A review by grahamiam
The Explosion Chronicles by Yan Lianke

4.0

I interviewed the translator about this book, here: http://blog.pshares.org/index.php/translating-chinas-modern-history-an-interview-with-carlos-rojas/

This was really, really good - I'm surprised how low its rating is here. I think it's interesting how, based on his author's note, he set out to write China's magical realism. I hate how everything alien gets compared to Hundred Years but in this case I think the connection is direct, strong, and the author himself draws a comparison in the author's note.

The dialogue is a little weird - lots of repetition and unusual line breaks and ellipses. Looking forward to asking the translator about this.