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Il Sogno Del Villaggio Dei Ding (2005)

by Yan Lianke(Favorite Author)

3.75 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

887452319X (ISBN13: 9788874523191)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

nottetempo

review 1: This novel could be a parable for the Great Leap Forward except that stories like Ding Villlage really happened in China. Peasants sold their blood and developed HIV and later AIDS. Some villages were wiped out when everyone died from AIDS or fled the depressing conditions of what amounted to a death camp. Just like in the Great Leap Forward, the peasants were the ones to suffer the most in these blood selling rackets. Yan Lianke does a great job showing how women AIDS patients are treated differently from men with AIDS, even though both acquired the disease through selling blood. The star of this novel is Grandpa, whose grandson is poisoned after Grandpa's son runs the blood sales in Ding Village and some villagers decide to retaliate. The story is told from the point of ... moreview of the 10 year old dead grandson. Grandpa's other son has 'the fever', ie AIDS, and is left alone when his wife leaves him. Another villager named Lingling is likewise abandoned by her husband after she contracts the fever. So Uncle and Lingling start an affair that becomes public knowledge after some of the villagers lock the pair in a shed and tell Lingling's husband about it. What ensues is a touching love story that lasts until the pair dies. Throughout the book, Grandpa dreams about the tragedies unfolding in Ding Village, dreams which all come true. This book was nominated for the Man Asian Literary Prize this year.
review 2: What a book! When I started reading, I was unsure whether the topic was a metaphor for something else, or whether it was based on fact. Then I poked around on-line and realized it was based on fact. I almost couldn't keep reading, realizing that it was based on fact. very disturbing. The novel has a definite Asian feel - it doesn't wrap its characters up as neatly as a U.S. novel. And there's so much left unsaid between the characters... But Ding Hui is a horrific bad guy and Grandpa is a lost hero. And there's even star-crossed lovers, Ding Liang and LingLing who you can't decide whether to like or dislike. less

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