Why read Big Breasts and Wide Hips?

Book cover of Big Breasts and Wide Hips

Book description

Each of the seven chapters represents a different time period, from the end of the Quing dynasty, up through the Japanese invasion in the 1930s, the civil war, the Cultural Revolution, and the post-Mao years. This novel is the author's vision of the 20th century.

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Why read it?

1 author picked Big Breasts and Wide Hips as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Tong Ge

Author

I love this book for its epic structure, character development, intricate and complex plotlines, rich imagination, poetic language, and use of magical realism.

The book spans several decades, covering significant events in 20th-century China from the 1920s to the 1990s across four generations. Through this multi-generational lens, Mo Yan explores themes of family, identity, and the impact of historical events on individual lives. Each character is so unique that after reading the book, I wrote a group of poems, two to four lines for each of the fifteen main and supporting characters. For protagonist Jin Tong, I wrote, “You are…

From Tong's list on Chinese modern history.