Reviews

The Sun Shines Over the Sanggan River by Ding Ling

primrosesquarps's review

3.0

While Sanggan River is Ding Ling's largest work and one of her best known, the story is dry and the majority of the characters (SO! MANY!) are underdeveloped. Between dense boring scenes of villagers pointing fingers and arguing over generations-long grudges, the book is interspersed with beautiful descriptions of the Chinese countryside and village life during the era. Most of the story's value lies in its status as a window into the socialist realism literature of the Chinese Communist Party during the land reform era.