Book No. 2 (2013): THE GARLIC BALLADS

The Garlic Ballads (a novel by Mo Yan)

This is my first Mo Yan (2012 Nobel Prize in Literature).

The writing style and story-telling technique the author used in this book can make the reader engaged until the last page. But the story is depressing, which kept me from reading it continuously, otherwise I would be exhausted doing so. It can really captivate the reader.

The novel exposes, in a fictional form, the excesses of the Communist rule through the experiences of the garlic farmers of the fictional Paradise county. At the start of the novel, several people (mostly farmers) suspected of involvement in a riot that caused the destruction a government office are captured. While inside jail, the prisoners experience unimaginable humiliation. Most of the narrative in the novel, which jumps back and forth in time, dwell on the gruesome experiences of the prisoners under local government officials, the events leading to the prisoners' arrest, and the prisoners' everyday living as farmers.

There is a love story in the novel, however it is overshadowed by greed, violence, and other horror that are all over the pages the book.

Date read: January 6, 2013

Rating: 4.5/5