Synopsis
In 1988 in Paradise County, Garlic farmer Gao Ma has fallen in love with an abused young woman named Jinju whose family is forcing her to marry for money. When she discovers that she is pregnant with his child, she decides to run away with Gao Ma. Meanwhile, because there is a surplus of garlic, the government refuses to buy the current crop, causing the farmers to riot and destroy a government building. Gao Ma tragically loses his bride-to-be and is soon arrested as the alleged ringleader of the riot. In the process, he finds himself bound up with the fate of other political prisoners in a highly corrupt communist society. This book, by the author of "Red Sorghum," is banned in China.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 2006-01-11 | | Edition Description: | Translation |
| Size | | Length: | 290 pages | | Height: | 8.3 in | | Width: | 5.5 in | | Thickness: | 1.0 in | | Weight: | 12.2 oz |
Publisher's Note
Exploited by a Chinese communist government that has set impossibly high taxes and encouraged them to grow garlic at surplus levels, the farmers of Paradise County find their lives and families devastated by trumped-up criminal charges, unsellable crops, and an apocalyptic riot. Reprint.
Industry Reviews
"...it is such a rare achievement these days for a writer to grasp so well the lives of the common people in his country. Mo Yan...convinces us that he knows the hearts and minds and daily lives of garlic farmers....[T]he book is important because it slips the reader into a corner of China where no tourist would go."
Washington Post Book World - Richard Lourie (06/25/1995)
"It couldn't be more obvious why Mo Yan's 'The Garlic Ballads' is banned in China. Within Mo's cleverly deceptive narrative, there are exposes of almost everything that has been sacred in contemporary China....And yet 'The Garlic Ballads' is never preachy or polemical; Mo's attack on power and its abuse in contemprary China is imaginative, almost magical. A compelling narrative (or ballad, as the author wants us to think of it) that successfully fuses artistry and message, 'The Garlic Ballads' is the most exciting novel I have read from China in 30 years."
Chicago Tribune Books - Chales R. Larson (07/23/1995)
"Mo Yan has helped his country find a new and powerfully convincing literary voice."
Orville Schell
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