Frog

“NEW YORK TIMES” TOP BOOK OF 2015 “WASHINGTON POST “NOTABLE BOOK The author of “Red Sorghum” and China s most revered and controversial novelist returns with his first major publication since winning the Nobel PrizeIn 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.”