Just finished reading Mo Yan's Big Breasts and Wide Hips. It's a translated version. The original name in chinese reads 丰胸肥臀. Quite good, although in my oppinon the style is not so easy to appreciate.
This book was originally banned in China. After reading it I could more or less see why.
The story revolves around the Shangguan family. The central characters include Shangguan Lu (the ill-fated daughter-in-law who later evolves into the pillar of the family), Shangguan Jintong (her degenerate son) and her seven daughters. The interesting thing is that almost all of Shangguan Lu's children are fathered by different men, while she was still the daughter-in-law of the Shangguan family. (Now now people stay calm, don't get too excited. Haha!) The story takes the reader through pre-revolution periods to the Communist era in China and spans 3 generations (from Shangguan Lu to her grandchildren).
In this book, the role and status of women in the old china is fully portrayed in its grimmest and most raw form. It shows how women were confined by traditions (e.g. foot binding, a painful and disabilitatin procedure) and seen as child bearing machines. The only way for them to escape from suffering is to bear a son. Which is why Shangguan Lu had so many daughters fathered by different men (her lawful husband was impotent) before finally bearing a golden son (Jintong, literally). Likewise for the daughters who naturally took a backseat when it comes to the needs of the son.
The son, Shangguan Jintong, got whatever he wanted because he was the only son. And because of this, he was never really weaned of breast milk. This sort of relates to the central theme of breasts in this book. Jintong's reliance on breast milk had become his weakness, his fatal wound that doomed him to a life of failure. At the same time, Jintong's reverence of women drew a stark contrast to what was generally happening in the society at that time.
However, instances of women rising up to the occasion, often above men, were numerous in this story. Shangguan Lu's mother-in-law, the de-facto head of the family, is one of those examples.
Shangguan Jintong led a life full of ups and downs, all of which had something to do with breasts or women. From an outsider's point of view, Jintong is an utter failure. A drag to his family who had to protect him all the while in the turbulent years. Truly a useless piece of shit by any standard. But the author chose to tell his story through him.
The author embedded a rebellious attitude into the story. Throughout the story you see people struggling to break free of the shackles of the old china and later the communist china as well. Rebellions and illicit affairs were like undercurrents which kept the story moving.
During the turbulent times, wars were fought, won and lost. Friends and enemies lived and died. This is the aspect which the author chose to illustrate in the least shy manner. Details of rotting corpses and starving people were exagerated and described to the fullest, as if in an effort to depress the reader. I guess this is also one of the good points of the book. The author expresses his feelings not just through the words he writes but also through the way he writes.
How the people suffered during those times....
Pride, dignity, honour and loyalty had no place in the face of survival.
At the end of the book, you would have read so much of people dying and how they suffer under the harsh circumstances that you feel kind of numb about it. Of course the author does let light into the story and there are some parts in which the characters had some good times. But the feeling of suffering and rebellion stands out.
In the book, the characters suffered loss of kin and friends and all sorts of hardships. One of the daughters was forced into prostitution to keep the family alive. Some of them driven to madness. Some became the playthings of powerful men. And stuff like that. On top of that, you see the hardships that the people around the Shangguan family had to endure.
You ask yourself," How can anyone take that?"
Perhaps to people like me, this is truly unimaginable. Perhaps this is a question that the characters of the book did not have the luxury to ask. Perhaps in a situation like theirs, all you can do is to do your best to survive.
At the end of the story, my feelings were mixed.(I won't tell you what's the ending. No, not to keep you in suspense or anything. It's just that I would have to include a whole lot of other things and that would make this entry excessively long.) Somehow the author had me on a journey and returned me to square one, back to where the journey started. Perhaps this is something that you don't really get in life, a fresh start.
I have not included all the details in this blog. It's really beyond my ability to try to illustrate everything and do the book justice at the same time. For those who don't mind the sometimes exagerated style and the sexual references AND you have the time, you may wanna read this book.
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