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A review by larkais
Life and Death are Wearing Me Out by Mo Yan
adventurous
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
I've got to say that this was such a strange book. It follows Lord Ximen Nao who gets executed during the Red Revolution so that people could divide the land among farmers. Part of the story follows Lan Lian, Ximen's ex-servant who is an independent farmer despite the community pressuring him to be a commune farmer.
We see this through Ximen Nao's eyes as a Donkey and Ox. The other lives were as a Monkey, Pig and Dog which follows Lan Lian's sons and grandson more closely. I've got to agree with the other reviewer Fishface, there is just so much mention of dick in this novel that it's just not that great. I get all the balls mentions with the medicinal properties with that one character but it's just very gratuitous.
I really enjoyed the Donkey and Ox chapters, particularly the stubbornness of the Ox that stayed put even when a fire blazed. Stars off for the other likes ahaha. He sure did have a lofty sense of self in all the lives where he became a defacto leader as a Pig and Dog. I liked Ximen Dog but Lan Lian's sons really disappointed me.
I thought Lan Lian's death was fitting for Taoism, do not mourn because he will return to the chaotic mass and be reborn somehow.
We see this through Ximen Nao's eyes as a Donkey and Ox. The other lives were as a Monkey, Pig and Dog which follows Lan Lian's sons and grandson more closely. I've got to agree with the other reviewer Fishface, there is just so much mention of dick in this novel that it's just not that great. I get all the balls mentions with the medicinal properties with that one character but it's just very gratuitous.
I really enjoyed the Donkey and Ox chapters, particularly the stubbornness of the Ox that stayed put even when a fire blazed. Stars off for the other likes ahaha. He sure did have a lofty sense of self in all the lives where he became a defacto leader as a Pig and Dog. I liked Ximen Dog but Lan Lian's sons really disappointed me.
I thought Lan Lian's death was fitting for Taoism, do not mourn because he will return to the chaotic mass and be reborn somehow.