I can only read Chinese a little…not enough to make it through a novel. I don’t particularly care for fiction anyway.

Japanese-American Parenting Conflict

One of China’s top novelists, Yu Hua, has written a novel entitled “Brothers.” It was released in two volumes in 2005 and 2006.

what is more remarkable is that it has sold nearly a million copies in a country where book piracy is a matter of course and novels can easily be found on the Internet as soon as the first one is bought/sold.

Yu Hua is considered one of China’s most respected novelists. This new novel, however, is too trashy for some.

One brother becomes famous by creating beauty pageants for virgins. The other brother has one of his breast surgically enlarged to help sell breast enlargement gels. Japan might be a better market for this than China from my experience. Anyway…

The novel apparently goes downhill from there.

Some call it a portrait of China’s increasingly self-centered, self-indulgent, materialistic society.

The author says that his stories come from happenings around him as he grew up.

I don’t think any story would be too surprising coming out of China. There are a lot of people there and a lot of history. I reckon there is nothing that is going to happen that hasn’t pretty much already happened there.

What is surprising is that Yu Hua can tell his story at all.

What is not surprising is that critics can’t agree.

I hope the movie version comes out soon.

Have you read the book?