Fionnáin reviewed The republic of wine by Yan Mo
Review of 'The republic of wine' on 'GoodReads'
5 stars
A dark comedy, a detective novel, and an existential look at the transformation of China over the past thirty years. Mo Yan is a master storyteller, and this is a beautiful example. It is a book that is almost too disturbing to continue reading, and yet too compelling to let go.
Mo Yan creates the world of Liquorland, a province of reckless abundance, of gluttony to the highest degree (eating children, of course) and of extreme alcoholism. In it, he throws a misfit crew that are Frankenstein's monsters of literary characters and caricatures. The story itself becomes more and more inebriated as it progresses toward its bizarre and bitter conclusion.
A dark comedy, a detective novel, and an existential look at the transformation of China over the past thirty years. Mo Yan is a master storyteller, and this is a beautiful example. It is a book that is almost too disturbing to continue reading, and yet too compelling to let go.
Mo Yan creates the world of Liquorland, a province of reckless abundance, of gluttony to the highest degree (eating children, of course) and of extreme alcoholism. In it, he throws a misfit crew that are Frankenstein's monsters of literary characters and caricatures. The story itself becomes more and more inebriated as it progresses toward its bizarre and bitter conclusion.