They Are Eating Babies!

Have just finished reading "The Republic of Wine" by Mo Yan.

The Book
Pic By Ordinary Malaysian

Mo Yan is the famous author of "Red Sorghum" which had been made into a film of the same name.

"The Republic of Wine" is the first Mo Yan book I have read.

I am no book reviewer. But here is my feeble attempt.

There are rumours that people in Liquorland are eating babies as the piece de resistance and part of fine gourmandise.

Grisly!

Redoubtable inspector Ding Gou' er is dispatched to investigate. But we find him less than up to the task.

The story is told interspersed with letters from an aspiring writer Li Yidou to the master himself (Mo Yan) telling fantastical tales populated with fantastical figures like the dwarf Yu Yichi of the Yichi Tavern in Liquorland. Everything eventually comes together and the book is as heady as the Ape Liquor that Liquorland is famous for.

This book is part fantasy, part satire and, well, part Mo Yan to put it not too ingeniously. And where Mo Yan is concerned, you cannot be too sure about the fantasy part because even in fantasy Mo Yan speaks more than that that meets the eye.

Now I am off looking for Red Sorghum!