Frog

A Novel

De: Mo Yan, Howard Goldblatt - translator

Narrado por: Graeme Malcolm

The author of Red Sorghum and China’s most revered and controversial novelist returns with his first major publication since winning the Nobel Prize.

In 2012, the Nobel committee confirmed Mo Yan’s position as one of the greatest and most important writers of our time. In his much-anticipated new novel, Mo Yan chronicles the sweeping history of modern China through the lens of the nation’s controversial one-child policy.

Frog opens with a playwright nicknamed Tadpole who plans to write about his aunt. In her youth, Gugu—the beautiful daughter of a famous doctor and staunch Communist—is revered for her skill as a midwife. But when her lover defects, Gugu’s own loyalty to the Party is questioned. She decides to prove her allegiance by strictly enforcing the one-child policy, keeping tabs on the number of children in the village, and performing abortions on women as many as eight months pregnant.

In sharply personal prose, Mo Yan depicts a world of desperate families, illegal surrogates, forced abortions, and the guilt of those who must enforce the policy. At once illuminating and devastating, it shines a light into the heart of Communist China.

Reseñas de la Crítica

Praise for Frog

“A rich and troubling epic—and a very human story... hauntingly inventive.”—The New York Times

"Mo Yan brings back the hallucinatory realism for which he’s known...[Frog is] another display of Mo Yan’s attractively daring approach to fiction. The Nobel committee chose wisely."—The Washington Post

“Heavily laced with ardent social criticism, mystical symbolism, and historical realism, Mo Yan’s potent exploration of China’s most personal and intrusive social control programs probes the horrors and pain such policies inflict.”—Booklist

“Harrowing, haunting, poignant... Mo Yan proves himself a novelist of the highest calibre.”—Financial Times (UK)

"Mo Yan’s Frog is a raw, vivid and chaotic story...the novel is a major full-length work with big ideas on a highly sensitive subject...Readers may at times flinch and wish to look away. But regardless of his politics, admirers of Mr. Mo’s earlier literary offspring are likely to be equally joyful that he brought this one to term.”—The Wall Street Journal

“Goldblatt’s translation is inviting, while Yan’s tale deftly explores the human toll of national policy and historical forces.”—Publishers Weekly

“It's an expansive, fascinating cultural-political history. It skilfully blends high farce with social commentary, domestic drama with deeper themes…Much of the novel is funny, much is sad and moving, and Yan effortlessly moves between the two registers. And you really get a sense of how China and rural Northern Gaomi (Yan's hometown) have changed, almost beyond description, from Maoist times to the current hyper-capitalistic phase.”—Independent (UK)

"There is no denying the ease and beauty of his storytelling... this is often difficult subject matter — but never hard to read."—West Australian

"Frog has that wonderful sense of flipping between the mundane and the fantastic… Both heartbreaking and absurd… a tragicomic tale."—Adelaide Advertiser

Amazing story of reproduction.

This is an amazing story of reproduction in the age of the One Child Policy. There were many twists and turns in following the life of Gugu.

Just so so

Just so so... tried to reflect what has been happening in China but it is so superficial and not much depth in the story ...

Loved the Novel, not a fan of the play at end

Which character – as performed by Graeme Malcolm – was your favorite?

I have to give Graeme credit for doing an excellent job with Gugu, I got a really strong sense of her attitude and outlook.

Who was the most memorable character of Frog and why?

Gugu, while not the main character was the focus and and the center of the story. I remember her journey the most.

Any additional comments?

The novel itself I enjoyed, however having the narrator read the play, including stage directions at the end was an unpleasant addition to the core of the story on a personal level.

A Johnathan Swift dive into Chinese village life

This finely drawn portrait of village life before, during and after the Cultural Revolution in China hooked me. Mo Yan's Northeast Township District bursts with interesting characters, most of whom center around what it means to bring children into the world. The satire sometimes had a Johnathan Swift quality. The protagonist's aunt, Gugu, is a prominent obstetrician, saving babies and mothers with scientific knowledge and modern approaches. Gugu also becomes a figure to dread during the peak of the One Child policy, as part of her role is to abort children, that exceed the policy, often going to great lengths that put mothers' lives in peril. Mo Yan gives the reader vivid pictures of subsistence living during the Cultural Revolution, the claustrophobia of village life where everyone knows your business, and how things change (and don't change) when China becomes a modern manufacturing powerhouse. Reading the book immersed me in the bureaucratic details of public humiliation under Mao, took me on a tour of a bullfrog farm, and invited me to local celebrations of new life. Besides being a fascinating read, Frog reminds us what can go wrong when women don't have agency over their bodies or their reproduction from many angles that may not be considered in the West.

The narrator did a great job. My only beef was that his posh BBC accent dragged me out of the context of a poor, Chinese village, but this is probably unavoidable in translation.