to Chinese communists!Perhaps a few Western readers will imagine that all this makes it a less compelling book, however. I don't think so, and I suggest reading it yourself. At least see the movie, which follows the book fairly well.

Lush tragedy

Mo Yan's prose explodes with a lushness lacking in most Chinese literature. The story is well-written and compelling, but it was the prose that made me pick it up again and again. The content is graphic and sometimes hard to read because he manages to thrust you into the situation. This was a book I had to read for class and didn't finish in time because I found myself not merely reading, but savoring the passages. The constraints of school didn't let me continue reading it that semester, but as soon as the last final was handed in 2 months later, I immediately picked it up to finish.

Incredibly Vivid

This is one of the most vivid, gut-wrenching books I have ever read. It is so utterly real that it can't really be thought of as fiction. Of course, it really isn't. All of the horrors the author describes were actually perpetrated by the Japanese in China.The closest experience to reading this is Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood". Both leave you shaking.The translation is very, very well done. I can only assume that the original Chinese writing is this good!