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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
I can see why someone much more intelligent would adore this book. For me, it was a challenge to get through.
At times, I thought this book was amazing, and profound, at other times, I was confused, and thought it was really strange, and made no sense. I don't understand enough of the commentary.
This book was really good, I love magical realism and the setting of 20th century China with all its upheavals was incredibly fascinating. The big flaw with this book in my opinion is that there's a prominent scene involving necrophilia and it really detracts from the story in my opinion. I hate when authors add one weird disturbing scene to an otherwise great book and shoot themselves in the foot for no reason.
A queer title, I thought, though if I speak/read Chinese, there’s probably some sort of pun that was lost to translation. In any case, after the read, I can guess that “Big Breasts and Wide Hips” refer to strong women (a rather sexist way but then again I’d infer something was lost in translation). The story, however, is told from the point of view of the only son of the Shangguan family; from his conception to his 50s. Unfortunately, he is a coward and all around weak in character. This serves as a foil to the women around him especially his mother and his sisters. They all have their own mind and chose to go their own way but he was unable to find his own way much less pave it on his own. His mother and sisters were frustrated with him but I really thought, it was really their own fault for spoiling him so much starting with his mother breastfeeding him and not his twin sister then to keep on breastfeeding him until he was about 7 (this was a bit unpalatable to me and he wasn’t eating any solids either!) and then giving him the money and opportunities and pointing out the ways for him to go… Yep, “spoon-feeding” is definitely not the way to bring up your child but that was/is the Chinese culture. I just have to note that there were other male characters who were not weak.
If I was rating this book in a professional capacity I would probably give it 3 or 4 stars. Well-written and important themes and allegories parallel to the history of China (most of which I'm sure went over my head).
Since this is goodreads and goodreads is for me, I rate this book 2 stars. I really don't like books that function purely to list the epic and horrible events in the characters lives, no matter how well-written it is. Just one bad thing after another, brought about by both circumstances and the characters' bad decisions. Maybe because the only way to tell a story as epic as this one is to make all the characters be passive, as though the story is not about them but only the events they live or don't live through.
As such the many women and the men around them become stock characters, a sense of hidden complexity which perhaps would have emerged if the reader were allowed to spend enough time with them.
I have loved most of the magical realism that I have read in the past, but it's been awhile, and I wonder if that is what felt disjointed about this read. I wonder if I had read the books I loved when I was younger now if I would have enjoyed them the same. Or maybe it's a cultural thing. The narrator will only drink his mother's milk until at least 7 and afterwards subsists only on goat's milk for quite awhile and it kept bringing to mind the stories in the past of mothers who breast feed their children until they have grown to outrageous ages.
I read this because the author won the Nobel prize for literature. I feel very ambivalent about it. Would I have chosen it? No. But I suspect my reasons would be of taste rather than the quality of the literature. I also feel a tinge of resentment that since I borrowed it from the library on my nook I had to drop everything I was reading to finish this one and of course three more came in so now I'll have to charge through them if I want to finish them and i suspect that i will enjoy them more than I did this one. But that is the reading life I suppose.
Quick note: the random changes in perspective from jintong to 3rd person omniscient was annoying as was the misspelling of I'm to Fm that occurred several times throughout the novel.
It's hard to describe or evaluate this sprawling epic of a book. It's not a traditional story in its structure, and I can think of many flaws that made it less enjoyable (like the huge, disorientating narrative leaps), but as a whole this is a masterpiece.
The novel follows the life and death of the Shangguan family, led by the mother, a character that's hard to forget. The family lives through multiple crucial upheavals in Chinese history. It reminds me of Tolstoy's War and Peace in the way it weaves personal reality with historical events; but where Tolstoy covered one war through several aristocratic characters, this book covers several wars through the eyes of one poor family. The narrator is Shangguan Jintong, the family's only son, another character that got under my skin. However, the focus is obviously the mother.
Ultimately, if I were to describe this book simply, it's about women in history. The female characters, the male characters, their interactions, the surrounding symbolism, and the plot - all create a story whose soul is a study of womanhood in history. I've been affected by this emotionally, in ways hard to describe. I won't attempt to do so here, but I'm glad I've read this book.
The writing is fluid and scenic. It feels like an art movie. The pacing is a bit off and the book in general is hard to digest quickly for me, which is why I took ages to finish it.
Overall, this book is probably not for everybody and isn't easy to read, but it's a masterpiece of storytelling.
The novel follows the life and death of the Shangguan family, led by the mother, a character that's hard to forget. The family lives through multiple crucial upheavals in Chinese history. It reminds me of Tolstoy's War and Peace in the way it weaves personal reality with historical events; but where Tolstoy covered one war through several aristocratic characters, this book covers several wars through the eyes of one poor family. The narrator is Shangguan Jintong, the family's only son, another character that got under my skin. However, the focus is obviously the mother.
Ultimately, if I were to describe this book simply, it's about women in history. The female characters, the male characters, their interactions, the surrounding symbolism, and the plot - all create a story whose soul is a study of womanhood in history. I've been affected by this emotionally, in ways hard to describe. I won't attempt to do so here, but I'm glad I've read this book.
The writing is fluid and scenic. It feels like an art movie. The pacing is a bit off and the book in general is hard to digest quickly for me, which is why I took ages to finish it.
Overall, this book is probably not for everybody and isn't easy to read, but it's a masterpiece of storytelling.
challenging
funny
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence
Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Suicide