this is often difficult subject matter - but never hard to read.'- West Australian 'Frog has that wonderful sense of flipping between the mundane and the fantastic… Both heartbreaking and absurd… a tragicomic tale.This article focuses on an overlooked connection between the “cultural fever” in China in the 1980s and a comparable cultural fever that emerged in Africa and the Caribbean in the mid-1950s through the writing of Frantz Fanon, Aimé Césaire, Jacques Stéphen Alexis, and others. 'There is no denying the ease and beauty of his storytelling. And you really get a sense of how China and rural Northern Gaomi (Yan's hometown) have changed, almost beyond description, from Maoist times to the current hyper-capitalistic phase.”- Independent (UK) It skilfully blends high farce with social commentary, domestic drama with deeper themes…Much of the novel is funny, much is sad and moving, and Yan effortlessly moves between the two registers.

“It's an expansive, fascinating cultural-political history. Mo Yan proves himself a novelist of the highest calibre.”- Financial Times (UK)

“Goldblatts translation is inviting, while Yans tale deftly explores the human toll of national policy and historical forces.” - Publishers Weekly “Heavily laced with ardent social criticism, mystical symbolism, and historical realism, Mo Yans potent exploration of Chinas most personal and intrusive social control programs probes the horrors and pain such policies inflict.” - Booklist At once illuminating and devastating, it shines a light into the heart of communist China.

In sharply personal prose, Mo Yan depicts a world of desperate families, illegal surrogates, forced abortions, and the guilt of those who must enforce the policy. She decides to prove her allegiance by strictly enforcing the one-child policy, keeping tabs on the number of children in the village, and performing abortions on women as many as eight months pregnant. But when her lover defects, Gugus own loyalty to the Party is questioned. In her youth, Guguthe beautiful daughter of a famous doctor and staunch Communistis revered for her skill as a midwife. In his much-anticipated new novel, Mo Yan chronicles the sweeping history of modern China through the lens of the nations controversial one- child policy.įrog opens with a playwright nicknamed Tadpole who plans to write about his aunt. In 2012, the Nobel committee confirmed Mo Yans position as one of the greatest and most important writers of our time. The author of Red Sorghum and Chinas most revered and controversial novelist returns with his first major publication since winning the Nobel Prize

Author of red sorghum