What do you think?
Rate this book
Explosions and Other Stories
226 pages, Paperback
Published December 31, 1993
3 people are currently reading
163 people want to read
About the author
Mo Yan
309 books1,438 followersModern Chinese author, in the western world most known for his novel Red Sorghum (which was turned into a movie by the same title). Often described as the Chinese Franz Kafka or Joseph Heller.
Mo Yan (莫言) is a pen name and means don't speak. His real name is Guan Moye (simplified Chinese: 管谟业; traditional Chinese: 管謨業; pinyin: Guǎn Móyè).
He has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature 2012 for his work which "with hallucinatory realism merges folk tales, history and the contemporary". Among the works highlighted by the Nobel judges were Red Sorghum (1987) and Big Breasts & Wide Hips (2004), as well as The Garlic Ballads.
Chinese version: 莫言
Mo Yan (莫言) is a pen name and means don't speak. His real name is Guan Moye (simplified Chinese: 管谟业; traditional Chinese: 管謨業; pinyin: Guǎn Móyè).
He has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature 2012 for his work which "with hallucinatory realism merges folk tales, history and the contemporary". Among the works highlighted by the Nobel judges were Red Sorghum (1987) and Big Breasts & Wide Hips (2004), as well as The Garlic Ballads.
Chinese version: 莫言
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 24, 2014
Mo Yan deftly illuminates the humanity, resilience and complexity of China in these beautiful yet torturous short stories.
This book was a brilliant travel companion through China; so evocatively bringing to light the desires and struggles waged across a land by its inhabitants. In the circumstances of travelling, I find it is difficult to get a feel for the everyday reality of a place, and yet the characters in each of these short stories are each such a brilliant portrayal of a different aspect of Chinese existence and the incredible decisions people make that they brought me far closer to the country. The Renditions translation is superb; the prose is crisp and vibrant, the imagery true.
This work is moving, confronting, rich and important.
This book was a brilliant travel companion through China; so evocatively bringing to light the desires and struggles waged across a land by its inhabitants. In the circumstances of travelling, I find it is difficult to get a feel for the everyday reality of a place, and yet the characters in each of these short stories are each such a brilliant portrayal of a different aspect of Chinese existence and the incredible decisions people make that they brought me far closer to the country. The Renditions translation is superb; the prose is crisp and vibrant, the imagery true.
This work is moving, confronting, rich and important.
April 29, 2020
"The Old Gun"
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews