Customer Reviews

Red Sorghum: A Novel of China

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The Japanese Invasion of China in 1937 is a dark period in history. The Japanese committed many horrible crimes and atrocities on the Chinese population. Red Sorghum in very graphic graphic detail describes some of these atrocities and their impact on the Chinese civilian population.

But the book is much more than that. WWII does play a major role in the book, but the book is also a look into Chinese culture, family, and is such a moving window on China during this time period.

This is not an easy read. The translation is very good, but the book is very detailed and again at times very graphic. I do not like to bash books like the Good Earth or The Single Pebble as many people do. I agree that neither book was written by a Chinese person and I understand some of the criticism that orginates from that fact. I enjoyed both books and think they are valuable. HOwever, if you are from the school that demands a Chinese author and a Chinese voice to Chinese literature you must read Mo Yan. He is a gifted writer and he brings to life some very difficult times in Chinese History.

This is a very powerful book and parts of it will stay with you long after you have read the book. Again, this is not an easy book to read but well worth the effort.

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.

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.

A masterpiece of the calibre of One Hundred Years of Solitute and The Unbearable Lightness of Being - according to the covertext of the Dutch translation. So not exactly light reading material, but rural Chinese horrors so accurately descibed that I think the book should come with a warning. The plot is gripping and the prose flows easily - not as heavy on the reader as the long sentences and philosophical reflections of the above mentioned masterpieces can be. The fact that the end of the story leaves one wondering can be either good or the only bad thing about the book - I am still wondering. This book should be read by anyone who is interested in history and the dark side of humanity in general.

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.

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.

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!

China's history is unbelievably complex. I am assuming the author's history is accurate; not the specific events, but the composite of "these types of events did happen". What was described in this book makes the Hatfield/McCoy feud seem like a spelling bee.

Mo Yan hits you with realism that will stun you. The book revolves around the invading Japanese; the Chinese who help them; the nationalists; the communists and those who just want to protect their homes and families from all of them.

There is a lot of violence and gore; there is romance, births and deaths. This is a moving story. Highly recommended.

This book is both incredibly beautiful and incredibly tragic. The things that people endure and overcome, or at least endure is amazing. I think most of us modern day American's, or at least first world folks, can't even begin to imagine such a world as is depicted in this book.

I had to struggle with an impulse to throw this book out the window, but I did not put it down until I was finished with it. This book has changed me as a person, and the way that I view the world. This book reinforces my beleif that the world is not so difficult because it is so terrible, but rather because that it is so beautiful. The world is so beautiful, that it is sometimes more than one can take.

A novel of great intensity, takes the reader for a trip through China in the 1930s. This is the time of the Japanese occupation, and book continues through the first years of the Communist regime.

It is a novel but it will ring a bell with those who have studied the history of that period. Very graphic prose, and horrifying narration of the cruelty of that war. You don't get the strategic vision of the war here, but the local realities that affected everyday life. There are also sublime episodes of deep humanity. Not an easy read, not recommended for anyone of fragile character but one of the best books to get to the soul of China.