"The Garlic Ballads" by Mo Yan *****

• Chinese author,
• Nobel Prize winner
• Originally published in 2006
• Novel was banned in China after Tienanmen Square massacre
• Epigraph #1:  "Northeast Gaomi township:  I was born there, I grew up there; Even though there was plenty of misery, These mournful ballad are for you."
• Epigraph #2:  "Novelists are forever trying to distance themselves from pollitics, but the novel itself closes in on politics.  Novelists are so concerned with 'man's fate' that they tend to lose sight of their own fate.  Therein lies their tragedy."....Joseph Stalin
• Setting: Rural Chinese Paradise County, 1987, after garlic glut on the market caused further economic troubles to an already poverty stricken population
• Characters:
• Gao Ma:  loves Jinju, 
• Gao Yang:  friend of Gao Ma, in prison with him
• Zhang Kou:  blind singer of garlic ballads, a stanza appears at the beginning of each chapter, his own rebellion and truth telling..... p.277.."So, subordinating his own safety to a love for his outcast companions, he sang a ballad loud and long to protest the mistreatment of the common people.", lingered as a ghost
• Fourth Aunt:  Jinju's mother, mourning husband's death while in prison
• Quotes:
• p.33..."This is, after all, a new society, so sooner or later reason will prevail."
• p.48..."The people's hearts are made of steel, but the Law is a forge."
• p.71..."...senior officials can eat like kings, dress like princes, and have the medical care of the gods.....But take a look at our old farmers.  They work all their lives.....and in their nineties they're still out in the field every day."
• p.76..."...sleeping on the damp ground in misty night air is an open invitation to leprosy"
• p.241..."It's not socialism I hate.  It's you (policeman as representative of the government) to you socialism is a mere signboard, but to me it's a social formation--concrete, not abstract.  It's embodied in public ownership of the means o production and in a system of distribution.  Unfortunately it's also embodied in corrupt officials like you."
• p.270..."The people have the right to overthrow any party or government which disregards their well-being."
• Notes:
• Concept of an underworld marriage, arranged marriage between two dead people, celebrated as a full fledged wedding...Junji married off by family to someone other than Gao Ma...devastated him
• Review:  A brilliant piece of subversive fiction which was banned in China, this novel was difficult to read because of the casual violence which permeated the story, within and between families, between individuals and between individuals and government representatives.  I literally could only read it in small doses.  However, the prose is evocative, stark, and lyrical. The plot is gripping, and the characters are fascinating.  Each chapter is accompanied by a stanza from "The Garlic Ballad" which tells the tale of the uprising.  The ballad was sung by one of the characters, a local minstrel, who died for his documentation of the events, perhaps a reference to government censorship.  So, if you like historical fiction, want a glimpse into the life of a Chinese peasant, are curious about socialism in China, then grit your teeth and dive in!