Red Sorghum in Around the World in 80 Books

Dec 19, 2014 marianne rated it liked it

Shelves: bookclub

A beautifully written story that is nothing short of a bloodbath. In the five mini-novella chapters of the book (all structured in the same basic way), Mo Yan chronicles the story of a family from Northeast Gaomi Township as they face the Japanese and their own strifes during the second Sino-Japanese war.

The language is breathtaking, vivid and rich, and I loved every description of the natural world in which the story takes place. That same language is also used to describe what I think must be ...more

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Jan 04, 2017 Bogdan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: asian-flavor

Last year I was kind of skipping the reviews as I lacked time. Now I plan to try to do it more often, at least for the books that were interesting enough for me. One of the first picks and my first read in 2017 is Mo Yan's Red Sorghum.

It has as a premise something that can be summarized like "exceptional historical events creates exceptional characters". Foreign invasion, civil war, communism and Cultural Revolution all changed irremediably the fate and the people of Gaomi, as well as the entire Last year I was kind of skipping the reviews as I lacked time. Now I plan to try to do it more often, at least for the books that were interesting enough for me. One of the first picks and my first read in 2017 is Mo Yan's Red Sorghum.

It has as a premise something that can be summarized like "exceptional historical events creates exceptional characters". Foreign invasion, civil war, communism and Cultural Revolution all changed irremediably the fate and the people of Gaomi, as well as the entire China. This is not a totally new premise, but for me is the first novel using it related to the 20th century China's dramatic changes. Thus my rating for premise will be 4.

Regarding the form, Mo Yan is a master without doubt in terms of turning a text into a vivid, living scene. He used first person narration for the biggest part of the novel and packed it with very cinematic and thrilling imagines and characters. Without seeing the movie, I can imagine it just by reading the novel. Thus I will rate it with a 5 for form.

In terms of originality, as I said, others have used the same theme, probably also there are novels set around the same events. But I think it is unique in the way it is presented in this novel. So I will give it a 4 for the level of originality.

There are a lot of characters, of many kinds, but all have in common the fact that they are transformed by the events. This is something that not many writers manage and I appreciate very much. Just because some of them are not too truthful, I'll rate it with 4.

Regarding the complexity and difficulty, this is a saga. So just by the length of the text and the time span covered it is difficult. Also the author chooses to mix a lot the time element, switching between the 20s and the 40s sometimes in the same page. Thus, I will rate it then with a 2 for complexity and difficulty.

In terms of credibility, there are a lot of exceptional characters and actions. It is one of the most similar to prime time news, but in a literary form. Given also that the historical period was one of exceptional events (World War II in Asia was especially renowned for cruelty and unheard of events from all parties involved), I believe the novel is not exaggerating. So my rating for credibility is 4.

The last criteria is edition. I appreciate the translation and the proof reading that is almost flawless. It is obvious that even this is a paper back edition, the novels from "Raftul Denisei" collection are all well taken care of. I will rate it with a 4.

To summarize, I liked this novel, but not as much as "Life and Death are Wearing Me Out". All in all, my final rating for it is 3.86, which I will round it to 4 on Goodreads system.


+--------------------------+-----------------+
| Criteria | Rating |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Premise | 4 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Form | 5 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Originality | 4 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Characters | 4 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Difficulty/Complexity | 2 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Credibility | 4 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Edition | 4 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Total | 3.86 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+