Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
captivating, February 13, 1999
By A Customer
It's difficult to let go of the book. If you consider Arundhati Roy's A God of small Things graphic and captivating, this book is ten times more. You can smell Gao Ma's sweat, feel Fourth aunt's anguish, almost to the point of having a lump in your throat.... you want to warn Jinju...... I must say it is one of the best books I have read.... it depicts simple people living in hard times, in very helpless circumstances. Basically there was no way out, and people could only console themselves that their lives were `fated'. To have a better understanding, it would really help if you read Wild Swan: three daughters of China by Jung Chang. It literally gives you heartache.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you?
 
|
|
|
|
|
|
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Undiscovered Masterpiece, January 9, 2001
By A Customer
I discovered Mo Yan and this title years ago through Amazon, when it was recommended as an "undiscovered" work. Sadly, it is still the case that very few people have read either The Garlic Ballads or Red Sorghum, Mo's other masterpiece, let alone heard of the author. This is tragic, given that he is immensely talented, one of the true literary masters writing today. The Garlic Ballads tells the tale of a group of Chinese peasants whose lives are dependent upon selling their garlic crop; when harvests exceed governmental estimates, officials curb the amount of garlic that can be brought to market, setting off a violent chain of events. Against this backdrop, Mo weaves presents three stories: that of two lovers, which dominates the novel, as well as a familial conflict and the relationship between two friends. It is no exaggeration to say that this is the Chinese equivalent of The Sound and the Fury or 100 Years of Solitude; Mo's voice is inventive, poetic and urgent, yet he never loses sight of the plot, making this book difficult to put down. Goldblatt also deserves a great deal of credit for his translation. I do not read Chinese, but I often have the sense in reading English translations, even of great works, that a great deal has been lost, that there is something missing from the original work. Goldblatt's translation is so good as to make the reader mistake this for an English novel; the prose is nearly flawless. Any reader interested in literature would be wise to pick up this novel, if just for the ending, which is unsettling yet poetically rendered, and will stick with the reader for years. Years from now, probably when Mo wins a Nobel, I am sure he will have a wide following, but for now, The Garlic Ballads is a novel that cries to be read.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
|
|
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazingly Depressing, November 30, 2000
This is one of those book that makes you both depressed and inspired at the same time. Set in rural China, the Garlic Ballads explores the misfortune of ordinary Chinese farmers during the post revolutionary period. Having read this book for a Political Science class on China, it was interesting to see how the policies implemented in Beijing could harm the common people so severly. Because the government told these people to grow Garlic, a non-staple food, instead of rice for instance, when they couldn't sell it they were left with nothing. you cannot survive on Garlic. This poor regional planning by the PRC leads to the ruin of many lives. The book, while not overtly political, must have rubbed someone in Beijing the wrong way because it was banned in China. Great Book, Great Author!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
by Howard Goldblatt
by Yen Mo
by Yen Mo
by Hua Yu
by Howard Goldblatt
