Big Breasts and Wide Hips

Mo Yan · b. 1955 · China

Originally Fengru Feitun (Chinese) · translated by Howard Goldblatt

Why it matters

A mother bears eight daughters and one weak son across a century of war, famine, and revolution in Shandong, her body and her land ravaged by the same forces. Mo Yan's longest and most controversial novel, censored at home for its frank sexuality and thoroughly unheroic history.

At a glance

An enormous cast and century-spanning structure carry graphic violence and sexuality throughout.